LONG READ 'You don’t want to be the one shouting the loudest' - Andrew Porter plotting All Blacks payback

Andrew Porter made his way to the section of Stade de France that contained the family and friends of the Ireland squad. Lined up were Caelan Doris, Jimmy O’Brien and Porter, sinking deep into the embraces of those that loved them most. Those that knew what had been sacrificed to reach this World Cup moment, only to be denied.

Porter plunged his head in the arms of his wife, Elaine, while his father, Ernie, offered a consoling hand on the shoulder. The dream had included a World Cup quarter final but this was supposed to be a stop on the road, not the final destination.

Even now, at a year’s remove, the image stings. For Irish supporters, it summed up how desperate everyone felt.

Porter was enjoying an excellent tournament until he ran into a dialled-in All Blacks side, and the shrills of Wayne Barnes’ whistle. Further viewing of that last eight encounter leaves you with a kinder impression of Porter’s scrummaging performance, but Barnes was not having it, on the night. There were plenty of factors that contributed to Ireland’s latest quarter final heartbreak, but losing those early scrum battles was a big one.

Retired props Mike Ross and Alex Corbisiero defended Porter’s technique, and pointed out, on social media, how some scrums could have easily gone Ireland’s way. “It’s always good to have lads who actually know what they are talking about fighting your corner,” Porter observed, earlier this year.

He admitted, on The Rugby Pod, that his ‘blood was honestly boiling’ at some of the referee’s scrum calls, and penalty decisions, but acknowledged that one team will invariably leave a match with officiating grievances. He took a break from social media, and all things rugby, for a few weeks after the World Cup. “It was literally like, someone died,” he told me. “It was like some huge tragedy.”

Heading into Friday’s reunion with the All Blacks, Porter is the sole remaining member of Ireland’s starting front row from that crushing night in Paris. Dan Sheehan and Tadhg Furlong are both injured so the loosehead will pack down with Leinster teammate Rónan Kelleher and Connacht tighthead Finlay Bealham.

“It’s a different atmosphere to the Six Nations,” says Porter. “The volume is turned up an extra few notches. It’s incredible to be able to turn out against some of the best teams in the world. It’s definitely going to be tough and it will add into our preparations for the Six Nations, and our title defence. It’s one of the times of the year you really, really look forward to… it’s so exciting. You’re not playing for a trophy but you are facing off against some of the very best. Some people might call it a friendly, but I don’t think there are such things in this game. You’ll be going hammer and tongs.”

When I first came into the system, there was a huge line of looseheads so I went to play at tighthead. Now I’m back again at loosehead. There’s no straightforward path to get there.

Backing up the starting props will be Cian Healy (37) and Tom O’Toole, who has only two starts and 387 Test minutes in the three and a half years since his international debut. Porter, though, is bullish about Ireland’s front row stocks.

“There is such a conveyer belt of talent coming through, in Leinster,” he notes. “Jacques (Nienaber) and Leo (Cullen) are the type of coaches that will give players chances. They are not the sort of coaches that will just put out the same team, each week. They’ll give combinations and different guys chances.

“It was the same with me, when I first came into the system. There was a huge line of looseheads so I went to play at tighthead. Now I’m back again at loosehead. There’s no straightforward path to get there. We’ve got some great young players at Leinster, especially props. But there is incredible talent, not just at Leinster. It’s across Irish rugby.

“With Rabah (Slimani) coming in, he’s just got a different technique to a lot of the other tightheads. Everyone has their own style, and way of training. It’s hugely positive in that team environment, learning from somebody who has a different scrummaging style. It’s incredibly beneficial, having that level of competition, as well, and that different style of play. You can pick up things. You pick up the best traits of players and you often just sit down and chat, as you just want to learn about their techniques and tricks. It’s that growth environment – everyone is always, constantly changing. You’re always trying to learn and add more to that book of tricks, especially as a scrummager.”

Jack Boyle (loosehead), Thomas Clarkson (tighthead), and Gus McCarthy (hooker) are all in the latest squad as ‘training panellists’ but may have to wait until next summer’s tour to Georgia and Romania to see Test action. Porter points to Jamie Osborne, another Leinster teammate, like the three uncapped forwards, as an example of what is possible if the young guns can prove themselves in deeper waters.

“When you’re given your chance, you have to take it,” he insists. “You have to grasp it with two hands. Becoming a rugby player is tough and staying at that level is even tougher. When you’re given your chance, you have to take it and hold on to it. You look at the likes of Jamie and he has done incredibly well. He’s really found his place within the team and with that comes more confidence. He’s just getting better and better. The same could be said for a lot of these young players coming through. They are taking their chances and that is why you are seeing more of these new faces in the squads. Nothing is straightforward, as you can see from my journey, but it is great to see so many young lads pushing on.”

Off the pitch, it’s an incredible craic. We have so many characters and different personalities in there. It is a great mix.

Porter, who is backing this month’s Movember campaign, has bravely opened up, in recent years, about his past mental health struggles and battling with periods of depression. Such issues may have been tackled behind closed doors, in bygone years, but players like Porter using their platforms to encourage others to talk, and seek help, has been hugely beneficial. That openness, he says, is promoted in Andy Farrell’s Ireland set-up.

“That is driven from the coaches, and the players have all bought into that, as well. We’ve all embraced that, and I think that is what makes the team work that so much better – that fact that you can be so much closer as a team when you truly know someone. You know someone as just more than a rugby person – you know that human element, what’s inside of them, you know more about their background. You get them way more. That brings even more trust, which is huge when you have a high performing team. When you trust them, off the field, you know when you’re on the field you can really trust them to do their job, and give it their all.

“Off the pitch, too, it’s incredible craic. We have so many characters and different personalities in there. It is a great mix.”

On those characters, Ireland teammate Mack Hansen jokes that the strait-laced persona of Caelan Doris is ‘just a façade’, adding that the new captain is one of the squad’s funniest members and a leading light during social outings. Hansen himself is a wild card, as are Bealham and James Lowe. It is often the Irish players that came up through the underage system, like Porter, that go under the radar.

Behind closed doors, lads are a bit more open and a bit more relaxed, than when a camera is in your face and it’s a bit harder to show, I suppose, who you really are.

“I think we’re nearly too well media trained!” Porter jokes. “A lot of lads are afraid of saying the wrong thing, or something being taken up the wrong way. I don’t know. Maybe it’s the innate Irishness of us not wanting to be too out there. You don’t to be the one shouting the loudest. You want to be the modest one – that is just ingrained in a lot of Irish people.

“Behind closed doors, lads are a bit more open and a bit more relaxed, than when a camera is in your face and it’s a bit harder to show, I suppose, who you really are.”

The cameras will be at full glare, on Friday, at Aviva Stadium. Porter will be eager to show the rugby world his bad night at the office, last October in Paris, was a mere aberration. He has been waiting for this encounter all year.