CIAN HEALY AND Luke Fitzgerald may have stolen the limelight at the RDS on Friday night in terms of individual excellence, but Martin Moore was superbly efficient yet again.
Making his second Heineken Cup start, the 22-year-old was part of a powerful set-piece effort on Leinster’s part, where they were 100% on both scrums and line-outs. The 123kg tighthead prop played a vital role in the former, and admitted that he was pleased with Leinster’s scrummaging, as well as their result.
“Yeah, quite happy with it [the scrum]. We trained well during the week and after the first few tonight we were in a good spot. [We were] a little bit unlucky that it went uncontested in the second half a few times, but we got rewards and penalty tries, so we’re happy.
I think when it’s this competition and we get a win like that, you have to enjoy it and make the most of it. Obviously the second half was a little bit messy, but that first half performance, especially up front, we can take a lot from it. A good night I think.”
Moore produced one of the the most thrilling plays of the night with his first half line-break and says he had “no fear” of the open spaces, even if he “looked for the faster guy to pass it to.” Seeing the former Castleknock man impressing in open play would have been further encouragement for Joe Schmidt.
Ireland prospects
There are high hopes for Moore within the international set-up and the prop himself is excited about joining up with the Ireland squad tomorrow in preparation for the Wolfhounds’ clash with the England Saxons on Saturday.
“Yeah, it’s a great chance and a great opportunity. I put it out to the back of my mind this week obviously with the big game, but I can look forward to that now. Hopefully, I can get some game time with the Wolfhounds next week. If that’s an opportunity, I’ll be glad to take it.
I just got the call to say I’ll be included in training and we’ll see what happens when we go from here.”
With his attention focused on international duties over the coming weeks, Moore will switch out of the Leinster mind frame for the time being. When he returns to provincial duties, a Heineken Cup quarter-final in April will be part of the planning.
The promising front row says the province would have no fear of travelling for that game.
“I don’t think it comes into it hugely at this point. We’ve shown we can go away to Northampton, go away to Castres and really that’s been huge for us. That’s probably been the biggest point of our season, that we can go away to these places and win.
“Going forward, we won’t have any fear of taking on anyone in their back yard.”
