Could a Leinster legend be about to return?
May 2013 saw Johnny Sexton and Isa Nacewa play their final games for Leinster. Two years on and Sexton is preparing to return for his second spell at the club. Isa Nacewa is now 32 years old but one former teammate would be ecstatic if the New Zealander were to return.
Nacewa was a genuine Leinster legend. In his five seasons with the province he won three Heineken Cups, a league title and a Challenge Cup. He is Leinster’s most successful ever foreign signing.
Ian Madigan, for one, would welcome the return of a player credited for transforming the province’s fortunes at the highest level of European rugby. Asked if Nacewa was coming back, Madigan said:
‘I don’t know if he is coming back but we would certainly be delighted to have him. He is 32 and his best years are ahead of him. I have kept in touch with him, in New Zealand. I know he is still in great shape. Leinster is the only club he would play for, if he did make a return to the game.
‘If he did come back, it would be a fantastic signing for the club.’
Madigan says Nacewa was a role model and mentor to him when he first came into Leinster’s sub academy. The mentoring continued all the way through his breakthrough into the senior team.
Madigan told us, ‘I was lucky enough to watch Isa as a supporter. He got his hands on me when I was in the sub-academy and I was lucky enough to play with him for three seasons. He is, without doubt, the person who has had the biggest impact on me.
‘He epitomises exactly the culture we want in Leinster. He is the consummate professional, who goes out of his way to help the younger fellas in the team while, when playing at the top level, in the Heineken Cup, it always seemed to bring out the best in him.’
The 26-year-old, who has emulated Nacewa by covering numerous backline positions, says the former Fiji international [one cap] would often seek him out and ask if he wanted to do video analysis with him. ‘He would tell you exactly what you did well and encourage you on the things that did not go well. He certainly grew my game.’
*Madigan helped launch the Bank of Ireland Leinster Rugby Summer Camps in Old Wesley R.F.C. The camps will take place in 22 locations all across the province this summer. For more information log on to www.leinsterrugby.ie/camps.
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