WEEKEND MORNINGS for Gavin Mullin as a young fella meant one thing: Super Rugby.
Heโd be planted in front of the TV with his breakfast, delighting in the latest show of audacious offloading and side-stepping excitement.
Watching the Crusaders was sacrosanct. To this day, the Kiwi side remain the 23-year-oldโs favourite team and he has never lost his grรก for attacking rugby, one of the reasons heโs now enjoying a new adventure with the Ireland 7s, who hope to earn Tokyo Olympics qualification next month.
Mullinโs time with Leinster ended last summer when there was no space in midfield in Leo Cullenโs squad. His three years in the academy saw him get just two caps off the bench for the senior team for a combined 21 minutes โ โIโm not sure Iโm really counting those,โ he says โ meaning he never had real opportunity to show what he can do.
Mullin hadnโt been looking around for another contract when Covid-19 came into our lives, his sense being that professional rugby might not be for him after all.
His father, former Ireland and Lions centre Brendan, had always encouraged his son to view rugby as one part of his life rather than the be-all-and-end-all.
โHeโs always onto me about making sure I have both sides of things โ rugby and college, even looking beyond that to a job,โ explains Gavin, who recently finished the final exam of his Business and Law degree in UCD.
โWhen it didnโt work out in Leinster, I wasnโt sure if it was me just trying to keep on playing and being a journeyman pro in the Championship or Pro D2 or whatever it would be.
โMy Dad is a smart man. I love talking to him about rugby but heโs also a smart businessman and I talk to him about that too. He always said to me about not just putting all of my eggs in one basket because at the end of the day, itโs a business and they can get rid of you pretty quick. You have to be sure youโre covering yourself.โ
With the centreโs time in Leinster concluding and Ireland in lockdown, Mullin was focusing on getting his degree finished when the IRFU called and asked if he would come in for Ireland 7s training โ an avenue he hadnโt considered.
He gave his friend Jack Kelly a shout โ the former Leinster fullback having gone into the 7s set-up before him โ and got positive reports back, so threw himself into the challenge. It has been a frustrating time for the 7s game during the pandemic, with Ireland limited to a few competitions against provincial academy teams until last weekendโs International Rugby 7s competition over in the UK.
Mullin impressed in his first genuine competitive outing for Ireland as they beat Great Britain and the US to the title across three days of high-octane action. Numerous training camps meant he knew what to expect to a degree, but it was still a major step up.
โYou can get humbled pretty quick,โ says Mullin of finding his feet in 7s.
โYou have to be careful when youโre defending or deciding to hit a ruck because things move quickly and if youโre not on the ball, itโs a turnover within seconds. Youโre under pressure a lot, your passing has to be good, but I love attacking rugby so it just suits me throwing the ball around and trying to play off the cuff.โ
His new duties involve being part of the three-man scrums, while he says some of his friends in Leinster are slagging him for wearing lineout lifting blocks on his legs now.
โYou have to be a jack of all trades!โ says Mullin with a laugh.
Anthony Eddyโs squad have a huge challenge ahead of them on 19-20 June in Monaco at the World Rugby Sevens Repechage, the winner of which will secure the final place at the menโs 7s competition in this summerโs Olympic Games.
Fellow World Series side France will be favourites to advance, while Samoa will be another threat, meaning Mullin says he and his team-mates canโt even begin to really think about what playing in Japan would be like.
โThere will be nine other teams the same as us, just dying to go to Tokyo. Itโs going to be tough and 7s is all about small margins. If youโre off 10% on the day, youโll be knocked out.โ
If they can pull it off, it would be a major milestone achievement for Irish 7s rugby and for Mullin, who is still so new to the game.
A star for Blackrock College in his school days, he impressed for the Ireland U20s in 2017 and advanced into the Leinster academy, making his senior debut that same year against Zebre in the Pro14.
He got another brief stint off the bench for the province in 2019 against Edinburgh but with Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose key men in midfield, as well as competition from the likes of Noel Reid, Joe Tomane, Conor OโBrien, Jimmy OโBrien, and Tommy OโBrien, that was to be it in terms of senior exposure.
โI was just unlucky that the level of competition in the centres at Leinster was another level,โ says Mullin. โNo matter what youโre doing, itโs always going to be tough to get a game. You put so much into it and at the end of the day, I was kind of wondering how much I was really getting out of it.
โObviously, thatโs not to say I didnโt love playing for Leinster. I really look back with a lot of fond memories.โ
The good times were mainly with the Leinster A team, beating Bristol away in the B&I Cup one season, winning the Celtic Cup alongside the likes of Ryan Baird, Rรณnan Kelleher, and Harry Byrne another.
Mullin particularly enjoyed being coached by Felipe Contepomi and Stuart Lancaster. An insight from the latter regarding former Chelsea footballer Frank Lampardโs scanning skills stands out.
โStuart was talking about how Lampardโs dad used to be in the stand and always shouting at him, โTake a picture, take a picture.โ
โSomeone counted the number of times Frank Lampard would turn his head before he got the ball and it was another level above other players. Stuart encouraged us to look at rugby in that way.
โThatโs what separates good players from great players, someone like Johnny Sexton is seeing everything two phases before everyone else. Heโs constantly scanning. That really underlined to me the importance of getting your head up and constantly looking, even if the ball is on the other side of the pitch.
โCoaches say to โlook upโ all the time but no one really does it. That constant scanning, taking pictures, seeing whatโs in front of you can make some difference. It applies to any sport.โ
Mullin is making sure it applies to his 7s rugby now, even if the lung-busting pace of the game can leave playersโ head spinning and their vision narrowing. A passage of ball-in-play that lasted three minutes against the US last weekend was a new lesson in pain.
Mullinsโ 7s contract with the IRFU is due to expire at the end of July, by which time he might have played in the Olympics, and heโs not sure what will happen beyond that.
He has a college degree in his back pocket, pending a positive result from that last exam, so there is assurance in that area of his life.
The idea of travelling as part of the 7s World Series appeals, while thereโs a 7s Rugby World Cup to come next year, but Mullin isnโt spending too much time thinking that far down the tracks.
โLetโs just see where this takes me.โ
Great article about a great man
https://youtu.be/aByPOgJgjv8
Hon Westmeath!