Who knew that Andrew Conway was a Bryan Adams fan? There is no immediate evidence of how tuneful his rendition of Summer of '69 was, but the 25-year-old debutant was pitch-perfect where it mattered most, namely when introduced as a replacement for the injured Keith Earls at the start of the second half.
He may have been more nervous about singing the song – it generally takes place on the team bus as part of a traditional ritual for a player winning his first cap – but betrayed no sign of nerves in his performance.
Conway was one of three uncapped players in an extended squad prior to the Six Nations alongside the Scannell brothers, Niall and Rory, so he understood that an opportunity might arise. Injuries are a fundamental consequence of a collision sport.
Test match rugby
He was Ireland’s 24th man for the home game against France and that up-close acclimatisation, along with the miles on the training paddock, brought a greater understanding of the demands of test match rugby, while lessening any anxiety that bubbles beneath the surface.
Ireland coach Joe Schmidt demands that every player fully comprehends their role and that applies to centurions or debutants. Conway explains: "I was part of the 23. That was it, a few key messages [on the day of the game]. Everyone gets those. They're not just for someone who has been there before.
“He [Schmidt] will talk to everyone about something he wants them to deliver. It felt like a normal week, to be honest, other than that. You build it up. I was the 24th man against France. You look down and you see the lads singing the anthems, thinking you are further away than you are.
“You think it is a bigger arena than it is. When you get down there, you realise you’ve played with these lads or against them a handful of times. You’ve played against the English lads in big games.
“There are probably a few more people watching and a few more interested in the game. But, it was a comforting feeling, [I was] a lot more confident than I thought I would have been in that situation.”
Conflicting emotions
That didn’t mean there weren’t any conflicting emotions churning around on the morning of the game. “[Saturday] wasn’t the nicest day of my life in the build-up, not knowing if I’d get on, not knowing if you will have a positive impact, not knowing if you’ll win the game; all sorts of things go through your head.”
He couldn’t have envisaged the timing of his introduction to the match. “I knew in the first half Keith [Earls] was struggling a bit; he tried to strap it up and do a bit of movement but it was no good.”
Confirmation that he’d be coming on came a couple of minutes before the teams re-emerged for the second half. There was no time to over-think anything.
“[There were] few taps on the back and [players saying] ‘you belong here’ and that kind of stuff. It reinforces things so that the mind doesn’t wander. You have the first cap on the horizon, it is something you have been looking to get to for so long and there is a danger you can build it up to be a bigger monster than it is.”
Excellent form
Conway drew down from a number of sources, his excellent form, the fact that he’d acquitted himself so capably in Champions Cup matches for Munster and watching how the likes of
Garry Ringrose
and
Joey Carbery
successfully stepped into the test match arena and flourished.
There is no doubting Conway’s prodigious talent – that’s always been evident. It needed refining in certain areas but he also required, and got for the most part, an injury-free run. When a number of other players suffered in the latter respect he stepped forward.
There is a grace to his observations on the fickle nature and timing of injuries. "Darren Sweetnam probably would have been in the Irish squad had he not got injured against Leinster. Fortunately for me, it gave me opportunity to get game time in a few big games and they went well.
“We were winning those games. It is a huge thing when someone breaks into a team that the team they are playing in is winning. A few things fell for me in the last few months, a bit of luck and hard work and grit. I’ve stuck in there.
‘Winning the game’
“Getting on the pitch and winning the game, I would have taken your hand off for that at the start of the day. It was a bonus to get 40 minutes and have a good involvement as opposed to coming on for two minutes when a game is won.”
He had the courage to leave Leinster and join Munster in search of first-team rugby and that courage has been rewarded.
“I’ve never once regretted going to Munster.
“It took a bit more faith than I would have hoped, getting capped this late with the amount of provincial games I have under my belt and watching lads I grew up with playing for Ireland; we got there eventually.”
It is just the beginning.
