Luke Fitzgerald was green, he was nineteen and he was far too keen.
Fitzgerald was 18 when he made his Leinster debut and not long past his 19th birthday when he played his first game for Ireland, against Pacific Islands, at Lansdowne Road.
Legend has it a member of Ireland’s backroom staff snuck Fitzgerald out of the post-match function so he would avoid the long-held tradition of accepting an alcoholic beverage off each one of his new international teammates.
Lauded as the next great shake in Irish rugby, Fitzgerald certainly did not lack for confidence. In fact, Fitzgerald was so sure of himself that he had no problem piping up in team meetings… with Leinster and Ireland.
Ronan O’Gara and Kevin McLaughlin told a brilliant story about a young Fitzgerald showing no fear in the latest episode of The Hard Yards rugby podcast [the chat begins from 18:45 below].
https://soundcloud.com/thehardyardssportsjoe/episode-8-six-nations-winners-and-losers-irish-lions-and-dirtiest-opponents
Hard to imagine now, O’Gara revealed it was two years before he spoke up at a Munster team meeting. McLaughlin laughed as he recalled Fitzgerald lumping straight in.
The fateful moment arose early in Leinster’s 2006/07 season. McLaughlin recalls:
“I’d say Luke was in the set-up, and changing room, around two weeks and he was challenging Cheiks – Michael Cheika – and I can just remember the look of disbelief in his face. He’s just been taken out of the academy and was on a development contract.
“He had played about two games, against the Dragons and someone else, and he sticks up his hand and says ‘Cheiks, I don’t agree with that at all’. Everyone just spins around.
“Maybe Drico and perhaps Shaggy might have been able to challenge Cheiks but, like, a nineteen year old, fresh out of the academy and wet behind the ears, challenging Cheika was just hilarious.”
O’Gara takes a slightly different view on Fitzgerald’s verbosity. He says:
“For me, it was really refreshing to see because he was 100 per cent convinced in (A) his ability and (B) what he was talking about. He absolutely gave his point and it didn’t matter who he was talking to. If he wasn’t in the team, it didn’t bother him.
“I think that really developed our squad to a place where there was a big value on the people that potentially weren’t in the team in a certain week.”
Far from pissing O’Gara off, he says he sat back at the time and thought ‘I wish I was like that’.
High praise from a Munster legend to a not so old Leinster rival.
