Nick Timoney: It feels like a long time since my last cap

RTÉ News​

9 hours ago

Nick Timoney is a persistent man.
A month shy of his 30th birthday, the Ulster back row could be held up as a poster boy for Ireland's embarrassment of riches at flanker and number 8.
It's four years since the Dublin native made his Ireland debut, scoring a try in the 2021 summer hammering of USA, getting his opportunity while others were away on British and Irish Lions duty in South Africa.
That was his first taste of the Ireland squad, and the versatile back row has consistently been part of Andy Farrell's wider plans since. He's been part of the extended squad in 10 of the last 11 Six Nations, Autumn Nations Series and summer tour groups, with the World Cup preparation squad in 2023 the only time he hasn't been selected or later added to the panel.
With 16 Ireland internationals away on Lions again this summer, he's one of the experienced members of this squad - in a sense.
Part of the furniture in the squad as a whole, but the durability and form of Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan and Peter O'Mahony has seen Timoney win just three caps in the last four years, with his debut against USA followed by a cap off the bench against Argentina a few months later, while he scored two tries on his most recent appearance against Fiji in November 2022.
"Yeah, it feels like a long time ago. It pretty much is a long time ago now," the Ulster back row says, when he looks back on his last cap, just under three years ago.
"Opportunities don't come easy in this squad because of how competitive it is and certainly feels like back row is always incredibly competitive."
He's not the only one who has had to sit and wait patiently for their chance in this Irish back row. Gavin Coombes also made his debut in that 2021 summer programme, and like Timoney, will be hoping to finally add some more caps in the upcoming Test matches against Georgia and Portugal.
Timoney has had three other outings in the green jersey, featuring twice for Ireland's dirt-trackers against the Maori All Blacks on the 2022 tour of New Zealand, before playing with Ireland A against an All Blacks XV at the RDS in November that year. However, none of those games were full internationals.
"I made my debut during the last Lions tour four years ago, and bar getting called in on the day once when there was a few injuries [against Argentina], I've only gotten picked once since then for an actual cap.
"In my head, there's absolutely no hint of this being anything other than a chance to represent my country, which is a massive honour.
"I'd be lying if I said there wasn't times where I was frustrated, but I certainly have had times where I feel like I'm incredibly close to it, and I've felt like if I had a chance, I would've taken it and run with it.
"Obviously it's tough in my position, but that's part of it."
It would have been hard to blame Timoney if he'd given up on his Ireland ambitions. An abrasive, ball-carrying and versatile back row, he'd be welcomed with open arms into any number of French Top14 sides, where he'd almost certainly be increasing his pay packet.
But he's drawing inspiration from a South African World Cup winner to never park his Test career.
"I just value the goal that's there. It can be tough because, being a realist, you come into a lot of camps and you know that you're not necessarily top of the pecking order.
"And it's still kills you inside a little bit every time you're not announced and you're not in the team.
"But ultimately, if you really value playing for Ireland enough, then there's no choice but to put more emphasis on getting better and working harder. So that's just what I try to do.
"There's examples of it all over. There's the Deon Fouries of the world who are uncapped to 35 and captain their team in a World Cup final.
"Belief still there. Like I still come into every single camp thinking this will be the one I break through and I'll be into it properly then," he added.
Timoney will be among a squad of 32 players who fly to Tbilisi on Wednesday for what will be Ireland's first ever game away to Georgia on Saturday 5 July.
While Ireland have never lost to the Georgians, they were given a bit of a scare when the sides lasts met in 2020 as Ireland limped their way to a 23-10 win.
The Dublin native has only previously played Georgia in Sevens and at underage level for Ireland, although it's been enough for him to appreciate the physicality in store next week.
And as someone who dreamed of becoming a professional player during the mid-2010s, he cites a Georgian great as one of his rugby inspirations.
"I have hours of Mamuka Gorgodze [above] footage watched from when I was a kid. I used to watch a highlight video of his pretty much every week.
"Back in the day when you're a kid, as you would with loads of different rugby players that were in your position, you'd look up some of their clips, their highlights, but there was a 10-minute compilation video of Mamuka Gorgodze playing a lot of European countries for Georgia.
"There's loads of clips from them playing Poland and Russia and Spain and stuff. So I used to watch that a bit when I was younger.
"He was a bit of a tank.
"I was into all my highlight clips when Rugbydump was a website that was going round back in the day, 'Try-savers and rib-breakers 11' was my favourite one."