Try and try again: Harry makes his mark on historic night
Connacht have described one of the features of their new Clan Stand as a “revolutionary addition to Irish sport”. The Tunnel Club is a rather plush looking hospitality suite situated in the depths of the stand. It’s striking glass wall affords the occupants an up close and personal view of the players as they exit their dressing-room and line up in the Clan Stand tunnel, “allowing fans an inside look at the players’ final moments before taking to the pitch.”
What Harry West’s thoughts were in those moments before kick-off on Saturday we’ll never know for sure, but the Ballina native shared his thoughts in that same tunnel afterwards.
The 22-year-old had just gone up against a Leinster team laden with some of the best rugby players on the planet and in only his sixth senior appearance, scored his second try in two games.
“It was an incredible moment,” admitted West. “I know myself, coming to games here as a young lad, how special it is, so it was just a great feeling. Hopefully I’ll get a few more.
“I’m just taking it game by game. Hopefully things can continue the same way.”
Such is the data driven nature of professional sport these days, it didn’t matter that Harry West had just scored – he was sitting in the new Clan Stand before the game was restarted in the 49th minute, with Billy Bohan (who the following morning was called into the Ireland Six Nations squad) and Sam Illo each replaced at precisely the same time too.
“It’s a privilege every time to put on the jersey and I get reminded of that a lot when I go home. I know how much goes on behind the scenes, in the grassroots,” assured West who is following in the footsteps of a long line of former Ballina players to represent Connacht, like current teammate Dave Heffernan, Gavin Duffy and Michael Moylett, each of whom also became Irish internationals.
In his programme notes, Connacht’s head coach Stuart Lancaster said that the players and management felt very fortunate to be involved in the occasion of the official opening of the Clan Stand which, in effect, also marked the completion of the Sportsground redevelopment – something that had been a long time coming for the team’s most loyal supporters.
“It was definitely a special week. We built it up,” admitted Harry West. “It was really special for lads like Jack Carty, Denis Buckley, Dave Heffernan, lads who have been around a long time. They’ve been through the good and the bad times of Connacht so it’s great that we have a new stand.
“Although the result didn’t go our way, we really feel like things are going to click soon so there’s exciting times ahead.
“Our high performance centre alone allows us to be so much more productive than before, with our analysis room, sauna, ice baths, and it’s on us as players now to just start performing.
“Although the result didn’t go our way, there’s a lot of good that we can take out of the game. Leinster are a top quality side and we know how good we are so we’re just going to put the head down over the next few weeks.
“This season a few results just haven’t went our way and that’s just not our standard. Things are going to click, we just want our fans to stay patient and we’ll give them a lot to roar about for the rest of the season,” the Mayo man guaranteed.
