Jeremy Loughman had a pretty good idea of what to expect but it didn’t take long for it to be confirmed. Munster in the Champions Cup, especially in a capacity Thomond Park, is a little different.
The Athy-reared prop had moved from the Leinster academy to take up a three-month development contract in December 2017, which was then extended until the end of that season. The following March, he and a few others outside Munster’s match day squad were at a corporate box for the quarter-final against Toulon.
Munster trailed 19-13 entering the final embers of the game, when Andrew Conway gathered a clearance by François Trinh-Duc and set off on that slaloming run to score a stunning try, which Ian Keatley converted.
“That was the day when Bomber got the try and everybody went crazy,” recalled Loughman this week.
“There were a few others that season and the next season, when maybe I was 24th man, and we get the bus to the ground from the Clayton and thousands are there to greet you. There are the flame-throwers before kick-off, and the ends are opened.
“It’s a special place to be for a European game. There aren’t many stadiums which has that kind of feel to it. There’s this electric atmosphere, and the noise when something big happens is huge. When Bomber scored that try the place went bonkers. I was thinking: ‘This is class.’”
These weeks remain different too.
“You can feel it in training. People are a bit narkier, everyone is on top of each other, which is good.”
Loughman’s European debut was the following December, in a 30-6 home win over Castres, before playing in a 13-12 defeat away to the same opponents six days later.
“That was a learning experience, to see how different French teams can be at home,” added Loughman, with a wry chuckle.
Last week was Loughman’s 20th Champions Cup game, but his first time in Toulon, and everything about the occasion in the Stade Felix Mayol lived up to expectations, such as Toulon’s prematch war chant, the pilou-pilou.
“We were in our huddle while that was going on, but they brought a lot of noise, and there was an unbelievable travelling support. Near our hotel was an Irish bar, and you could hear them singing the night before. That was good craic. It didn’t bother me sleeping. Nice weather too. It was a really enjoyable weekend.”
Loughman had a fine game himself, part of a solid scrum and bringing plenty of energy and effectiveness in defence, with 15 tackles.
“It never felt like we lost control even though we went a score down. In France, they’re going to come out all guns blazing, and they did. They threw everything at us and we soaked it up and gave it back. It was just riding that initial wave from them, their purple patch, and I think we did that really well.
“We were able to come back in to the game and our execution when we got into their 22 was really good as well.”
Munster have thus removed some jeopardy from the equation for Saturday’s game against Northampton, but Loughman appreciates the game’s magnitude.
“Regardless of anything, this is massively important for us, on so many fronts: finish this [13-game] block on a high, to back up what we did last week, to keep that momentum going. Northampton are top of the Premiership, playing some unbelievable attacking rugby, and we have the utmost respect for them.
“I can’t emphasise enough how much it means to us to put in a good show in front of our own fans. If we don’t turn up at 100 per cent, we know the damage they can do.”
Now in his seventh season with the province, Loughman has long since bought into the Munster zeitgeist. He was born in Reno, Nevada; his mum, Katja Tilley, was born in England but reared in the US, while his dad, David Loughman, is “Athy through and through”.
Loughman’s younger brothers, Spencer and Kyle, are twins who live in Colorado and California, while his younger sister, Kirsten, lives in London.
His dad’s work in the oil and gas industry took the family to Sevenoaks in Kent when Loughman was four, and where he tried hockey, athletics and swimming, before Loughman’s parents relocated to Athy.
“When we were moving over to Ireland I thought it was the worst thing in the world. But my parents said: ‘You can get a dog if we move.’ So I thought that was unbelievable.”
He started playing some GAA and, at 11 or 12, rugby with Athy RFC as well as Ardscoil na Tríonóide. Training with North Midlands upped his interest levels, as did a summer camp at the Rugby And French training camp in Soustons in southwest France, which is run by Nigel Osborne, and is now in its 25th year.
He’s class, unreal. He’s been like that since we were young, turning lads inside out. I’ve been on the receiving end so many times in training when he sidesteps me. I know when lads are about to get done by it and I know how they’re feeling
— Jeremy Loughman on Joey Carbery
A few years beforehand Loughman had been to a Leinster schools senior cup final, in which Conway had been the star turn, and that Soustons camp prompted Loughman’s switch to Blackrock, where he was part of successive senior cup-winning teams after Peter Smyth persuaded him to move to prop.
Loughman played loose head the first year, when Oli Jager was tight head and Garry Ringrose the star, before moving across in his second year, when Nick Timoney, Conor Oliver, Caelan Doris, Joey Carbery and Hugo Keenan were team-mates.
Loughman had actually been a centre before moving to No 6 with North Midlands. In a North Midlands Under-16 trial game, when 15, he was tried at fullback. “That was hell,” he cheerily remembers. “I am not built for fullback.”
He even played at outhalf for Ardscoil na Tríonóide when Carbery (a year behind) was injured. Carbery has been a team-mate at Athy, Ardscoil, Blackrock, UCD and Munster. The only time they opposed each other was when Carbery moved to Clontarf and they beat UCD in an AIL semi-final.
[ Champions Cup team news: Oli Jager to make first European start for MunsterOpens in new window ]
“He’s class, unreal. He’s been like that since we were young, turning lads inside out. I’ve been on the receiving end so many times in training when he sidesteps me. I know when lads are about to get done by it and I know how they’re feeling.”
Loughman played for the Irish Under-18s/Youths and Under-20s before accepting that offer from Munster. Time has flown but he has no regrets.
Conway and Oliver were a huge help, as well as another ex-Rock boy, Jack Power. “I was a bit sceptical as to how they would take me in. The lads have been class and I’ve loved it.”
In last season’s URC title charge, Loughman started in all of the five-game unbeaten run. “I never had any doubt that things were going to work out. I knew there’d be that process with learning a new way of playing, but the way it finished with all those away games was crazy.”
His first taste of the Irish squad was on the New Zealand tour in 2022, and his debut followed against Fiji the ensuing November in the Aviva.
“I tried not to get too emotional about it, and stay on task, which is tough on such a big day, playing alongside guys you grow up watching. Playing with Joey, one of my best friends, and just trying to soak it in, was class, because sometimes those occasions can get the better of you. I tried to enjoy it as much as I could.”
Replacing Cian Healy when a knee injury denied him a fourth World Cup was “bittersweet”. In a very congenial half-hour interview in the UL bar, this was when Loughman became most emotional.
“He’s a legend. I can’t say a bad word about him. Any tips he can give me, he offers me so much, and he’s someone I grew up watching and admiring. I was unbelievably happy and proud, but at the expense of someone you have a lot of admiration for, is the tough side of the sport. You’re buzzing but you feel bad. That’s how you get your chance sometimes. You’d never wish anything on anyone, and if you’re not getting picked, you wait your time.”
Playing in the opening win against Romania in Bordeaux and being part of that Irish World Cup campaign will live with him forever.
“I’ve never experienced anything like that Romanian game. It was like playing in a sauna and the noise was unreal. It feels like a long time ago but I’ll never forget it.”
Loughman now has another box to tick, namely playing in the Six Nations after two late call-ups to previous squads.
“I would always have associated the Six Nations with me being a supporter, and then I was there, seeing the lads getting ready, you want to be in there so badly.
“I had a really good taste of it in the warm-up in Twickenham two years ago, the first time I was called in. It’s all I want to do, to be there, to be in that 23 and get on that pitch.”
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