Nick Timoney: I still think I can break through with Ireland

Times

6 hours ago

Pro rugby can be such a brutal and unforgiving job that its practitioners surely need an occasional reminder of why they fell in love with the sport in the first place. Nick Timoney may have had one of those moments last week, when Mamuka Gorgodze's name popped up in conversation.
The context was Georgian rugby — naturally, given that Timoney is in Tbilisi preparing for next Saturday's Test. The 29-year-old Dubliner has played these opponents at U18 level and also in sevens, but when he thinks of Georgia, his first thought is Gorgodze, a rampaging loose forward and one of his childhood heroes.
'I have hours of Mamuka Gorgodze footage watched from when I was a kid,' Timoney says. 'I used to watch that ten-minute highlight video of his pretty much every week, loads of clips of him playing Poland and Russia and Spain. He was a tank.
'It was the same with other players in your position that you looked up to. I used to like the [Sébastien] Chabal clips on Rugby Dump. I used to love David Wallace, the Seán O'Briens of the world, [Stephen] Ferris back in the day. My favourite one was 'Try-Savers and Rib-Breakers 11'.'
A classic, no doubt. Timoney now has his own highlights reel, and it features a try-scoring debut appearance for Ireland, against USA this time four years ago when, once again, the eyes of the rugby world were on the Lions. In most of the clips, however, he's charging around in an Ulster shirt.
There have been just two more opportunities at Test match level — first, when he was a very late call-up to sit on the bench against Argentina in November 2021 and then 12 months later, when he scored two tries in an underwhelming victory over Fiji, following which Andy Farrell made it plain that he'd been displeased with the team's performance.
Since then, nada — unless you count inclusion in most squad announcements (barring the World Cup) and a peripheral presence on tours to New Zealand and South Africa. His desire to play more for Ireland is intense, though. It's one of the reasons behind his decision to stay in Ulster for another two seasons for significantly less money than was on offer in Gloucester and from another club, in the Top 14. Once he's in the mix with Ireland, he's staying put.
Timoney seemed mildly surprised when it was put to him that that players might show any complacency or fatigue approaching this end-of-season assignment, which also features a Test against Portugal in Lisbon on Saturday week. Yes, 15 front-liners are away with the Lions, but this only creates precious opportunities.
'I don't think there's any hint of really taking any complacency into this, just with the nature of the group that we have,' he says. 'Essentially everyone has a point to prove in some way. I'm sure there will be some lads disappointed not to be picked in the Lions squad. There will be some lads who are hoping to get the chance for the first time in a while, like myself, and there are some lads who are the first time in. So everyone's mad keen.
'In my head there's absolutely no hint of this being anything other than a chance to represent my country, which is a massive honour. We take this incredibly seriously. And to be fair to all the young lads in, like, they're desperate for their chance. Maybe desperate is the wrong word, but they're keen.'
It might be the right word for him, though. Timoney can be forgiven for feeling a bit unlucky to be playing at the same time and in the same position as Josh van der Flier, who has maintained a machine-like efficiency and durability despite spending so much time in the collision zone.
Discounting World Cup warm-ups, Ireland have played 40 Tests since Timoney's debut. Van der Flier has played 39 of those, starting all but two of those games. How does his understudy maintain the same level of ambition in those circumstances?
'Just by the value of the goal that's there,' he says. 'It can be tough. Being a realist, you come in to a lot of camps knowing you're not top of the pecking order. But if the other lads are desperate to play in a Six Nations opener against England, I'd be the exact same. And it still kills you inside a little bit every time a team is announced and you're not in it. But ultimately, if you really value playing for Ireland enough there's no choice but to put more emphasis on getting better and working harder.'The belief is still there. Like, I still come into every single camp thinking this be the one I break through and I'll be into it properly then. I still feel like I have loads of improvements to make and I still have the same appetite for it.'
The younger Timoney set high expectations for himself, not unreasonably given that he captained Blackrock College to a Leinster Schools Senior Cup. That 2014 side included several players who would become successful full-timers: Caelan Doris, Hugo Keenan, Conor Oliver, Joey Carbery and Jeremy Loughman.
But if you view Timoney as the kid who was ditched by the Leinster academy and didn't make much of an initial impact after his move to Ulster, then his career has been a resounding success. The way he tells it, he is almost an accidental pro.
'I didn't really feel like I was getting much purchase at Ulster,' he says. 'I'd signed a two-year academy deal and I was coming towards the end of my second yea. I hadn't gotten a game and hadn't gotten really that close. I remember playing an AIL game with Queen's [University] away to Corinthians, who were bottom of Division 2A, and we got absolutely hammered.
'This was five, six weeks from the end of the season and I hadn't heard anything about the following year. I thought it was coming to an end. But somewhat randomly I got a chance off the bench then the following week for Ulster against Cardiff and then got a few more chances and ended up managing to stick around for a few years. '
It's easy to wonder what if. What if Timoney had been born in Scotland or Wales? How many Test caps would he have then? What if he didn't play for a club that is often mired in mediocrity?
But Ulster has worked pretty well for Nick Timoney. Yes, the club lost their last five games of the season and yes, he had to spend the next five weeks training in the Ravenhill gym along with the other six Ulster players selected for Tbilisi and Lisbon. But his consistency was also acknowledged at Ulster's awards night, when he won Player of the Year and Supporters' Player of the Year. Besides, he loves what he does. You'd have to, right?
'It's hard to watch a URC game with the same enthusiasm as when you were a child, because it's now work,' he says. 'You watch things with more of a serious face.
But like, I'm still into it. Yeah, I still like keeping up-to-date what's going on, seeing who's doing what. And I think you sort of have to love it a little bit if you want to keep getting better. Like you've got to be properly into it. So I still am, yeah, for now.'