Ciaran Frawley has explained how he “picked the brains” of regular full-back Hugo Keenan before scoring a try on his first start for Ireland in their 31-7 Six Nations win over Wales.
Frawley was selected to wear the 15 shirt for the match in Dublin after Keenan missed out with a knee injury.
“I was sitting down with Hugo – he’s a mastermind of the backfield and I was learning new things off him,” he said.
“It’s been very good, we have a good relationship.”
“There’s a lot of room for improvement, I was picking his brain a lot before the game.
“When I have ball in hand I know I have the capabilities to create something so it’s just constantly pushing that skillset and working on new things every time.
“We come into camp on Sundays and we sit down and do a good bit of video before we train on Monday and Tuesday, so myself and Hugo would have been sitting around the computers together watching a little bit of footage and just bouncing off each other.
“Obviously I suppose I can think like a ’10’ as well and if I was to pose a question on him about what they might do, he could have an answer, and vice versa.”
‘A day I’ll never forget’
The Leinster back reflected fondly on his maiden starting appearance in the green shirt as Ireland made it three wins from three in their bid to become the first team to secure back-to-back Grand Slams in the Six Nations era.
Frawley crossed for the third of his side’s four tries as he repaid the faith shown in him by head coach Andy Farrell as he deputised for his ultra-consistent provincial team-mate Keenan.
“It was a very special day, a first start was unbelievable, a brilliant day I’ll never forget,” said the 26-year-old.
“Obviously the start of the week there’s nerves there but as it got closer to the game it just felt like a normal game to me. I felt like I was in a good place.
“I’m quite a chilled kind of person so I was fine before the game. It’s just the start of the week getting across all your detail and once you know that it’s just being a rugby player when you get out there.
“It’s funny, when you’re on the pitch all the fear and anxiety goes. I was happy with how it went.”
‘No room for complacency’
England at Twickenham on 9 March is the next assignment for Ireland, who are hopeful that they will have Keenan and centre Garry Ringrose at their disposal again.
Frawley knows that may mean a return to the replacements’ bench, but is philosophical about potentially fulfilling the role of understudy to his clubmate again.
“You always want to push to start and I’ll always train to be a starter but if it comes to a tight call and you can fill in on the bench you’ll take that as you always want to be involved in the big games.
“There’s no room for complacency in this team and with Garry and Hugo coming back, a massive presence both of them.
“It’s very good at this stage of the campaign to have them back. Garry went through a hard few weeks with his shoulder so it’s brilliant to have them back in, massive voices within the leadership squad.”