WILL CONNORS is doing his best to navigate his way through the tricky world of tackling in rugby by doing a PhD on the subject.
But negotiating the challenges that a professional career in the sport brings can be a little more difficult.
Connors was one of two debutants Andy Farrell named in the Six Nations clash against Italy in October 2020.
Hugo Keenan was the other. It is not just because of rugby’s customs that the full-back is the first name on the teamsheet.
He has played in 38 of Ireland’s 45 games since his first cap, his absences explained by a need to rest or injury rather than being dropped.
Connors matched Keenan for the first half of his run of 18 consecutive Test appearances but his ninth and most recent outing for Ireland came more than three years ago.
And there was a vital ingredient missing from his international career to date which he hopes can resume sooner rather than later.
He said: “No crowds. My parents never got to see me play for Ireland.
“We were only talking there about Covid, there was a point in time when we thought, ‘Jesus, would there ever be crowds back again?’ and all this kind of craic.
“Unfortunately I never got to play an Irish game in front of my parents which obviously spurs on the desire to hopefully one day do it again.
“Seeing them after the game in La Rochelle — even they flew over for the first game over there in the lashing rain — they’re incredible supporters, like any parents when you’re involved the whole way up I think.
“It’s just great to have them as your biggest supporters.”
The quarter-final win over Ronan O’Gara’s side earlier this month was his first time playing in a sold-out Aviva Stadium.
Next Saturday he will get to run out in front of a full Croke Park as GAA HQ stages its first rugby game in 15 years as Leinster host Northampton Saints in the quarter-final.
As a Kildare fan, he has not had much to celebrate there in recent years with his own football journey not extending beyond lining out for his local club Cappagh, keeping his oar in during the early stages of his professional rugby career.
He said: “It was during the summer when we were off, keeping the fitness up, it was never anything too risky, just a kick around and making sure I wasn’t doing anything stupid.
“It was always a great way to have a link back in with the lads at home, too.”
MAKING PROGRESS
Connors’ progress with Leinster and Ireland justified his decision to stick with the oval ball but he endured a run of bad luck.
He suffered a knee injury in training during his first — and to date only — Six Nations, during which he had scored two tries against Italy. That ended his season and, not long after he returned to action in the following campaign, he tore a bicep which ruled him out for 16 weeks.
His problems coincided with an improvement of form which saw Josh van der Flier collect the World Rugby Player of the Year Award in 2022.
But, after three successive knockout defeats to La Rochelle, Leo Cullen decided something different was needed for an away pool game in December with Connors thrown in.
It worked as they ground out the win and Cullen stuck to the formula for the last-eight clash as Leinster won with a bit to spare.
Connors is unsure if the renewed appreciation for his talents has something to do with the arrival of Jacques Nienaber after he led South Africa to World Cup glory.
He said: “It’s hard to know. I didn’t really delve into the criteria around the selection. I’ve been back available for a while now and I felt I’ve been playing relatively OK rugby.”
TACKLING THE ISSUE
One point of difference is his chop tackling. The fact that he is delving into the wider art as part of his studies has seen him nicknamed Dr Chop. But he keen to stress he is not a one-trick pony.
He said: “I recognise that it is probably a skillset that thankfully I have acquired over the last number of years and I’ve worked hard getting to that level.
“Obviously there are other parts of my game that I keep trying to push and get better at. I know that the coaches here know that I’m not just a chop tackler.”
His thesis is called Tackling Optimisation Through Technical Improvement which, for everyone’s benefit, he shortens to Totti, a nod to the former Romastriker Francesco.
He explained: “Currently in rugby there is great work being done in terms of trying to identify tackle techniques that I suppose are sub-optimal to an extent which lead to injuries or head contact.
“The way I would want to analyse that would be a computational method of being able to watch video and pick up tackling characteristics from the video directly and then, in time, be able to feed back, to say of 100 bad tackles, or 100 concussions, what’s the common denominator, is it people bringing their head the wrong side or things like that. It’s very much looking at trying to negate the suboptimal patterns.
“You see it across every kind of rugby, from the professional to AIL. Unfortunately there are so many factors to the tackle that it is hard for it to be always safe and it’s trying to train people in the best way to tackle.”
Of the three concussions he has suffered, he said just one was caused in a tackle and, rather than be scared by studying the phenomenon, he is energised by trying to make the game safer.
But the priority is trying to squeeze as much as he can out of his playing career.
Connors added: “I’d love to get back into the Ireland set-up and I’ll do everything I can to get there. It is obviously difficult to watch on.
“But also seeing your best mates going out there and playing for their country, during the World Cup, lads like Hugo and Jimmy O’Brien — these lads would be my best friends the whole way through, you want the absolute best for them.
“So when you’re watching games like that, you’re nearly giddy when you see them doing so well.”