FERGUS MCFADDEN IS more abrasive than your average winger.
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The Leinster man often takes it upon himself to be an enforcer of sorts, a role usually left to grizzled old second rows, finding the right moments to niggle and distract opponents or just simply inject a big does of physicality.
Before half-time in Leinster’s Champions Cup quarter-final against Bath, he did just that; coming up hard out of the line to flatten Anthony Watson with a ferocious hit.
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“Hitting a bit higher, you’re trying to stop the ball getting away,” McFadden explained today at the launch of Bank of Ireland’s Leinster Rugby summer camps.
“It did get the crowd going and we had a lot of momentum after that play. So half-time in a roundabout way came at a bad time for us because the lads fed off that, we had a few good hits afterwards – the main thing was keeping them out until half-time, keeping that 10 point advantage.
“As for the tackling technique, guys are getting more physical, stronger, collisions are bigger. So of course the crowd wants to see those hits. That’s why they’re paying to see the matches.”
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Unfortunately for the 28-year-old, the second half involved another crunching collision, and this time the result was not the approving roar of the crowd, but a knock-out blow which, in theory, should give him an automatic fail in rugby’s pitch-side head injury assessment.
“I changed angle and his shoulder caught me flush on the jaw. Technique-wise for me, I don’t know what I could have done differently. It was a bit innocuous to be honest. In fairness to him, he came up to me straight afterwards. There was no malice in it, I know that.
“It just got caught so flush on the jaw going at full pace. Thankfully I got up and was able to walk off the field. I came to in the next 10-15 minutes – disappointing not to play the full game,” explains the winger looking back on a painful patched-up memory.