WHEN YOU MAKE a career out of sprinting past wings and beating fullbacks in tight spaces with footwork that you would see at Coppers, you don’t want to be in the position that Luke Fitzgerald finds himself in at the moment.
Fizgerald hasn’t played a great deal for Leinster over the last two years but what is more frustrating is that every cameo – like Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder – is a reminder to everyone of how devastating he can be.
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Three years ago, a routine weekend for Fitzgerald featured tries like this.
Source: VicMackey0/YouTube
Sadly, now his career can be boiled down to last weekend’s trip to Treviso where he pulled out before kick-off as a ‘precautionary measure’. Matt O’Connor spoke about Fitzgerald’s current health today and how they thought his injuries had cleared up before last weekend.
“The only bloke who is more sick about talking about this than me is Luke but I’ll tell you,” O’Connor said.
When you here that description it doesn’t sound all bad – hey, he trained all last week, maybe it was just a precaution. But then O’Connor elaborated and despite the coach’s optimism, it doesn’t sound very promising for Fitzgerald.
“He can do everything except change direction and run flat out,” O’Connor said.
“He showed that as soon as that is fine, he can play good rugby for us. There isn’t anyone in our environment who works harder than he does and nobody wants to play more than he does. It would not be a shock at all for him to be available.”
Saying a wing can do everything except sprint and sidestep is like saying an outhalf can do everything except kick the ball – it’s good that the other parts of his game are in good nick but without the unique qualities that make him great, he is operating at significantly below his capacity.
But there is good news on the injury front too for Leinster. Dave Kearney and Jordi Murphy returned last week and Fergus McFadden is back in the starting line-up to face the Ospreys this Saturday evening at the RDS.
Kearney was on the score-sheet in the disappointing 24-24 draw in Italy last week (54 seconds in the video) and O’Connor is delighted to be welcoming back some key men rather than wheeling in another gurney