Jack Conan had grave doubts about whether he would have any role with Ireland in the World Cup. The Leinster backrow has not played since injuring his foot in the warm-up win over Italy in August but was declared available to play on Thursday as Ireland prepare to meet Scotland in their final pool match on Saturday week.
Conan had been recovering well but the torn ligaments in his foot stopped progressing and he was forced to miss Ireland’s opening matches against Romania, Tonga and South Africa. Persistence from the medical staff and Conan means Andy Farrell has all 33 players from which to choose as Ireland face the Scots in eight days’ time.
“It’s been very frustrating,” said Conan at the team base in Tours. “I was doing very well before I arrived back over here and then I hit a bit of a roadblock that pushed it back a few weeks. I’m incredibly grateful for the patience of the coaching staff to stick with me, give me the time to get better.
“Three or four weeks ago, I thought I was going home but to be able to turn it around with the work of all the physios, the docs and stuff – they’ve done an incredible amount of work with me and I’m unbelievably grateful. I’m training away, feeling good and just ready to add my bit of value that I can. The lads have gone unbelievably well the last few weeks, it’s always a bit strange watching on from a distance and the lads are out on the pitch; I’m flogging myself on the rower or in the gym, it’s great to be back.”
The 31-year-old explained that the injury was getting better and then just stopped. He had a similar event in Japan and when the healing slowed down, he was reminded of his time sitting in a hospital waiting for bad news.
“I ran the Thursday morning before we left and it went really well, my best running session,” said Conan. “Literally, two days after that it capitulated to some degree and I went for scans. I had flashbacks to sitting in some random Japanese hospital in the middle of nowhere with Ciarán [Ruddock, Ireland’s assistant athletic performance coach] four years ago. With Ciarán again, and I was saying ‘surely not?’
“Doing it all again in the exact same spot? Thankfully, this one’s had a far better outcome. But there was definitely a stage where I thought: ‘this is me, I’m cooked’. It wasn’t as severe.”
Conan also admitted that the struggle to get fit was not entirely physical. While his foot slowly mended, he had to watch the other players lead Ireland into their currently healthy position in the tournament, having defeated the current world champions South Africa. Feeling very much on the outside and doing a different type of training to the others in the squad, the sense of a personal lack of contribution was something he had to overcome.
“I’ve sat down with Gary Keegan [high-performance coach] a good few times, because even those first few days because I wasn’t training at the start you’re somewhat on the outside. I could contribute, you’re in the meetings and I was watching footage and everything else, but to some degree you’re on the outside.
“You don’t get the highs of being on the pitch, winning games, celebrating big moments with your team-mates. So, I found the first week, 10 days really frustrating and I spoke to Gary a fair bit, he spoke about relaxing, being okay with what’s going on, focus on being better and being myself around the environment. Most of my input has been punishing lads who’ve made mistakes the last few weeks. That’s how I’m staying relevant.”
Now Conan is hoping for a run against a Scottish side that feels it has a chance against Ireland. Working off their meeting in the Six Nations earlier this year, although Scotland are playing Romania this weekend, they have already turned their minds towards the Irish. Pitch time against the Scots for Conan would have a familiar feel.
“It will be great,” said Conan. “My one cap in a World Cup so far was against Scotland, so it will be good to add another one.”
