LEINSTER HOPE TO have three more URC outings to look forward to this season but there will certainly be an end-of-year feel to tonight’s clash with Connacht at the RDS.
The fixture will be the last game to be played at the RDS before the stadium undergoes a revamp and the province’s supporters will also be saying goodbye to some club stalwarts.
Earlier this week Rhys Ruddock admitted the game could be his last in Leinster blue ahead of his retirement from the game, and while Bath-bound Ross Molony will hope to be involved in the knockouts, this will also serve as his RDS farewell.
The second row debuted for Leinster as a 19-year-old in 2015 and tonight will be his 182nd outing for his home province. After almost a decade in blue, there are naturally mixed emotions about the end. Molony admits it will be tough to leave teammates he’s known since he was a kid playing underage rugby, but is excited about what awaits across the water.
Johann van Graan’s rejuvenated Bath side are level on points with Northampton at the top of the Premiership table and at this stage of his career, a three-year-deal proved too good for Molony to turn down.
“It wasn’t an easy decision, it wasn’t an overnight decision,” he says.
I think a three year contract with a Premiership club, it’s something that I always had in mind that I did want to experience rugby somewhere else.
“Obviously I love Leinster and I love playing and winning at this club, but an opportunity came up there for me in an incredibly exciting environment.
“Of course I’m disappointed I’m leaving the club I grew up in, I’ve so many friends and even like from the playing group to the staff, there’s really, really good people in this club and what makes coming in here so enjoyable is those people. So yeah, there was a lot of factors in terms of my decision but I’m delighted with it.”
The ongoing selection squeeze is what ultimately proved decisive. Molony was in and out of the team during James Ryan’s injury absence as Cullen rotated the Dubliner and Jasons Jenkins alongside Joe McCarthy in the Champions Cup.
Molony started the round of 16 defeat of Leicester Tigers, came off the bench in the quarter-final win over La Rochelle and then started the Croke Park semi-final against Northampton Saints. However on the biggest day Molony missed out – Cullen starting McCarthy and Jenkins as Ryan returned on the Leinster bench for last weekend’s final against Toulouse.
With RG Snyman joining from Munster next season opportunites would be even harder to come by. Molony isn’t the only victim, with Jenkins also moving on this summer.
Molony admits missing out on days like last Saturday in London reassure him the time is right to take on fresh challenge.
“They obviously played a factor. We don’t need to address the elephant in the room, like there’s other players in my position who play for Ireland, which will help them, and there are players coming in in my position, new signings, so there’s a number of those factors and there’s disappointment when you miss out.
Look, I’m not going to lie to you and tell you [otherwise], I was incredibly disappointed to hear [ I wasn’t playing in the final].
“Leo rang me before we came in last week, he rang me on Sunday to tell me that was the decision they had gone with and I guess for me it’s about I’m still part of this club, I played a part in the European journey we went on having played in a number in the knockout games and the pool games.
“So once I dealt with that, the fact that I wasn’t going to be involved, there’s an onus on me to present the 23 with pictures from a lineout point of view of what they were going to come up against at the weekend.”
The move to Bath will also end any lingering Ireland ambitions. The 30-year-old was called into a number of Ireland camps over the years and played for Ireland A against the All Blacks XV in 2022. However a full Test cap never arrived, meaning Molony won’t get to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, Jack Molony, who was capped against Scotland in 1950.
“It’s any rugby player’s dream to play for their country. It was again part of the pros and cons that I went through and this opportunity came up for me. I’ve had disappointments in Irish squads in the past but I’ve grown and learned so much from those as well.
“I went in for that campaign, the Japan and USA one [2021], a couple of summers ago and I look back on that, not with regrets or not with disappointment that I wasn’t capped but I think it was an unbelievable kick-start for me and the way I wanted my game to go, and I think I showed that over the seasons since then, that I backed my ability, I backed myself as a rugby player and I think those little windows I got in the international set-up did amazing things for me as opposed to negatively impacted me.”
Molony has been a hugely valuable squad member over the years and while he hopes to sign off with a URC medal, he already has a wealth of special memories to hold onto.
“Glasgow stands out in 2019 [Pro14 final]. I managed to get on the bench while having a small back issue at the time and then I got myself fit again and managed to get on the bench for that game, that was pretty special and it sticks out because of the group that played that year.
“I remember strangely enough the final play of the game, we had possession, I was in the breakdown, Nick McCarthy threw the ball to Ross Byrne and he kicked it out to win the game and win the Pro14 and they’re two lads that I’ve known since I was 10 years old.
“It was just a very cool moment, as well as you’d the likes of Brian and Ed Byrne, who I would have played with throughout the years, you had Rhys [Ruddock] involved that day, proper legends of the club that I would have looked up and shared the journey with as well.
“That definitely stands out, and Croke Park stands out, such a cool experience, getting the opportunity to start that game and it was something that hadn’t been done since 2009.
“It’s hard to look at it now because it’s so fresh but I think at some stage when I look back at my Leinster career, that’s going to be such a massive stand-out.”
