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WHEN THE SPECIALIST surgeon sat Rory O’Loughlin down earlier this year and advised him to retire from rugby, there was a sense of relief mixed in with all the other emotions.
“That was that,” said O’Loughlin this week as he reflected on his career in a café in Dublin, having recently returned home with his girlfriend, Lisa, and their one-year-old daughter, Lily. The initial scan didn’t give a clear indication of the issue that would be identified months later. There was a suggestion of an operation to repair one of the tendons in his shoulder but it would have meant being out until February or March. Instead, they chose to manage the injury without surgery and he was back within nine weeks.
He admitted defeat and signalled that he needed to be subbed off. O’Loughlin flew home for Christmas that night and as he landed into Dublin, the prospect of retirement flickered into his mind for the first time. “I got through training and it was sore but I was hoping the adrenaline would help. In hindsight, it was probably a bit stupid playing that game but in my head, I’m thinking, ‘I’ll get through this.’ One more game, get back into the cycle of rolling games together even when I had been carrying injuries.”
Advertisement “That was the first time I had ever come off that early in the game,” he said. “I was devastated. My girlfriend text me when I got back to the changing room, they had literally sat down in the stand when I got taken off.” “My mum was pretty relieved,” said O’Loughlin. “She had been there the whole time, seen all the injuries, and it gets harder.
When he looks back at it all now, O’Loughlin is grateful for what he got to do in rugby. At one stage, it looked like it wasn’t going to take off for him. “Guy Easterby even said it to me later that, similar to Josh van der Flier, they didn’t see it happening for a while. They thought I might get pushed out. I hadn’t made any real impression.”
He recalled the speechless shock of the email arriving from the IRFU to confirm his spot, landing while he studied for exams in his Business and Law degree. O’Loughlin was soon learning about Joe Schmidt’s demands.“Joe came up and asked how the hip was, then said, ‘You need to know everything on that board on Monday. If you can’t run, you’re not coming.’ That set the tone for the tour, it was intense.
“I don’t feel like I got that one cap and peaked there. I feel I got better but I was competing with world-class talent. The centres there – Bundee, Robbie, and Garry – they’re all 50-cap internationals.” “Some people would tell me to focus on one position but if you’re that stubborn, you might not play.”
He feels Lancaster is the best coach he ever worked with, bringing hunger, energy, and knowledge into the environment, and flags how good a blend the Leinster squad had at that time, with younger players like James Ryan, Andrew Porter, Ringrose, and Leavy complementing world-class leaders such as Johnny Sexton, Isa Nacewa, and Scott Fardy.
Initially, it looked like a move abroad might be difficult but O’Loughlin realised he was English-qualified again thanks to his mother being born there and the new World Rugby law meaning his Irish cap from 2017 no longer tied him to Ireland. All of a sudden, three English clubs wanted to talk but Exeter moved quickly.
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