IT’S BEEN A rollercoaster season for Munster’s Sammy Arnold.
And the centre was at one of his lowest points when Joe Schmidt picked up the phone last January and asked him to join the Irish squad for training.
Arnold had been sent off a few days earlier playing against his former side Ulster and while he wasn’t sure if it was one of his teammates winding him up, he went along with the conversation.
“I could not take the risk! It was just after the red card and I was sitting at home in my bedroom probably feeling sorry for myself when I should have been feeling sorry for my team mates.
“I got the phone call and it said Dublin below the number and I thought, ‘I wonder who this is?’ Joe then introduced himself and asked me to come in for a few days. My girlfriend was asking, ‘who is that?’ She was roaring the house down. She was thrilled.”
A knee injury meant he played just one match in his first season with Munster last term but he hasn’t looked back since he recovered and he has chalked up 15 starts since his first appearance of the season off the bench in November against the Dragons.
He made his Champions Cup debut against Leicester Tigers and was flying it until being red-carded against Ulster, but Schmidt’s call to the national squad could not have come at a better time for a player who had eased his way into competitive action earlier in the season for Garryowen.
“I think it shows you that if you want to get there, this is what you have to do,” said Arnold, when asked what impact getting called into the national squad has had on his development.
“If you want to win a Grand Slam, how much more there is still to learn, how much more you need to work. Joe is that guy, his attention to detail, his relentlessness, his work ethic, is unbelievable. He strives and strives and strives for perfection and I think that rubs off on the players. That showed during the Six Nations when he went on to win the Grand Slam, I felt very lucky to see what it takes to win it and the hours, and weeks that goes into that was incredible.”
He wants to play his part as Munster continue their quest for their first silverware in seven years but knows that they will need to a top lass performance on Saturday to see off Richard Cockerill’s high-flying Edinburgh in the PRO14 quarter-final at Thomond Park.
Aiming for silverware is one of the driving forces but there is also the Irish tour to Australia coming up on the horizon, although Arnold knows there is a queue to get into the Irish midfield.
“Obviously if I get asked to go, I would love to go. But Robbie (Henshaw) is obviously back from injury now, Garry (Ringrose), Robbie and Bundee were awesome during the Six Nations. Rory (Scannell) has been player of the year here, the rock of our team this year.
“I don’t like to get too far ahead of myself. Some guys get ahead of themselves too soon but my feet are firmly on the ground, and I just want to take it week by week and day by day.”
