Somewhere inside the Stadio Olimpico, Jack Boyle went looking for Cian Healy.
The beast of Belvedere, Ireland’s most capped man, a propping marvel with more Leinster appearances than anyone else and a trophy cabinet gasping beneath the weight of all his honours, was now retired from international rugby. The Italy match, on the final weekend of the Six Nations, was to be 37-year-old Healy’s swansong. Instead, Boyle was picked in his place.
The younger man smiles a lot when he talks about ‘Church’. A source of wisdom and support for Boyle, nearly 15 years his junior, at the very start of his Test voyage. The two replacement outings he made during the championship were his first in the emerald green of Ireland.
The Italy selection felt like a definite changing-of-the-guard moment. The tyro chosen ahead of the departing totem. Test jerseys are precious, especially when you only have two of them, but when the action subsided, Boyle went to Healy and gave him his.
“It wasn’t a throwaway symbol, it really did mean something,” Boyle says. “He probably just gave me the look, he didn’t say too many things, but you could tell it meant something to both of us.
“That week, Pete O’Mahony and Conor Murray were on the bench and getting their send-offs, but I got the nod over ‘Church’, and all week he was like, ‘no better man’.
“He’s definitely a bizarre character, but he is just such a good person around the group. I always got on very well with him.
“It was a pretty surreal week, probably more so for him than me, and I can’t thank him enough for all he’s done.”
Even on the bench during the game he had the laptop out showing me how the scrums were going, giving me different bits to attack when I got on.
In his own unique fashion, Healy has been by Boyle’s side these past few months. The quiet words at training, the subtle coaching at scrum time. He was on the Principality bench as Boyle prepared to make his Ireland debut, pointing out weaknesses in the Welsh drive.
“Church, especially over the last few months, has been incredibly good to me. That Wales game all week, he was prepping me, in my ear about different things, making sure I felt right, and then even on the bench during the game he had the laptop out showing me how the scrums were going, giving me different bits to attack when I got on.
“He has probably transitioned into more of a mentor/coach for myself as opposed to a player. I’ve definitely grown closer to him.”
Naturally, that first cap will be forever cherished – although Boyle reckoned it might have come sooner. He’d been called into the autumn squad, seen his mates Tom Clarkson and Gus McCarthy debut, and by his own admission, naively assumed it would be his shot next.
Four months later, with his parents, sister and girlfriend in the stands, he came off the bench and did a job on the Welsh scrum.
“I was really looking forward to it, I knew I was ready,” he says. “But then you’re sitting on the bench and watching the game and it kinda all hits you and you go, ‘oh bollocks’. The doubts start hitting you a bit.
“Once you’re out there, it’s all grand, all gone. I’ve been delighted with how I’ve gone in the green jersey but the important thing is putting my hand up for selection for these big games.”
Leinster’s talent pool, buttressed by a lavish school system and supplemented with Galacticos from abroad, is deeper than the Grand Canyon. Jacques Nienaber has them defending like berserkers and attacking like assassins. RG Snyman, Jordie Barrett and Rabah Slimani have added stardust and malevolence on the great quest for a fifth European star.
You’re going to get f***ed up. You’re going to get put on your arse. But it’s, how does that not happen a second time?
In the front-row alone, Boyle has Andrew Porter and Healy as chief rivals on the loosehead side; Dan Sheehan and Ronan Kelleher, both Lions-in-waiting, are the front-line hookers; Tadgh Furlong and Slimani, the bruiser from Sarcelles, the cornerstone tight-heads.
There’s a balance between learning from the juggernauts he calls team-mates, and scrapping to claim the jersey ahead of them. Scrum sessions are ferocious and Boyle’s reverse lights have, on occasion, been blinking furiously.
“You are kind of pinching yourself a bit,” he says. “It was important for me over the last few years to get as much info out of those lads as possible but not lose my identity and what I stand for as a rugby player. You still need to be your own man. Ultimately you are thinking, how do you get ahead of this person?
“It’s a serious, serious team you’re training against. A couple of weeks ago, the starting pack were training against Porter, Sheehan, Furlong and Snyman.”
How did that go?
