IT WAS THE 52nd minute of Ireland’s first Test against the Springboks in July when Andrew Porter looked down and saw something he had never seen before.
The Irish loosehead prop had just tackled Pieter-Steph du Toit and instantly knew things weren’t right.
“My finger was half hanging off,” says Porter.
“I dislocated it and it was hanging off, pointing sideways. I think I caught it on someone’s shorts and I knew it was dislocated before I even looked at it because I have dislocated the rest of my fingers; that’s why they all look mangled.”
Porter points in between the fourth and fifth fingers on his right hand.
“It was down there. I looked at it and then I could see the whole inside of my hand. Everyone back home thought I had broken my arm because I was looking down in shock.
“I had never seen the inside of my hand before. It was more the shock, it wasn’t that sore.
“I opened my hand and it snapped back up, back into position.”
Porter then got back to his feet and returned to the Irish defensive line.
The blood around the wound is visible in the footage but thankfully he wasn’t called on to make another tackle in the 90 seconds that followed before Craig Casey kicked the ball into touch.
Porter was called ashore at that point but only for his blood injury. He was back on the pitch 10 minutes later.
“I went off, got three stitches, they taped it up and I came back on.”
Mercifully, he didn’t have to make any big one-on-one tackles for the remainder of his game but there were a few carries, lineouts in which he had to lift, and one scrum. He had to put the image of the inside of his hand out of mind.
That night, Porter went for surgery to have the wound fully stitched up and he started the second Test for Ireland a week later, playing 57 minutes as they won in Durban.
Porter is asked whether any part of him wondered what the hell he was doing continuing to play rugby of the highest, most physical standard so soon after such an injury.
“It’s just part of it,” he says.
“The way I was looking at that was, it had been an incredibly long season but two more games going up against the world champions, just throw everything you have at it.
“After that, if you’re broken up, you still get your time off. You may as well throw everything you have at it. We did, especially in the second Test. I’m glad my finger held up.”
Porter stresses that the IRFU and Leinster are good at taking care of players but he was ready for a break after the 2023/24 season, which started with a World Cup and ended in South Africa.
He’s someone who tends to play a lot of minutes because he’s such an important player. Porter says he prides himself on his fitness although he recognises that playing lots of games “is probably not the best thing from a longevity point of view.”
He loved his time on the beaches of Sardinia over the summer, all the more so because the campaign had ended on such a high with that win in Durban.
“The disappointment that we had from a Leinster perspective, having so many people in the [Ireland] team was a huge testament to the quality of players that we have here,” he says.
“It was nice to finish the season with a win. It was an incredibly enjoyable tour. I don’t think anyone could say anything bad about the tour except the result from the first week. We set that right the second week.”
So the 28-year-old came back to Leinster’s pre-season in suitably refreshed and excited form, ready to launch himself into another big year with province and country and, hopefully, the Lions.
His first appearance of the season came last weekend against Benetton and now he’s raring to go for the Munster clash at Croke Park on Saturday.
Porter was in the stands in 2009 when Leinster turned the rivalry on its head. He highlights that this team now have to seize their opportunity at a “special” stadium.
There will be plenty of eyes on RG Snyman after his move from Munster to Leinster during the summer, and Porter is happy to have the big Springboks lock on his side.
“Myself and RG have a lot more in common than I thought, music tastes! He’s like the bigger Viking and I’m the smaller Viking.
“He has an incredible rugby IQ, he’s an incredibly smart and bright rugby player as well. He is bringing something very special to this team – a different perspective and with his physical attributes that’s a good advantage to us.”
And from a scrummaging point of view, Porter has welcomed the arrival of experienced French tighthead Rabah Slimani.
“He has a different style of scrumming to a lot of the lads in here,” says Porter. “It’s so beneficial for this team that you have guys with different styles, different perspectives.
“He was one of the best tightheads, represented France, been with Clermont for so long, to have someone as experienced as him here in that tighthead position is incredibly valuable, not just for us when we are playing but for internal learning.
“They bring so much to this club, RG and Rabah. Great additions to the squad, great lads on and off the pitch. I’m looking forward to having a great season with them.”
