"Jesus, was it?" That's Conor Murray reaction when told Luke Fitzgerald's last start for Ireland was the scrumhalf's first in August 2011.
A forgettable World Cup warm-up game in Bordeaux.
“That’s unbelievable. He’s been through an awful lot.”
Not long afterwards, Declan Kidney felt Fergus McFadden provided more value in New Zealand. So, for the second World Cup running, Fitzgerald, the most naturally gifted player of his generation, was surplus to requirements.
In the previous Six Nations, Kidney had installed him at fullback due to Rob Kearney's injury lay-off. His confidence clearly shot, it was like watching a flash in the pan player.
“It is the big disappointment so far in my career so far that I have never been involved in a World Cup campaign,” says Fitzgerald, facing a phalanx of microphones in Carton House. “But I can’t say that’s been on my mind. It really hasn’t.”
That is a man chastised by the small steps of painstaking rehabilitation. But listen carefully and you can hear a simmering inner belief.
When it wasn’t a dramatic dip in form it was an unrelenting string of injuries dating back to November 2009. The one in Croke Park. In the corner where the Hill meets the Cusack Stand. That’s where he ruptured knee ligaments against the Wallabies, the 22-year-old’s face contorted in agony.
Already a Lion, the nightmare was only beginning.
There slowed a rise that had tongues wagging since the son of Des Fitzgerald, the Irish prop capped 34 times in an eight-year career that does include two World Cups, was dancing past all comers as an under-13 in Willow Park.
A child prodigy, with so much talent Leinster gave him a full contract straight off the bat, really to fend off Munster interests.
First cap
Eight months after helping Blackrock to the 2006 Leinster schools cup, Eddie O’Sullivan capped him in the last ever match at the old Lansdowne Road against the Pacific Islanders. He was 19. Jamie Heaslip also made his debut that day. The number eight has 71 caps now. Fitzgerald will pull on the green jersey for a 28th time in Murrayfield.
The neck injury in 2012 was career-threatening but it also ruined, for a time, his earning power. The national contract disappeared. Leinster kept him on the payroll but it was a very bad year.
He reappeared the next season, sparkling enough to make three appearances off the bench during the 2013 Six Nations, only to tear his cruciate in Rome.
More small steps, he seemed a valued part of the Joe Schmidt plan when launched from the bench against New Zealand in November 2013. But the rarest hip and abductor problems made retirement a clear and present reality. They had a bed for him in Santry Sports Clinic.
“I couldn’t really see a way back,” he says.
Somehow he has. It takes him an age to warm up for matches now but, of late, he has slotted in at 13 for Leinster. And it’s still there; that unreadable, weaving motion.
So, at 27, he returns. These should be the peak years. Back on the left wing where, seemingly, he belongs. The wonder is whether he can realise what many felt was an inevitable destiny back in 2006.
Interrupted career
“It’s an interesting question,” he continued. “It’s every guy’s dream to have a long career . . . but it has been very interrupted.
“I feel like I really understand my body now and that, barring a bit of bad luck, I’m in a great position to really kick on. First things first I have to put in a good performance this weekend for myself and the team to try and hang on to that jersey because the competition for those places is fierce.”
Simon Zebo’s response will be interesting. Then we hear Fitzgerald of old talking.
“I don’t think I can do what Simon does. I can do what I do. I’m on the team to do that. Probably that lateral movement is the strongest part of my game. That footwork. Beating guys, drawing in defenders, creating opportunities for myself and for others. That’s what I am in the team to do.
“Fifty per cent of the game is defence, is it not? So, that’s a huge part of the game for me and I feel like I’m really strong in that aspect. I can’t try to be anything other than what I am.”