Jordie Barrett and RG Snyman have added masses of class, skill and power to the Leinster squad (Photo By Shaun Roy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
“I thought we held our own for a bit… it was a ding-dong battle all right. A few learnings.”
We’ve all seen the blue-on-blue tussles in Living with Lions documentaries of yesteryear, when scrums erupted in fiery bouts of grappling, refereed (and probably relished) by Jim Telfer. We’d be foolish to think today’s game is free from this, but it is the lot of a callow prop to be twisted, bent and concertinaed by the old timers.
“You’re going to get f***ed up,” Boyle says, bluntly. “You’re going to get put on your arse. But it’s, how does that not happen a second time? You have to front up, especially against a pack like that. Take your lessons around that set-piece.
“It’s very much a collective trying to get better, but individually you have to have those chats with them to see what they are seeing and feeling. It does get tasty, but all in a good way.
“The level of scrummaging in those sessions is extremely high, so really valuable to have, but I’ve definitely had some strong battles. Michael Bent, who was there when I first came in at 18, 19, he’d certainly do a job on you. But he’d be brilliant – scrummaging was his thing, and having those small chats with him.
“‘Slim’ [Slimani] coming in, another scrummaging freak. You have to pick the brains of these lads, especially when you are scrummaging against them a few times a week. Wilco Louw against the Bulls this year, the size and the weight he had. There are two of three things you think, right, don’t fall into that trap again.”
I don’t want to just be one of these tight five forwards – which we don’t really have in Leinster – who just go set-piece to set-piece.
Boyle was a relative latecomer to his position. He wasn’t the tallest back-row but his coaches at Dublin’s illustrious St Michael’s College recognised his phenomenal strength and brighter prospects if he shifted forwards. Boyle lifted tin and guzzled calories to layer on the beef. He won the Leinster Schools Cup and became a shining star in successful Ireland age-grade teams.
“I was pretty much told, ‘you’ve no ceiling if you move forward’,” he remembers. “I struggled putting on the weight for a few years. In school, it’s different to England a bit, they probably prioritise size and physical development a bit earlier. In Ireland, that comes second – after you finish school.
“It was definitely a slog to get the size on but it becomes easier. If you want to play for Leinster, play for Ireland, play these big games, it’s a switch in lifestyle you have to make. It’s a no-brainer really.”
This has been Boyle’s first season immersed in a Champions Cup campaign. Leinster yearn for the European crown as Captain Ahab sought Moby Dick. Four years without silverware is a desolate return for a club of such pedigree and history. The gut-wrenchers against La Rochelle (twice) and Toulouse in the past three Champions Cup finals; and the muggings by the Bulls (twice) and Munster in the URC are scars etched on their collective psyche.
There’s a different feel to the place this year. Nienaber fetched up with his two World Cup medals and infused Leinster with yet more steel. Then there’s Barrett and Snyman. Harlequins and Glasgow were dispatched in the knockouts without an aggregate score of 114-0.
Boyle has a mighty tussle to win selection for the showpiece matches, starting when Northampton Saints, who ran Leinster close at this stage last year, arrive in Dublin for a semi-final. His old pal Church will have something to say about that. He’s up for it, though. His dynamism around the paddock and ruthlessness in the tight make a compelling blend.
“I could be a bit naïve in saying this, but aggressive scrummaging, you have to always feel like you can have a go, that’s my mindset going into it,” he says.
“That has to be the priority, but around the pitch you have to be like another back-row. Carrying well, tackling well, a breakdown threat – that kind of thing. I don’t want to just be one of these tight five forwards – which we don’t really have in Leinster – who just go set-piece to set-piece. I won’t be happy with ‘okay, the scrum went well this week and that’s that’.”
Porter, Church and Boyle sound more like a law firm or a steakhouse than a trident of enormous athletes. Porter is the top dog; Healy the gnarled master; Boyle the coming man. More trophies on the line, more opportunities to seize and, for the youngest of the looseheads, more jerseys to covet.
I wonder did Jack notice, but “Church” has rather a lot of Ireland Jerseys already. 😀
Looking forward to seeing how he progresses over the next few years. I can see his strengths in open play, but ultimately Props are remembered for their scrum game. Hope he doesn't lose sight of that.