LAST WEEK, CIAN Healy had seven days to get away from it all.
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen pulled the 56-times capped Ireland prop aside and told him he could take what those in the rugby business call a ‘refresher week’.
Essentially it means Healy didn’t train with the rest of the Leinster squad for the week, nor was he involved in Friday night’s home win over Ulster at the RDS.
Healy last played for Leinster in the defeat to Bath. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
While refresher weeks can sometimes involve gruelling weights and fitness sessions without the added load of on-pitch contact training, Healy took the chance to take a full break from gym work – which famously involves hundreds of kilogrammes in his case.
He did put himself through a couple of fitness sessions to keep his legs and lungs ticking over, but it was a mental and physical break from the demands of rugby for the 28-year-old after a hectic couple of months.
A serious neck operation last May left Healy racing to be fit in time for Ireland’s World Cup campaign, during which he ended up making three starts and two replacement appearances.
A fortnight after Ireland’s quarter-final exit against Argentina, Healy was back in Leinster colours, playing twice in the Pro12 and then featuring in both Champions Cup defeats against Wasps and Bath.
It’s been pretty hectic getting back into the swing of things, but it’s been enjoyable,” said Healy yesterday in Clontarf FC’s clubhouse. “It was strange then getting a week last week to get the body in check.
“It came as a surprise. Leo just said, ‘Take a bit of down time’ and I wasn’t arguing, so you take them when you get them. It was a nice booster, I was well refreshed now this week coming in for training.”
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Since his return from the neck surgery, one which was serious enough to put his career in doubt, Healy hasn’t looked exactly the same explosive athlete that Leinster and Ireland fans have come to appreciate so dearly over the years.
Healy is an ambassador for FLEXISEQ Sport. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
A staggered rebuilding is true of any athlete in any sport recovering from such severe injury, but Joe Schmidt had enough faith to back Healy as his starting loosehead prop against France and Argentina ahead of the in-form Jack McGrath.
On reflection it’s easy to say that Healy wasn’t fully fit for the tournament, but the man himself says he is never truly happy with his physical condition.
“I’m never where I want to be; I always want to be stronger, I always want to be faster. I could never sit back and say ‘I was in the best shape of my life’.
“I can’t say that about any of my seasons because I’m constantly feeling I’ve done something different each season that’s changed something, whether I wanted to put my weight up and that was going to affect my speed or the other way around.
It’s hard to judge (the World Cup). I felt I was in good shape. I felt I did enough fitness and I’ve more time to work on fitness now.”
Healy says he feels no lasting ill effects of the neck surgery at this stage, an operation that had originally affected the grip strength, and underlines that he is already feeling the benefit of his refresher week in the form of increased energy, strength and speed.
That will come as encouragement for Leinster fans who are keen to see Healy back to his very best form in the coming weeks. While his teammates got back to winning ways against Ulster last weekend, Healy’s most recent memory in blue was a humbling at the hands of the Bath pack at the Rec.
“We couldn’t contain their scrum, they were doing things that we hadn’t forearmed for, so there was a big step back and going to the drawing board to sort ourselves out,” said Healy.
Healy with Leinster out-half Johnny Sexton at a recent A fixture. Morgan Treacy / INPHO
Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
“We had to be able to deal with that and we couldn’t, so what we’ve done in training now for the last two weeks, there is a nice foundation to what we want to be able to do.”
Healy is swift to stress that Bath deserve major credit for what they achieved against a front row that included himself and fellow Ireland starter Mike Ross, while also pointing out that there needs to be greater adaptability from Leinster against the best packs.
“We didn’t have a fallback plan,” said Healy. “We have enough confidence in our scrum but that was a pretty formidable set-up that they had and how they were doing it. So you can’t put it all down to us doing wrong, big credit to that scrum and what they were achieving there.
Even if they were half forced, the positions they were in were so strong and it was so hard to break into joints there.”
The neck surgery, the World Cup and that Bath disappointment are behind Healy now, as he looks forward with some confidence that his fitness, power and strength are all still on the rise.
He must keep his eye on the ball as McGrath continues to put the heat on. Like Garry Ringrose, Luke McGrath and Josh van der Flier in other positions, the understudy is threatening the more experienced and established incumbent.
“That’s how it’s always been,” said Healy. “That’s how it worked with Jack and myself.
