Fullback, outhalf, right wing, left wing, sub.
That was the gist of it for Isa Nacewa in his first season at Leinster after Michael Cheika brought him over from Auckland Blues.
Nacewa played his first game for Leinster just under 10 years ago and while there were glimpses of his potential in the early months of 2008/09, few would have predicted that he would go on to become a living legend at the province. Just ask his teammates.
Former Leinster centre Eoin O’Malley played four seasons with Nacewa and joined The Hard Yards to look back on the province’s fourth European Cup victory in nine years. O’Malley also shared an insight to Nacewa [from 9:00 below] that few will have heard before.
“Nacewa is unbelievable,” said O’Malley. “He hasn’t played a huge amount of rugby this year, or in the past few months. He’s at the end of his career and he is fairly bashed up at this stage but he has done it so many times for Leinster, just match-winning moments. And they’re always on the big days.
“You look to the other Heineken Cups and the games he has played in those matches. That try he scored against Leicester in the Aviva. He’s produced a huge amount for Leinster and he is possibly the best foreign signing of all time for any of the Irish provinces.
“It’s what he brings outside of the pitch as well. He is huge at building that winning mentality. Leinster don’t go too high or too low from one match to the next; they are always going on about their business. Isa is a huge amount of what changed that mind-set about the place, along with Michael Cheika and along with Joe Schmidt.”
It was Nacewa that Leinster turned to, at 12-9 down in the closing stages of the Champions Cup, when Johnny Sexton felt his groin tighten. The 35-year-old had been practising his kicking in the warm-up but asking him to step up with the game on the line against Racing was still a lot.
Typical of the man, he lapped over both kicks with the minimum of fuss and Leinster won 15-12.
That was Nacewa’s fourth European Cup too but, according to O’Malley, some at Leinster were not always as steadfastly confident in the Kiwi.
“He first of all arrived and played outhalf for half a season. Everyone didn’t really get it with him. People were thinking this guy wasn’t at the races and they were wondering what all the fuss was about.
“Obviously then, a few years on, he had proved everyone wrong. As a younger guy coming in, I probably didn’t realise what Isa was doing behind the scenes for a couple of years. He’s not a guy that talks too much. He talks pretty irregularly but, when he does, people do listen. He’s a huge influence in the leadership group.
“Things like the culture and the habits, that’s what Isa drives the whole time. He drives the humble side of things, too. He doesn’t want people celebrating tries too much; celebrating wins. That’s the expectation and we’re on to the next thing.
“What he drives is a consistency, rather than being up for one or two games, that level of high performance is expected all the time.”
Nacewa will finish up with Leinster at the season’s end and he will be hoping to leave with his third league title to go with the trophy haul he has already amassed.
Saying that, with Girvan Dempsey departing for Bath next season, Nacewa could yet stick around in a backs coaching capacity. No better man for it.
