THERE’S A SIMPLE sports psychology technique whereby the player takes themselves back to a game or moment where they felt at their best.
They try to recall the feeling in their body on that good day, the thoughts that were or weren’t running through their mind. The details are important. What specifically did they do well? Why did they make an impact and how did it feel?
It’s a way for the player to reinforce to themselves that they’re excellent at their craft. Some players watch clips of the games or moments when they were the best version of themselves.
If Jimmy O’Brien did this activity, he could include the 25 minutes he played in the World Cup quarter-final last year. It was a heartbreaking day for Ireland, of course, but the Kildare man impressed off the bench against New Zealand. It was a rugby game of the highest level and O’Brien made a genuine impact.
He was a threat with ball in hand, made some strong defensive contributions, and pulled off a spectacular overhead catch of a high ball to launch that remarkable final passage of Ireland attack that came to nothing after 37 phases.
That was O’Brien’s seventh and most recent Ireland cap. It has been a frustrating time since, with a four-month spell out of the game due to a neck injury meaning he missed this year’s Six Nations and a big chunk of Leinster’s season.
Happily, he’s back for the business end of the campaign and though he missed out on selection for the Champions Cup final, O’Brien’s importance to Leinster was magnified by fullback Hugo Keenan going on duty with the Ireland 7s.
The versatile O’Brien made his comeback last month on the left wing, impressing against the Ospreys, before starting at outside centre in a defeat to Ulster. But his two most recent starts have been at number 15 and he looks set to be there again as Leinster face the Bulls in the URC semi-finals tomorrow. O’Brien is also one of the leading contenders for Ireland’s number 15 shirt in South Africa in July.
There were a couple of frustrating moments for O’Brien last weekend as he knocked on two high balls from Ulster kicks, although he has shown his class in the air many times before.
He’ll be expecting plenty more aerial tests from the Bulls this weekend and knows he needs to work well with his Leinster team-mates in this area.
“You do an awful lot of work as a back three, anyone who is in the backfield, even 9s and 10s and stuff, after every training session we catch high balls,” says the 27-year-old
“Teams are getting good at contesting, not even going for the ball, just putting their hand in and stuff, it’s obviously hard to catch it cleanly and you see teams are trying to block the runners and stuff like that.
“Sometimes it’s illegal and sometimes it’s legal but it’s hard to see for refs. But I think if teams are good at that and it’s contested, you have to aware for the scraps [the ball coming down from an aerial contest].
“It’s definitely something we’ve talked about with the high balls, if you can get a perfect jump and you are up there and above them, you should be taking them definitely. But the lads around have to be hyper-aware for any scraps on the ground.”
O’Brien picked up the scraps from one aerial contest against Ulster to launch the counter-attack that produced Leinster’s opening try from Robbie Henshaw.
The other unique challenge for backfield players tomorrow in Pretoria is the altitude’s effect on the distance of kicks.
The ball flies further than would be the case at sea level, meaning the likes of O’Brien need to adjust.
“We were out on the pitch today and you can see it definitely travels a little bit further,” says O’Brien.
“Yeah, just probably give yourself a little bit more space, they’ve a couple of long kickers this weekend as well so you’re probably a little bit deeper than you usually are.
“I’ve chatted to some of the lads who have played down here even earlier in the season against the Lions, it was up at altitude, Frawls [Ciarán Frawley] was playing fullback that day, we were talking about how the ball travelled and stuff like that, you just have to give yourself a little bit more time.”
Left-footed O’Brien is one of a few Leinster players who bring their own nice touches to the kicking game, so he’s looking forward to adding extra length to his own kicks.
“We’ve got some lads who can kick the ball far and it will travel further as well so yeah, that will definitely help both sides I think.”
It was a scramble for Leinster to get down to South Africa after the Ulster game, with the squad breaking into different groups for the journey. O’Brien was with the starting backline from last weekend’s game, with a nine-hour layover in Dubai part of their trip. The last group arrived in Pretoria at 9pm on Monday evening.
After that long haul, O’Brien and co. plan on leaving with a win and the fullback could be key to grabbing a spot in the URC final.
