THIS EVENING’S URC meeting with Ulster will be Rhys Ruddock’s 202nd cap for Leinster. It’s a remarkable figure, and that’s before you consider the injuries and setbacks that have been sprinkled throughout his career.
Cap 200 came a few weeks back, Ruddock leading the side out as captain against the Lions. In the dressing room after, his teammates made him serenade the squad. He opted for Proud Mary, and ‘butchered it’.
Before and after the game, Ruddock made sure to soak it all up. Not many hit that particular milestone at a club as demanding and competitive as Leinster. There are only nine players ahead of him on the Leinster all-time caps list. Seán Cronin will remain one clear of Ruddock if he’s sprung for the bench today. Devin Toner remains the man to catch on 275.
“It’s rare that you get to enjoy milestones along the way because you’re so focussed on the performance and getting a result,” Ruddock says.
“But when it’s a milestone like 100 caps or 200 caps, it’s marked with being able to lead out the team and things like that. It just it gives you a chance to enjoy a moment and it just feels a little bit different for that reason. So that was a great experience for me and having fans back, and my family especially, to support it, it was a proud day.”
Now in his 13th season with the province, it can be easy to forget Ruddock is still only 31, with plenty of good years left in his legs. The green Ireland jersey always remains an ambition, with his most recent cap coming against France in last year’s Six Nations, but for now, the focus is on Leinster as the province gear up for the business end of the season.
The versatile backrower remains a key player in Leo Cullen’s squad, with 13 appearances already this season, and the ink still wet on his latest contract extension. His form last year was some of the best of his career. He remains an explosive, powerful force in the Leinster pack, with season-defining games now on the horizon.
“Obviously delighted to sign on again with Leinster and knowing I will be playing my rugby here,” he continues.
“The body is good, touch wood, for the last two seasons really. I’ve managed to stop getting those little muscle tears and short-term injuries. That’s credit to the physios and S&C staff here. We have a good plan in place and that makes it a lot more enjoyable.
“You can’t always control injuries. Sometimes they come out of the blue but when you are fit and out on the field you have to enjoy it and I am enjoying my rugby. I am excited about the rest of my season, but also beyond that, knowing I am going to be at Leinster for the future.”
The deal will have been welcomed within Leinster, too, with suggestions that Ruddock was attracting serious attention from clubs in England and France. That won’t be happening this summer anyway, but never say never.
“I dunno. Every time that that decision has had to be made by me I have felt in my heart that I have wanted to be here,” he explains.
Leinster feels like my home really. I feel very comfortable here. There is part of me – and I’m sure everyone would be the same – that would like to challenge myself and experience something different but when I weighed up the options I just loved being at Leinster. It is my home province.
“I know I grew up in Wales as well but having been a young lad with my dad coaching the province, that was kind of my first real experience of being a proper rugby fan, going to all the games and wanting to become a rugby player. So having looked up to players that he coached, and wanting to be in their position, that makes it special to be here.
“And all the friends I have made being here and the opportunities to hopefully win some more trophies and have some more special moments with this group. That’s probably the most exciting thing about continuing to play on. At the moment anyway, it feels like the right thing for me.”
Tonight it’s Ulster in a top of the table URC clash in Belfast, Cullen’s side three points clear of the northern province in pole position.
“With the form they’re in and the quality of teams they’ve managed to beat this season and the performances they’ve put in, even watching them at the weekend against Cardiff obviously who beat us… I was looking at the Cardiff team and thinking it was such a strong team and it would be a tight game but Ulster were really good and really accurate and kind of blew them away really.
“It’s definitely going to be a test of where we are as a group. It’s an alright game just to finish off this block. The boys have all been working really hard but this will be the true test of where we’re at as a group.
“It felt like there have been some good performances but other areas of our game where we felt needed tidying up, like our accuracy, we were creating good opportunities but not really executing on the back of it at times in the earlier games in this block.
“At the weekend we managed to score a lot more tries (v Benetton), especially from set-piece and first-phase or the maul getting going and things like that. So it was promising being a little bit more accurate and scoring some good tries but obviously this weekend is a different challenge altogether, and I think we’re going to have to make another big step-up again if we’re going to get the result.”
Gavan Casey and Murray Kinsella look ahead to Twickenham and two big URC games involving three of the provinces
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