from Simon Lewis in Queenstown, New Zealand
SHANE Jennings may have joined the Ireland Rugby World Cup squad as a late replacement for the injured David Wallace but now he's in the mix he's determined to fight his way into the Irish back row for next weekend's Pool C opener against the USA.
Jennings was on his couch at home, watching Ireland play England in their final warm-up game last Saturday when he saw Wallace's hopes of a third World Cup crushed as he fell awkwardly under a Manu Tuilagi tackle.
Such are the strange twists of fate that befall rugby players, as the Munster and Lions star contemplated a lengthy spell on the sidelines, his Leinster replacement was relishing a fresh opportunity.
“I was told before the France game that I wasn't going to be involved, so it was a matter of getting my head around it,” Jennings recalled on Friday as he settled into the team hotel in Queenstown.
“It was obviously a huge disappointment. And then I got back into Leinster and was focusing on the first six league games before we kind of break up from there. We played on Friday night against Northampton and I played a half.
“Then I was watching it on Saturday and you see Wally go down and you kind of think because you're on standby that there's an opportunity there. I was fortunate I got the call that night and the plans that you'd made and the way things were going to be looking for the next couple of weeks changed like that.
“Someone's misery is another person's joy and it was very unfortunate for Wally but very fortunate for me. It's obviously not the way you wanted things to happen but these things happen and you've got to make the most of it and I'm certainly going to try and do that and enjoy it.”
As far as the 30-year-old Jennings is concerned, it would be abnormal for anyone in the Irish squad not to do their level best to try and win a starting spot in Declan Kidney's first XV.
“It's not just me. We've got to have 30 lads here pushing hard for these spots because if we don't and we have lads pushing along and holding tackle bags and happy to not compete for places we're going to come up short.
“It's the same whether you're with your province or your club or whether you're here, we've got to give headaches to Deccie and the coaches and be pushing each other because if we don't we're going to come up short.
“We've got to be pushing each other hard for this USA game and the 15 guys who get out there have got to do a good job because hopefully there'll be pressure on them if they don't perform because there's going to be changes.
“It's certainly my intention to push very, very hard for the place and I know everybody else in the squad, the 30 lads, are doing the same and hopefully it will benefit us all.”
Jennings has been frustrated with an Ireland career that has garnered 10 caps in four years since his international debut on the 2007 summer tour to Argentina but the former Leicester Tigers openside is a living testament to perserverance.
“I've got 10 caps and it obviously hasn't gone as well as I'd planned but there's good competition around so I've just always stayed positive about the whole thing and just kept working on it because opportunities will come up.
“Like you've seen here, an opportunity has come up and it's just a matter for me of working hard every time and just keep putting pressure on coaches and making sure that the feedback I get, I have to stay positive with it and keep working on my game. They're the lads you've got to impress and they're the decision makers and as a player it's just a matter of trying to improve the whole time and when you do get the opportuity, take it, because there's been games I've played for Ireland where I've been happy and there's been games where I haven't performed well and I'd be the first to say it.
“So it's great to be here and I'm looking forward to it and hopefully I'll get the opportunity and hopefully I'll be able to take it.”
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/ejA3HbTXJUI/post.aspx
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