“It was a while he was waiting and then he started get put in at the right times and you see what’s happened now, he’s flourished into a pretty serious prop.”
Cian Healy was speaking as an ambassador for FLEXISEQ Sport, a drug-free gel designed to protect the joints in all active people.
Leinster's Healy striving for peak fitness with McGrath keeping pressure on
LAST WEEK, CIAN Healy had seven days to get away from it all.
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen pulled the 56-times capped Ireland prop aside and told him he could take what those in the rugby business call a ‘refresher week’.
Essentially it means Healy didn’t train with the rest of the Leinster squad for the week, nor was he involved in Friday night’s home win over Ulster at the RDS.
While refresher weeks can sometimes involve gruelling weights and fitness sessions without the added load of on-pitch contact training, Healy took the chance to take a full break from gym work – which famously involves hundreds of kilogrammes in his case.
He did put himself through a couple of fitness sessions to keep his legs and lungs ticking over, but it was a mental and physical break from the demands of rugby for the 28-year-old after a hectic couple of months.
A serious neck operation last May left Healy racing to be fit in time for Ireland’s World Cup campaign, during which he ended up making three starts and two replacement appearances.
A fortnight after Ireland’s quarter-final exit against Argentina, Healy was back in Leinster colours, playing twice in the Pro12 and then featuring in both Champions Cup defeats against Wasps and Bath.
“It came as a surprise. Leo just said, ‘Take a bit of down time’ and I wasn’t arguing, so you take them when you get them. It was a nice booster, I was well refreshed now this week coming in for training.”
Since his return from the neck surgery, one which was serious enough to put his career in doubt, Healy hasn’t looked exactly the same explosive athlete that Leinster and Ireland fans have come to appreciate so dearly over the years.
A staggered rebuilding is true of any athlete in any sport recovering from such severe injury, but Joe Schmidt had enough faith to back Healy as his starting loosehead prop against France and Argentina ahead of the in-form Jack McGrath.
On reflection it’s easy to say that Healy wasn’t fully fit for the tournament, but the man himself says he is never truly happy with his physical condition.
“I’m never where I want to be; I always want to be stronger, I always want to be faster. I could never sit back and say ‘I was in the best shape of my life’.
“I can’t say that about any of my seasons because I’m constantly feeling I’ve done something different each season that’s changed something, whether I wanted to put my weight up and that was going to affect my speed or the other way around.
Healy says he feels no lasting ill effects of the neck surgery at this stage, an operation that had originally affected the grip strength, and underlines that he is already feeling the benefit of his refresher week in the form of increased energy, strength and speed.
That will come as encouragement for Leinster fans who are keen to see Healy back to his very best form in the coming weeks. While his teammates got back to winning ways against Ulster last weekend, Healy’s most recent memory in blue was a humbling at the hands of the Bath pack at the Rec.
“We couldn’t contain their scrum, they were doing things that we hadn’t forearmed for, so there was a big step back and going to the drawing board to sort ourselves out,” said Healy.
“We had to be able to deal with that and we couldn’t, so what we’ve done in training now for the last two weeks, there is a nice foundation to what we want to be able to do.”
Healy is swift to stress that Bath deserve major credit for what they achieved against a front row that included himself and fellow Ireland starter Mike Ross, while also pointing out that there needs to be greater adaptability from Leinster against the best packs.
“We didn’t have a fallback plan,” said Healy. “We have enough confidence in our scrum but that was a pretty formidable set-up that they had and how they were doing it. So you can’t put it all down to us doing wrong, big credit to that scrum and what they were achieving there.
The neck surgery, the World Cup and that Bath disappointment are behind Healy now, as he looks forward with some confidence that his fitness, power and strength are all still on the rise.
He must keep his eye on the ball as McGrath continues to put the heat on. Like Garry Ringrose, Luke McGrath and Josh van der Flier in other positions, the understudy is threatening the more experienced and established incumbent.
“That’s how it’s always been,” said Healy. “That’s how it worked with Jack and myself.
“It was a while he was waiting and then he started get put in at the right times and you see what’s happened now, he’s flourished into a pretty serious prop.”
Cian Healy was speaking as an ambassador for FLEXISEQ Sport, a drug-free gel designed to protect the joints in all active people.
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