A ‘realist’ is how new Connacht number eight Robin Copeland described himself at Eir Sport’s PRO14 launch on Wednesday.
Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines a ‘realist’ as ‘a person who recognises what is real or possible in a particular situation : one who accepts and deals with things as they really are’ and it seems an apt description for Copeland.
The former Munster backrow was once heralded as a potential threat to Jamie Heaslip’s stranglehold of the Ireland number eight jersey, and while he never quite fulfilled that role during his time in Limerick, due to injury, the emergence of CJ Stander and competition at the other provinces, he has no regrets about his four years with the two-time European champions and certainly isn’t feeling sorry for himself with regards to his time there.
“I’m a positive person and I’m not going to think of all the ‘what ifs’,” said Copeland.
“I had a few injuries and there’s some quality players at Munster. There’s Lions in my position [CJ Stander & Peter O’Mahony]. There’s two Lions in my position. Like how pissed off can you be really?
“I was playing with some of the best players in the world. It’s okay to take a step back sometimes. I’m always team first, I’ll do what’s best for the team and there was lots of times in Munster where I was like ‘okay I’m not starting, am I going to be pissed off?’
“Okay I’ll be pissed off for a little while but I’m going to go out and I’m going to train and make sure the guy that’s in my position is going to get the best prep possible for the game this weekend.
“That’s how I can move on and it’s my time to work on things. I can train hard opposite to him in training and get to where I can get to but I can push him to be better instead of moping around and feeling sorry for myself.”
Copeland had 12 starts and 12 appearances off the bench for Munster last season but he insists that his time in Limerick was not unfulfilled.
He said that he was happy playing for ‘one of the best clubs in the world’ and that he was initially taken aback by the province’s pre-season expectations.
He now has the unenviable task of succeeding former captain and all-time caps leader John Muldoon at Connacht but he’s hoping to bring the same standards he learned at Munster and help change the culture at the western province after a turbulent campaign under Kieran Keane last season.
“There is an expectation and a pressure that comes with putting on a Munster jersey that is hard to replicate anywhere else and it comes from every single detail, of every corner of the organisation, pushing to max out resources, everything,” Copeland added.
“I saw it when I was there. When we set goals at the start of the year at Cardiff it was ‘ok let’s finish top four here, let’s try get a home semi-final here’ and then when I came to Munster it was like ‘we need to win this, win this’ and I was like ‘lads, come on, you can’t win everything, that’s just selfish, greedy! You can’t do that’.
“They were like ‘what do you mean? That’s where we are’ and I said ‘oh, yeah, alright’. That is their mentality from the get-go. They want to win every single thing that they can and yeah you can break that down into bit by bit how we want to achieve that, but that ruthlessness and that killer edge is brought into every training session, every walk through, every meeting.
“It’s there and it brings a lot of pressure and there is someone constantly on your back to make sure that stuff is being done the right way. So obviously I learned a lot from that and I could see differences in young guys, especially at Connacht, coming in saying ‘ah well we just weren’t good enough last year or that wasn’t good enough or they’re better than us’ and when I first heard those things it’s not necessarily from players even, fans and some staff, media.
“You are like obviously there won’t be as much pressure this year as there was with you last year and not as much expectation to win and you just have to be ‘hold on a second, that’s absolutely not the case’.
“I have literally stopped people ‘don’t ever say that again, because that is not where anyone wants to be or what anyone expects’.
“I know every time I go out on the pitch I am going to try my best to win the game, no matter who we are playing against. Whether they are a better team than us or not, it’s irrelevant. Everybody is playing for their livelihood and if you don’t take that seriously or a loss doesn’t hurt you, then you are in the wrong game.”
Standing at 6 ft 5 and weighing in over 17 stone, Copeland is in the right game and it certainly comes across from speaking to him that he has the right mentality and attitude.
He is a fan of interprovincial transfers and encourages players to move to what the best situation is for them personally, and yet, he immediately dismissed any talk of him improving his Ireland chances by moving west.
He’s not concerned with where he ranks in the pecking order of Irish back-rows. He has said that playing for Ireland is probably the 15th goal on his list of objectives this season.
He just wants to shoulder more responsibility at Connacht and feed off a new environment with new coaches and new teammates.
“Rugby is no longer about the pride of playing for your jersey, it’s your job and a lot of guys are shifting towards ‘well I’m not getting what I need here, there are options elsewhere and I can absolutely get everything I need from somewhere else’.
“I’ve been very close to coming to Connacht for about eight years. I’ve said no a few times and I just felt like this is absolutely the best place for me to be and not one bit of me since I made that decision has felt like that has been the wrong move.
“It’s been great, everything is very positive and I’m looking forward to the challenge of having that bit more responsibility on my shoulders and being one of those players that the coach and the guys around me can turn to when things need to get done or need a big play or whatever. I’m going to try to do my best to take on that responsibility.
“I’m one of the older guys in the squad, not the oldest, second-oldest! So obviously I have to take on that responsibility and guys are going to turn to me and coaches have said ‘Look, you are a guy with a lot of experience, what do you think here?’.
“I feel like I can thrive in that environment and when there’s a bit more responsibility put on my shoulders so I’m looking forward to getting going and feeding off that positive energy.”
Pictured at the eir sport announcement that its first broadcast, Cardiff Blues v Leinster will be made free to air to celebrate the channel becoming the NEW home of rugby in Ireland is Susan Brady, Managing Director of Consumer and Small Business with Ulster Rugby’s Billy Burns, Leinster Rugby’s Jack Conan, Connacht Rugby’s Robin Copeland, and Munster Rugby’s Rory Scannell.
