“I’ve save getting angry for game-day!”
Fresh from a training session and stretching out his Leinster singlet, Andrew Porter looks ahead to this weekend’s Guinness PRO14 and a reunion, of sorts, with some old teammates.
Currently doing the business for the Miami Heat in the NBA playoffs, Jimmy Butler loves to stoke up pre-game rivalries to get himself up for big games. Porter grins when he hears about Butler before convincingly selling himself as a guy who prefers to glide through match-week and save his adrenalin for when he needs it.
Having not seen each other for the best half of a year, Leinster will soon have their fill of both Munster and Ulster. Unbeaten in 19 games, for the season, when rugby resumed, last month, Leinster added three more wins to their daunting streak.
Should win number 23 arrive on Saturday evening, it will bring with it the province’s third successive PRO14 title. The team in their way are an Ulster side containing former Leinster luminaries Jack McGrath, Marty Moore, Jordi Murphy and Murrayfield penalty hero Ian Madigan. Eric O’Sullivan was third Dubliner – along with Madigan and McGrath – that started that thrilling 25-22 win over Edinburgh.
Pictured with Andrew Porter, as Leinster players, in September 2018, Jack McGrath (left) and Nick McCarthy (right) have since moved on to Ulster and Munster. (Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile)“I’d be a no contact kind of a guy,” Porter remarks when asked if there would be any messages going on between him and Ulster’s southern contingent.
“I’ll talk to them after the game. All focused for this week. The heads are down and just looking forward to the weekend now, really.”
Porter was given the night off when a much-changed Leinster comfortably dispatched Dan McFarland’s men at the Aviva Stadium on August 29. He started the two wins over Munster and ensured no-one was pining after the injured Tadhg Furlong.
While Leinster offered up a positive assessment of James Ryan’s chances of featuring in Saturday’s final, Furlong and Dan Leavy look set to miss out. If anything, their returns to rugby may come in the shape of an ‘A’ game the IRFU have yet to fully lock in.
Having started as a loose-head, switched to tight-head and then dabbled between both positions to help ensure World Cup selection with Ireland, Porter is delighted to have the No.3 jersey as his sole focus.
“Of course, you never want to see one of your teammates out injured, at all. In terms of myself, it’s about nailing my basics, really. A lot of people have been given opportunities and you have to take them. I’m not looking to do anything outside of what I’m capable of. I’m just trying to add as much as I can for the team, and do what is in the best interests of them.
“It’s about taking my opportunity and taking those valuable starter minutes under my belt. Getting my match-fitness as well. When I talk about that, we’ve been off for so long now and I’ve played two games. It’s all about building match fitness as it is hard to replicate that in training as well.”
Leinster have beaten Ulster twice this season and won six of their last seven meetings with their inter-pro rivals. That being said, the manner of their weekend semi-final win over Edinburgh shows it would be foolish to write off the final as a foregone conclusion. Porter is certainly not thinking that way.
“These are the games that really mean everything. It’s the make-or-break [part] of the season. All our unbeaten run would be worthless if this weekend didn’t result in anything but a win.”
