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While unfortunate Munster were
still licking their wounds after a second successive Heineken
European Cup disappointment, Leinster were still in training
and planning to nudge the mighty Reds off centre stage and bring
the focus of Interprovincial rugby back to the Pale, back to
Dublin which has been in danger of becoming a stagnant back water
instead a sparkling spring gushing invention and talent.
Leinster's European Cup bid
disappeared in a mist of what might have been, in promises half
kept, a sorry tale of missed opportunities of chances grasped
and then let slip away. It was an outcome which hurt, which left
Leinster on the ropes but certainly not slack jawed and glassy
eyed, a la Lennox Lewis. Lewis may never again have an opportunity
to enjoy a really massive payday or, perhaps regain his World
Heavyweight title.
But Leinster want their share
of the limelight which has, they feel, bathed Munster for a bit
too long. Mick Galwey has played in every single one of Munster's
European Cup ties, Peter Clohessy has missed out on just one.
Surely these iron men of the game have done more than enough
for club, province and country and will soon step into the shadows
where the legends of their deeds will grow rather then recede.
The time has come, Leinster
folk will tell you quietly for men like Lions Malcolm O'Kelly
and Brian O'Driscoll to lead Leinster back into the promised
land with the help of the desperately unlucky Denis Hickie and
a platoon of hungry, talented troops.
Just look at some of the names
that are regulars in Leinster sides Girvan Dempsey, Shane
Horgan, Shane Byrne, Eric Miller, Victor Costello, John McWeeney,
Derek Hegarty, Peter Smyth, Trevor Brennan and Rory Sheriff.
While Munster were stampeding their way into the Heineken semi
finals, Leinster were "failing" yet again.
But in Pool l, it's worth noting
that they beat Northampton, the reigning Champions twice and
Biarritz. And when the dust had settled coach Matt Williams was
far from being totally deflated. He reckoned that, given time,
Leinster would produce a team that would make people sit up and
take notice. Whether or not Williams will be able to produce
the goods in the up coming season remains to be seen and it may
be a little too soon. But he certainly has a squad bristling
with talent and just as importantly perhaps, with ambition.
Players like Leo Cullen the
talented Blackrock College lock cum back rower, Mark McHugh the
St. Mary's centre and place kicker are typical of Leinster's
likely lads. And there are a lot more who might at the moment
have people scratching their heads at the mention of their names
and searching their memories for players who impressed in Schools
matches in the recent past.
But if Williams has a bit of
luck with the talent that continues to flood out of Schools,
Academies at both club and Provincial level, Leinster's days
in the wilderness may be numbered. There is a hunger in the Province,
which will only be sated by success. And Steve Barretto represents
the new face of Leinster rugby.
Steve who?, I hear you ask.
Patience, all will presently be revealed.
He's South African Irish, he's
broad, he's bright and bristling with an ambition to mix his
talents with the best. And perhaps the Terenure College prop
will get his chance sooner than he thinks. Barretto's is the
story of a lad who dropped into a rugby club three years ago
and asked if there was any chance of a game.
There was and after one look
at his beefy frame, the lakesiders grabbed him and he became
a "Nure" man. "I had come over with a friend,
Jason Sivi to spend a year here and asked my gran Joan Gaw
they were a big swimming family where I should go to get
a game of rugby. She told me how to find St. Mary's and Terenure
College, so we walked down by the lake and were invited into
the clubhouse to join a Christmas party. The rest is history,"
he grinned.
Gerry Murphy the former Ireland
team boss was then coaching Terenure and was quickly made aware
that young Barretto had, at eighteen, been in the South African
National Under 21 squad.
"It was a big scene for
a youngster " Steve admitted " and while I did not
get to play I worked out with some great players and got to practise
with the Sharks, it was all wonderful experience, every day was
a learning day and that's how it still is."
Coach Murphy soon had Barretto
working hard to get his game in shape and within a year the rest
of the Barretto family, Mother Christine, a Dubliner and younger
brother Jonathan followed him to Ireland and Terenure.
Sister Christine, a Springbok
water polo player, stayed in South Africa but young Jonathan
enrolled in Terenure College and was on the winning side which
beat Blackrock College to win the Leinster Schools Senior Cup
just a few short weeks ago.
Steve followed suit by winning
a Senior Cup winners medal with Terenure and getting into the
Leinster squad. He had missed out on the Terenure club Academy
which is run in conjunction with the School and the I.R.F.U.
Academy but is a huge fan of the "school of excellence"
route to the top. "It's the way to go," he enthused,
"and from what I have seen of the alliance between the school
and the club, there will be some very talented players coming
through but having missed out on that route, I have to concentrate
on progressing within the Leinster structure."
And he has done so to such
good effect that he as already earned six full Ireland Under
21 caps, five full and one as a sub.
"The World Cup in Argentina
may not have been a huge success as far as Ireland was concerned
but it was another huge influence on my continuing development
and I'm sure of a lot of other players. I want to be able to
prop on either side of the scrum and while it's a tough ambition
I'm determined to get there, perhaps I got the right start in
South Africa as a schoolboy but I have been very impressed with
the Leinster set up, its very professional but its also fun and
there is a wonderful mutual respect between the management side
and the players."
"Getting into the Leinster
squad was almost like a job interview with each player having
a one on one session during which the player gets an opportunity
to spell out his ambitions and to let the management side know
what he expects from them, it was all very thorough, very frank
and I found very revealing, we all learned something about each
other and our expectations and I think that's a pretty good basis
for a relationship whether its in business or sport."
And Barretto makes no secret
of his ambitions, he wants to make himself an automatic choice
for Leinster and one day earn himself a place in the front row
of an Ireland team competing for the Six Nations Championship.
"I have the Irish qualifications
through my mother, grandmother and all that but that won't be
much good unless I can prove myself on the field, that's the
difficult part." T
he rising tide lifts all boats
and if Leinster who have their sights trained steadily on the
top can match their ambition with achievement, Barretto the boy
from South Africa who dropped into the Lakelands Park clubhouse
looking for a pint and a game of rugby may realise his dream
and wear the green.
Only Northampton, by a single
point and Stade Francais, with the help of the referee, have
managed to knock Munster off their proud pedestal in the last
two years. Leinster's attempts to shunt them into touch will
be riveting stuff, a coming attraction not to be missed.
Top
©
Tom Keogh 2001
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