Tommy O'Brien: 'I definitely don't want to be a one-cap wonder'
Played 12, four tries scored. If those aren't the kind of numbers to jump off the page then anyone who has followed Tommy O'Brien's injury-plagued career up to now will understand the true significance locked within them.
The 26-year-old made his debut for Leinster in December of 2019 and still only has 47 caps to his name. The dozen he managed last term equals his best so far, but the 836 minutes banked make for miles more than a previous best of 588.
Those minutes were clocked despite another false start to a campaign in which he injured a hamstring on his first appearance, against Edinburgh in September, and the fact that he had played just twice before mid-February.
Now here he is in Ireland camp preparing for the summer Tests against Georgia and Portugal, and with a URC medal in his back pocket after their Grand Final destruction of the Bulls in Croke Park earlier this month.
Sweet.
'Yeah, delighted. As you said, a very frustrating start. I felt like I had a really good preseason and then did my hamstring in the first game and took a few months to get back.
"But I've loved my rugby the last few months and I love just getting a run of games. It's something I haven't really had in my career, getting an extended period of games, and thankfully that tied in with the trophy.'
O'Brien spoke at a commercial engagement in December when in the midst of his latest enforced absence.
What struck most was the air of certainty in his voice when he discussed his ambitions once fit again.
All those setbacks hadn't made a dent in him mentally.
'I guess I've known what I can do in training, but it's obviously behind closed doors so the general public wouldn't see it. I had a bit of confidence in what I was doing.
"The fact you're training in Leinster with such high-level players, such international-quality players, I took a bit of confidence from that. I felt I just needed to get a chance to get a couple of games under my belt.'
His performances have been superb. O'Brien has a rate of acceleration that isn't the norm in Irish rugby and he's a big enough boy who can take care of himself. There's a case to be made that he was Leinster's best player this last six months or so.
Now he gets the chance to transfer that into a green jersey.
Injury cost him the chance to go to South Africa with Emerging Ireland late last year, and it was all but impossible to catch the eye in Bristol in February when Ireland 'A' suffered a catalogue of misfortune on the way to a convincing defeat to England on a pig of a day.
That he was in the wider frame was obvious when Andy Farrell called him in to senior camp for the week of the Six Nations tie against France in early March, at which point he was just two games into his most recent comeback.
It's been a few years since he started anywhere but on the right wing for Leinster but he's 27 now and mature enough as a player and a person to take whatever comes from interim head coach Paul O'Connell this next few weeks.
'I'm dying to play a game for Ireland, so wherever they play me, I'll happily play. I think I probably have been viewed more as a winger at the moment, but if it's wing, if it's centre, if it's the 23 role, yeah, I'm happy to play wherever.'
O'Brien is 27 now. Among his contemporaries during two years with the Ireland U20s were Caelan Doris, Dan Sheehan and Ronan Kelleher. Two of them are in Australia touring with the Lions now and Doris would be only for his own injury.
Others from that vintage – Tom O'Toole and Jack Aungier – are with O'Brien on Ireland duties right now. Like them, the Leinster man is hoping to lay down a marker for the season to come and beyond that again.
'Obviously, there's guys away, Lowey and Mack are away with the Lions, so there's two wingers there for Ireland, but I want to try stake a claim and make myself a mainstay in this squad and try to push (for a place in future squads).
'Obviously there's this summer tour and then you've November internationals and Six Nations and stuff. I definitely don't want to be a one-cap wonder. Hopefully this is the start for me now of being in this squad and pushing for places.'
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