“We’d be a big GAA background. I started off playing every sport – hurling, football, soccer, rugby, badminton.”
For Darren Sweetnam, hurling was the first love but rugby has endured. It is enduring still. Flourishing even.
The former Cork minor hurler made the call, a little over three years back, to throw his sporting lot behind rugby. Munster convinced him he had a home and then left the rest of the convincing up to him.
Sweetnam showed signs of early promise but needed to put on some muscle mass to make it in professional rugby. He is still slight enough when compared to George North and Joe Rokocoko but, by God, can he hold his own.
This season has seen the Cork native in sensational form and has brought him to the attention of Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt. The 24-year-old is nominate for Ireland’s Young Player of the Year, has just captured the Munster equivalent and is tipped to make his international debut this summer.
He also has one of the strongest Cork accents in sport.
Ahead of Munster’s regular season PRO12 finalé against Connacht, TG4 caught up with Sweetnam at University of Limerick for a chat on a truly remarkable nine months, and a couple more to come yet.
Hailing from Dunmanway [below] in Cork, or West Cork as any West Cork native will tell you, Sweetnam hasn’t lost a hint of the accent yet.
“This year, more than past years I suppose, we’ve been playing with no fear,” says Sweetnam.
“The coach is giving us a licence to, d’ya know, have a go so it’s a positive attitude to have and we have a go, try offloads and, sure look-it, if they don’t come off we’ll try the next one.”
From a man on the fringes to very much part of Munster’s trophy-hunting ambitions, Sweetnam is on the rise and he has a ways to go yet.
Credit: Nemeton TV [TG4]
