Eoin O’Malley on life at the centre of Leinster

Up and coming Leinster centre Eoin O’Malley talks about scoring his first try, keeping a place on the team and life in the massage room during his extended period of injury.

A late surge against Llanelli Scarlets in last Friday’s frosty Magners League match over in South Wales was enough to get a draw for Leinster, but was just too late to secure a win for the boys in blue.

The game did, however, see Eoin O’Malley score his first try for the visitors. It was a breakthrough moment for the 22-year-old centre who has been in a position to learn from the likes of O’Driscoll and D’Arcy as he’s done his bit to work his way into the first XV.

“It was nice to get it out of the way, alright,” says Eoin, speaking at the Grafton Street launch of Champion Sports’ new retail partnership with Leinster rugby on Monday. “Not that I had to do a whole lot for it. You don’t want to be the lad who’s got fifty caps but who hasn’t got a try.

“I don’t think anyone was thrilled with the result, to be honest. I suppose a lot of us are feeling lucky, on one hand, to get a draw, but on the other hand we’re disappointed not to have pushed on to get the win.

“The Scarlets are a very strong team at the moment who are playing great rugby, and obviously playing them at home in those conditions was very difficult.

With Brian O’Driscoll looking unfit to play against Clermont on Sunday, last Friday’s game gave a chance for Eoin to prove himself ahead of what promises to be a big match. If he is selected, Sunday’s game will be his biggest club game to date.

“I suppose it was, we’ll just have to see how the selection goes this week,” he says, cautiously. “I think there’s obviously a big chance for me to play with Gordon [D’Arcy] and Johnny [Sexton]. We’ll see how the team sheet goes this week.

If Eoin does make the team against Clermont, he’ll most likely have to square up to Aurelien Rougerie at outside centre – quite a challenge given that Rougerie is 6’4” and Eoin is just 5’10”.

“Apart from anything else, he’s a world-class player. It’s something I’d be really looking forward to – a big chance to prove myself. Playing at that level would be pretty exciting.

“I’ve been lucky enough to be training with Brian and Gordon for all these years – that’s a big enough challenge itself. I’m not the biggest man, so it’s not a surprise when I have to mark someone bigger than me. I’ll certainly have to be fully focused, though.”

Nerves

“There’s definitely a bit of nerves. I think I get a bit of nerves every week, so I think there’ll be that extra bit this week. Playing over in France always brings its own excitement and Clermont are a serious challenge. I think I’ll be a bit more nervous about the team sheet, and I’ll start looking forward to the game after that.”

Meeting Clermont offers a chance for Leinster to come up against a team who have previously benefitted from being coached by Leinster’s new boss Joe Schmidt, promising a fast and furious battle ahead.

“They’re definitely a team who like to throw the ball around, and they’re big strong fast guys with good skills. It was Joe who got them playing the way they do, so hopefully he’ll know how to dismantle them,” Eoin says.

“It’s a very attractive brand of rugby they play. Hopefully we’ll be able to stop them on Sunday.”

He’s starting to make his mark at Leinster now, but two years ago, Eoin was forced out of the game by injury for eleven months. Not ideal for a young man trying to make a name for himself.

“I was just unlucky,” he says. “It was just a thing with my hip. I’d had a lot of groin tears and hernias and it all got a bit messy. It was just wear and tear and it was hard to diagnose, so it did drag on. It got sorted, and I haven’t had a problem since.”

It did, however, give him a good chance to get to spend a decent amount of time with other injured players, including some of the club’s star names.

“When you’re injured you do a lot of rehab, and you get to see a lot of people popping in and out. CJ was in there, and Shane Jennings would have been there. Luke and D’Arcy too. There was a good bunch of us, to be honest.”

Nick Bradshaw

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