ROSS BYRNE STEPS UP FOR LEINSTER WITH HIS GREATEST DAY IN BLUE

IT HASN’T ALWAYS been easy for Ross Byrne at Leinster. Having spent so long playing the support role behind club icon Johnny Sexton, this year he’s found himself watching on with injury while the debate around the province’s options at 10 continues to swirl around him.

His younger brother, Harry, has been the coming man for the last few seasons, his progress stunted by a frustrating run of injuries which have delayed the 24-year-old’s predicted ascension to the throne.

That’s opened the door for others to stake their claim. Ireland boss Andy Farrell likes Ciarán Frawley as an option at 10, but at Leinster he finds himself primarily used as a fullback, a home not all of Frawley’s fans feel is the right one.

Dig a little deeper down the depth chart and there’s much excitement around the potential of 21-year-old Sam Prendergast, who has just 11 Leinster caps to his name but will surely become a more familiar face over the next couple of seasons.

When it comes to Leinster out-halves, supporters and the media always have one eye on who’s next. The best road for Byrne Sr, who turned 29 last week, is to kill that chat with his performances on the pitch.

With Sexton gone, this year was the year for Byrne to make this Leinster team his own. Yet it hasn’t gone to plan. An arm injury sidelined him for a crucial run of games – Byrne playing no rugby for almost three months between December and late February – and while he settled back into the team nicely on his return, there was an argument to start Harry in the Champions Cup round of 16 tie against Leicester Tigers. 

Ross won that call and kept his place for Saturday’s blockbuster quarter-final meeting with La Rochelle, and his performance should ensure he remains the man at 10 for the rest of the season.

On a day Leinster desperately needed to put some demons to bed, Byrne stepped up with probably his best game in a Leinster shirt. 

Despite challenging conditions for kickers, Byrne was six from seven off the tee, nailing three long-range penalties in the first half while also slotting some tricky conversions from the sideline.

Yet the added layer was his contribution in open play, the former St Michael’s man moving the ball with intent and showcasing his skillset – something which doesn’t always come to the fore in his game.

Having being able to keep himself fit while recovering from that arm injury earlier this season, Byrne says he’s now feeling sharper than usual for this stage of the campaign – a promising prospect as the province set their sights on ending their two-year trophy drought.

“It’s probably the first time I’ve missed that many games really,” Byrne says.

Physically, actually I feel good whereas normally this time of year I’m falling apart a little bit.”

While his kicking was an important part of Leinster’s success on Saturday – his boot supplying 15 of their 40 points on the day – the highlight of his contribution was the lovely tip-pass which sent James Lowe over for Leinster’s first try of the evening, Byrne quickly getting the ball to his winger as Tawera Kerr-Barlow came in with a crunching hit.

“I was just trying to get it out of my hands without getting melted.

“You don’t have too much time to think. You just trust your instinct and hopefully it comes off.”

Saturday was one of those days where most of what Leinster tried did come off – the hosts stretching La Rochelle by varying the point of attack and moving the ball wide with speed and accuracy, Byrne playing a central role in orchestrating a statement performance from the Leinster attack.

“The lads make my job pretty easy to be honest, all the talking they do. They just back themselves, that’s something we’ve put a big emphasis on, going out and attacking teams, and we can do it in a number of different ways which is great.

“But a lot of it to be honest comes from the pressure we face in training every week, obviously the linespeed you see from us, that’s pretty much what we face most days so that’s probably helping our attack.”

Their reward is a Champions Cup semi-final date with Northampton Saints on the first weekend of May – the province returning to Jones’ Road for the first time since their epic 2009 Heineken Cup meeting with Munster.

Byrne was just 14 then – Cian Healy is the only member of the current squad who featured against Munster in Croke Park – and while he wasn’t in the stadium that day he’s made the trip to Drumcondra plenty of times over the years, although he’s yet to experience a day on Hill 16.

“I was never in the Hill, no, prawn sandwich brigade,” Byrne says.

“I’ve been [to Croke Park] a good bit like. Obviously I go to a few Dublin games. It’s probably one of the premier stadiums in Europe. Hopefully we get a great crowd.

“It’s pretty special. I mean, look, it doesn’t really happen. Hopefully we can get an incredible crowd and hopefully it’s another special day.”

2024-04-15T06:32:07Z dg43tfdfdgfd