WATCHING ANDREW TRIMBLE race onto Conor Murray’s perfectly timed pass to score Ireland’s second try in last month’s Six Nations Championship decider should have been a heartening sight to any player, anybody, who is determined to work their way back onto the biggest stage.
In November, it was hard not to feel sympathy for Trimble.
With Joe Schmidt’s Ireland jogging out to warm up before his second Test, against Australia, Trimble was sticking out like a sore thumb in the press room. He was far too fit and healthy to be restricted to a BBC jacket.
“Working for the radio instead of being on the pitch is tough,” Trimble told TheScore.ie as the finishing touches were being put on Ravenhill’s new Grandstand yesterday.
“To be honest, at the start of the season I was doing a lot of work on my game and I was working hard to make sure I was developing and bringing myself along, but I wasn’t really performing at the start of the year.
“Usually after a pre-season I feel it’s done me a lot of good, but that’s not how it happened. I was a bit slow and then I got a hand injury. I didn’t really have any momentum.”
Off the airwaves and back to the grindstone. December took Trimble back to where he belongs and, bit by bit, he pulled himself up to his familiar level of performance. That form made him an easy choice for Schmidt when injuries reduced Ireland’s options on the wing and Trimble found another way back into the international mix just over eight years on from his first cap.
“Around Christmas time I started to feel a little bit of momentum – Munster here, Montpellier, Leicester away – it just developed nicely, built us up a little bit and I felt I was performing quite well.
Advertisement
“At that stage I still didn’t expect to get playing against Scotland. When my name was read out I just thought, ‘I don’t know how many more chances I’m going to get’ – I managed to take it.”
Daydream
He did so with a try, and the rest goes down in history along with one of Irish Rugby’s greatest feats.
“I’ve always daydreamed about one day getting back in and performing well at the heart of it. I couldn’t have hoped for better than the last eight weeks. What we produced with Ireland was an unbelievable experience and I loved every minute of it.
“If anything, it will hopefully push me on to develop that bit further and nail that spot down and make sure I keep producing in a green shirt, because I absolutely love the experience.
Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
“We put ourselves in a position where we could win the Six Nations – ‘hopefully’, ‘maybe’ – to where we got a Championship, so it was a special year for us.”
‘Hopefully, maybe’ it could be a special year for Ulster too. The northern province have worked hard to put themselves in the best position to advance in the Heineken Cup, their first home quarter-final since 1999. Yet the imposing Saracens, leaders of the Premiership, hardly feel like a deserved reward for finishing as Europe’s top seed after six consecutive wins.
“We know what we’re up against, but we also know what we’re capable of,” says Trimble with typical quiet confidence.
Trimble runs it back against Saracens in last year's quarter-final. Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
“We were quite impressive earlier in the season away from home and the reward from that is the home quarter-final.
“I think we’ve just got to buy into the performances that we’ve produced and remember this is how good we can be if we make sure we concentrate on what we’re doing and if we do everything we can to produce that kind of performance again we can be a very good side.
“Any side coming to Ravenhill and getting put under the type of pressure we intend to put them under will find it a pretty tough environment to play rugby.”
Trimble has made his way back into competitive action after the success of Paris, but perhaps understandably he has not quite returned to the heights of what many have argued was the true man-of-the-match performance against France.
On Saturday, though, the lights will shine more brightly than ever before at Ravenhill as the newly developed venue reaches its 18,000 capacity for the first time. After his admittedly slow start to the season when he was breaking down facets of his game so that they could be built up again, does the winger think he can produce a performance to match?
“I definitely think I came through the Six Nations performing as well as I have [ever done]. I’m loving my rugby at the minute. I’m really enjoying what I’m doing; whether playing for Ireland or for Ulster.
“I just want to not think too much and hopefully it will keep happening.”
Daydream to reality: Trimble at top of his game and determined to stay there
WATCHING ANDREW TRIMBLE race onto Conor Murray’s perfectly timed pass to score Ireland’s second try in last month’s Six Nations Championship decider should have been a heartening sight to any player, anybody, who is determined to work their way back onto the biggest stage.
In November, it was hard not to feel sympathy for Trimble.
With Joe Schmidt’s Ireland jogging out to warm up before his second Test, against Australia, Trimble was sticking out like a sore thumb in the press room. He was far too fit and healthy to be restricted to a BBC jacket.
“Working for the radio instead of being on the pitch is tough,” Trimble told TheScore.ie as the finishing touches were being put on Ravenhill’s new Grandstand yesterday.
“To be honest, at the start of the season I was doing a lot of work on my game and I was working hard to make sure I was developing and bringing myself along, but I wasn’t really performing at the start of the year.
Off the airwaves and back to the grindstone. December took Trimble back to where he belongs and, bit by bit, he pulled himself up to his familiar level of performance. That form made him an easy choice for Schmidt when injuries reduced Ireland’s options on the wing and Trimble found another way back into the international mix just over eight years on from his first cap.
“Around Christmas time I started to feel a little bit of momentum – Munster here, Montpellier, Leicester away – it just developed nicely, built us up a little bit and I felt I was performing quite well.
“At that stage I still didn’t expect to get playing against Scotland. When my name was read out I just thought, ‘I don’t know how many more chances I’m going to get’ – I managed to take it.”
Daydream
He did so with a try, and the rest goes down in history along with one of Irish Rugby’s greatest feats.
“I’ve always daydreamed about one day getting back in and performing well at the heart of it. I couldn’t have hoped for better than the last eight weeks. What we produced with Ireland was an unbelievable experience and I loved every minute of it.
“If anything, it will hopefully push me on to develop that bit further and nail that spot down and make sure I keep producing in a green shirt, because I absolutely love the experience.
“We put ourselves in a position where we could win the Six Nations – ‘hopefully’, ‘maybe’ – to where we got a Championship, so it was a special year for us.”
‘Hopefully, maybe’ it could be a special year for Ulster too. The northern province have worked hard to put themselves in the best position to advance in the Heineken Cup, their first home quarter-final since 1999. Yet the imposing Saracens, leaders of the Premiership, hardly feel like a deserved reward for finishing as Europe’s top seed after six consecutive wins.
“We know what we’re up against, but we also know what we’re capable of,” says Trimble with typical quiet confidence.
“We were quite impressive earlier in the season away from home and the reward from that is the home quarter-final.
“I think we’ve just got to buy into the performances that we’ve produced and remember this is how good we can be if we make sure we concentrate on what we’re doing and if we do everything we can to produce that kind of performance again we can be a very good side.
Trimble has made his way back into competitive action after the success of Paris, but perhaps understandably he has not quite returned to the heights of what many have argued was the true man-of-the-match performance against France.
On Saturday, though, the lights will shine more brightly than ever before at Ravenhill as the newly developed venue reaches its 18,000 capacity for the first time. After his admittedly slow start to the season when he was breaking down facets of his game so that they could be built up again, does the winger think he can produce a performance to match?
“I definitely think I came through the Six Nations performing as well as I have [ever done]. I’m loving my rugby at the minute. I’m really enjoying what I’m doing; whether playing for Ireland or for Ulster.
“I just want to not think too much and hopefully it will keep happening.”
– First posted at 10:32
Rory Best: Ulster must stay cool and selfish to see off Saracens
Mark McCall: All the pressure on Ulster ahead of Saracens Heineken Cup showdown
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Andrew Trimble believer European Rugby Champions Cup Six Nations Daydream believer H Cup Interview Quarter-Final Ravenhill Saracens Ulster