Bohane: ‘Great To Be Back’

Last Friday’s encounter with Grenoble in the first round of the Kearys Renault Series saw Cian Bohane return from a knee injury that kept him sidelined for almost a year.

The 24 year old centre met with media following a squad session in UL yesterday and expressed his delight at lining out in red again.

“It was great to be back wearing the red jersey and getting some minutes under my belt after the long lay-off since last season. I think it was 50 weeks to the day of the Grenoble game that I got injured so it was just great to be playing ball again.”

“Injuries happen so you just have to look on the bright side of things and see how you can use the time to better yourself in other areas and that’s what I decided to do.

“The injury gave me time to focus on other aspects of rugby, particularly strength & conditioning and my studies. I also developed my knowledge of the game. At different stages during the season George Murray our Performance Analyst set me a couple of analysis tasks where I’d look at the video and examine certain opposition – how they defend and attack.

“Being sidelined is tough but with a lot of help from the Munster medical and coaching staff I got through it in the end.”

With a full pre-season in the bag, Friday night’s clash against a physical Grenoble outfit saw Bohane make the first, of what he hopes will be many, appearances for Anthony Foley’ side this season.

“When I went back on the pitch at the start of pre-season all I wanted to do was get a few minutes under my belt and build back into it. I was happy with how Grenoble went, I just tried to focus on the basics and it all went well thankfully.

“The dressing room before was an emotional enough experience. I really felt last year how much I’d miss the game – even those rainy training sessions in December – if the injury had ended my career. I became very close with a number of the S&C lads when they helped with my rehab and they gave me a few words of encouragement before the game as did Donncha O’Callaghan.

The Corkman finds himself with a number of new teammates in the Munster backline this season, including his fellow injury returnee Tyler Bleyendaal and All Black Francis Saili.

“It’s great to play with these guys, they come with a lot of experience and have played with the likes of Dan Carter and Charles Piutau. They play a wonderful brand of rugby and it’ll be good to try and integrate it into our game. Their inclusion in the squad can only be a positive for us.”

On his hopes for the season ahead, Bohane concluded by saying,

“I’m just going to go out there and enjoy every moment I play on the pitch. I know now how quickly it can be taken away from you. I’d love to nail down a starting jersey across the season but all I can do for now is keep working hard on and off the pitch and we’ll see what happens from there."