Leinster Rugby, Irish Rugby,
Aviva Stadium, Lansdowne Hotel, Heineken Cup Final 2013
Heineken Cup Final Tickets
to WIN Lansdowne Hotel…Saturday night…10.30pm FREE Draw…be there or be outside the
square…
Joe Schmidt’s phone call was
a game-changer for Andrew Goodman. He was working for the Tasman Rugby Union in
New Zealand in rugby development and also teaching in Nelson College, his old
school, when Schmidt invited him to come to Leinster.
The soon to be Ireland coach
may have reshaped the European champions into the number one side at this end
of the rugby playing world, but part of his brief is to also know who and what
Honda Heat, Nelson College and the Tasman Makos are – and Goodman had played
for all of them.
Plucked from obscurity –
like Schmidt himself originally and set into the Leinster mould, Goodman’s epic
journey from journeyman development officer to back-up centre for Gordon D’Arcy
has fallen well. This season he has played 16 times for the team.
The son of teachers, mum
Trish and father John, his move on a one-year contract – which has been rolled
over for another year – was as much a cultural exchange as a chance to
kick-start a fully-fledged professional career at 29 years of age. He’s now 30
and enjoying the ride.
Game time
Injuries along the back line
as well as players slipping off for international duty with Ireland gave
Goodman enough game time not to be churning over on the bench wondering whether
he had made the right choice.
His solid play is quite the
foil for the excitable assembly line of Leinster Academy players now punching
through into the squad.
“I am coming back for one
more year,” he says. “I love the environment here, learning off some of the
best players in the world.”
As the players watched
analysis clips of the likely Clermont starting team for the first leg, it
dawned on him two former All Blacks, Benson Stanley and Regan King, couldn’t
make the walk-on side. In France, it was the biggest crowd, at 17,000, he had
ever played in front of until the return leg in Aviva, where Leinster fell in
front of 50,000 supporters.
“The great thing about
Leinster is if you are performing at training and on the field Joe always gives
you a chance,” he adds having just heard the name of the incoming coach, Matt
O’Connor.
Concentrating
“I haven’t had much time to
think about it (O’Connor). I suppose at this time of the year we’re just
concentrating on semis and finals so we haven’t really talked about it too
much,” he says before spreading some optimism.
“I know the incoming coach
has a very good reputation, he did a great job over at Leicester, and the
Brumbies before that. I’ve heard a couple of the boys say he’s coming very
highly rated so I’m looking forward to that next year.”
This weekend, there is
little Leinster don’t know. The sides met in the RDS at the end of March, where
Ian Madigan scored all of Leinster’s 22 points, including the match -winning
try 10 minutes from the end of the match.
Gregor Townsend’s side
started the stronger and led at half-time but were unable to get the scoreboard
ticking over as quickly as they might, allowing Leinster to stay in contention
and finally close them out.
But Glasgow will come on
Saturday with an idea of how to deal with the home side’s running game.
“Aw, they’ve been playing
some great footie this year,” says Goodman. “Looking at the stats, they’ve
scored the most tries in the competition this season, play a very open brand
and off-loading a lot. They use their backs so we have to be on the spot to
make sure we get past them.”
Low key, easy-going, still
enjoying the scenery but no longer just there for the ride.