JJ On Making The Move

JJ Hanrahan discusses his decision to leave the province and join Northampton Saints at the start of next season.

A native of Kerry and a product of the Munster Academy, a move abroad was never going to be an easy decision for the young fly half to make. Hanrahan began by discussing the timeline and process involved in making his decision.

“Conversations first started with Munster in terms of my decision and letting them know that I was interested in places further afield about 8 weeks ago and then the news broke in the media four weeks later but I had nothing signed at that stage. I took a lot of advice for the first four weeks but then I spoke to no one – it was just me thinking to myself, waking up every morning and seeing where my head was at. I stopped listening to other people, started listening to myself – where do you see yourself in the future?

“You’re Munster growing up, you want to be there and you see a big future. Obviously your dream is to play for Munster but when you make a decision you make it on the basis of what’s best for your career going forward."

A couple of weeks on and the 22-year-old remains confident in his decision, a decision which he firmly stated was solely based on rugby.

“I’m ambitious with where I want to be in my career and that’s what my decision was based on.

“This has been a 100% rugby decision, that’s all it’s ever been based on. Like I said I’ve huge ambitions for my career, huge ambitions for Ireland, I’m an extremely driven person and that’s the only thing that’s driving me – where can I best develop myself and become the best player that I can be.

“I was in the very privileged position to be offered two very good contracts from Munster and Northampton. Munster were great throughout all of this but at the end of the day it was my decision based on what I thought was best for my future.

“It’s not a secret to know that it’s my favourite position to play (10), and where I think I can add most to my game. It’s where I can add the most value to myself and other teams. It’s one of many factors but I train constantly as a 10, I think as a 10 and I like to play as a 10. It’s where most of my abilities come out and where I can be best served in the future.”

A move to English rugby will see Hanrahan venture into territories unknown. However, in keeping with his driven nature, it’s a challenge which the Kerry-man will relish.

“I suppose heading into Rockwell was an unknown, joining the Munster Academy was an unknown. There’s a lot of unknowns in life, and this is the next step, it’s the next progression in my career. I’d like to think I’m quite a friendly fella and I think I’ll be able to get along with people just as well as anywhere else."

When asked about the fear of ‘out of sight, out of mind’ JJ quite simply said, “There is a possibility of that but there is also numerous players who went away, learnt their trade and came back – Eoin Reddan, Tommy Bowe and the likes. If it works out for me like that, great, but for the moment I’ve made my decision on what’s best for my development and I’m still developing.

“I’m not the finished article yet and there’s a long way to go. Luckily I’m 22 years of age and there’s a long way to go in my career yet so we’ll wait to see how it goes.”