'It was a rough few weeks' - Hugo Keenan ready to kick on after virus recovery
The Ireland full-back had endured a nightmare start to his first British & Irish Lions tour, arriving in Australia still needing to recover from the calf injury that forced him out of Leinster's URC semi-final and final victories last month. Yet that was just the start of it, Keenan succumbing to a virus that laid him low for a further 12 days and left the 29-year-old Olympian running the risk of having his Lions dream pass him by.
A Lions debut against the Waratahs in Sydney on July 5 was not his finest hour, the effects of that virus still impeding his ability to make the right impression, head coach Andy Farrell hauling him off after just 50 minutes.
Seven days later and Farrell was singing his full-back's excellence as Keenan bounced back in real style in Adelaide against an AUSNZ Invitational XV, his sharp thinking catching a lazy defence napping in the third minute with a quick throw in to scrum-half Ben White to set up Duhan van der Merwe for the first of his three tries in a 48-0 victory.
It was a performance that announced his arrival on this tour and allayed any fears that the Lions could struggle in the backfield against the Wallabies in this Saturday's first Test at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium with Blair Kinghorn struggling with a knee injury.
So it was good to be back from what Keenan described as a 'rough few weeks'.
'It wasn't exactly what you planned on when getting on tour. I was sick for about 12 days,' Keenan said.
'I couldn't stop, yeah… getting off the jacks was an issue. Yeah, I lost about five or six kilos. It was a rough few weeks. So, yeah, definitely felt better out there tonight than last week.
'There was a big step-up in energy levels and I think there's good energy amongst the group as well and you could feel it out there.
'I think that fast start we had was important. We knew to come out of the blocks early with the individuals they have and stuff. If you give them a sniff, the quality in their side, we knew that they'd make it a tough, tough game. So, I think that was really pleasing.'
Keenan explained how and when he got sick.
'It was the week before the Waratahs game... we were still over in Perth. There was a little bit of a virus going around camp but for whatever reason it hit me on a different level.
'I was isolating for a good bit and then, most lads recovered pretty quick from it but I've never had something like that. God, it was pretty horrible.
'Just frustrating. Every day you think you're going to be waking up the next day better. You think it's going to be sort of a 24-hour, 48-hour thing.
'So, it was just frustrating the length of time that it kept on going but we got a few tests done and it was, I only found out what bug I had only a day or two ago. It's been going on that long.
'But look, that's hopefully in the past now. Yeah, even over the last 48 hours, made big, big improvements. The tour will hopefully kick on for me here and I can start enjoying it a bit more. It was a great start tonight then.'
A strong performance has buoyed the camp and not just Keenan to kick off Test week.
'We knew we had that performance in us, I think we've shown glimpses of it, but to put a team like that to nil with their quality is a real step forward.
'That was the big challenge and everybody's hungry to play next week, everybody wants to be involved, so it's exactly what Faz is looking for, competition throughout the squad, all positions, and I think that's real healthy to have.
'He's already said it for a few tough decisions this week and that's where we want to be as a group and hopefully it'll keep kicking on and keep pushing people forward.'
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