Leinster Rugby vs Benetton Rugby

THEN: Nick
Popplewell
played for
Leinster
for 10 years
(1987-1997) on
the way to 48
Ireland caps
and three for
the British
and Irish
Lions.
NOW: He lives
in Wexford
with his wife
Rachel, has
three children
Sophie (25),
Rebecca (23)
and Ben (20)
and works as
an auctioneer
for Sherry
Fitzgerald
Radford.
British and Irish Lions test prop
Nick Popplewell was an Ireland
Schools international alright. Just
at hockey, not rugby.
“I was a sweeper where the philosophy
was the ball could pass you, the player
could pass you. But they couldn’t both
pass you at the same time,” he says.
This ‘thou shall not pass’ attitude
translated perfectly to rugby where
Popplewell was something of a late
bloomer, rising from representing Munster
B Schools at Newtown in Waterford in
1982 to playing for Gorey, Greystones,
Leinster and Ireland.
At least, this was the Irish tributary of a
journey that took in English clubs Wasps
and Newcastle Falcons as well as three
test starts for the 1993 Lions in New
Zealand.
Back then, of course, Leinster was about
as far from where it is now as the earth is
from the sun.
A long apprenticeship in the dark arts
of the front row meant meetings with the
likes of Kilkenny’s Ned Byrne for Gorey
at the Junior level and Lansdowne’s
Des Fitzgerald in the All-Ireland League
marked his ascension.
“The second match I played for
Greystones was against Lansdowne
where I was, as they say, ‘seagulling’
against Des, the Ireland tighthead prop
at the time.
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