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Nick Kennedy: Made the right move
Toulon lock Nick Kennedy believes winning the Heineken Cup is the pinnacle of his career and feels justified by his decision to move to France.
Kennedy knew he was saying goodbye to his England ambitions when he joined Toulon from London Irish in the summer and he admits there were times when he wondered if he had made the right decision.
Initially he struggled to break into Toulon's star-studded side but he persevered and was in the starting XV for Saturday's 16-15 triumph over Clermont in Dublin.
"I have absolutely no regrets," revealed Kennedy.
"It is such an amazing feeling to win after everything.
"I had some difficult times this year and there were times I wondered if it was the right move - but lifting that trophy has justified it all.
"It is one of the reasons I came here, to win trophies. To win the Heineken Cup has been a goal of mine for years and to win it with these guys is amazing."
Saturday's result could so easily have gone to Clermont, who were dominant for most of the match. However, they lost their composure towards the end and saw a David Skrela drop-goal attempt charged down and Sitiveni Sivivatu wasted their final attacking chance with a forward pass into touch.
"They were clear favourites today all around Europe and I have so much respect for the boys. We showed so much heart, especially in that last five minutes," Kennedy said.
"Everyone was shouting 'drop goal, drop goal' because one kick and it was over for us. For Mathieu Bastareaud to get off the line after such a tiring game was great work."
Comments
crunchfit says...
The guy is a fantastic player. Should have been selected at the higher levels, but wasn't. One of the best locks in England for a long period.
Posted 13:45 20th May 2013
cuw3100 says...
@ 5Lock4ward: the european countries have an abundance of talent to choose from at most positions.
population wise the Europe is much bigger.
France (65M) UK (62M) Italy (59M) South Africa (53M) vz OZ (23M) NZ (4M)
So theoretically there shud be more people to choose from.
Even if all dont take up rugger as a sport the chance of having a wider pool is higher.
there is lot of young talent coming thru so it may be hard to find a place among the top 5 2nd rowers for many good players.
also there is a mix of old and young in a squad so if there are good players at simillar age it becomes harder.
when it comes to lions it is a major issue becoz on the one hand the manager does not have to build for future.
however there is only 5 places for 2nd rows out of 21 forwards. for that 5 places there are players from england ireland scotland and wales to be considered
tough job n never can please all.
Posted 08:29 20th May 2013
melkdave says...
I can appreciate where N/Kennedy is coming from,players want to win silverware ,and championships.Toulon are a team that is going to do that for the foreseeable future.Even if JW retired tommorrow theses enough class and talant at Toulon.to ensure they are going tobe challangers in every competion they enterSupporters dont like seeing their heros /class players leaving their club,for pastures new.But players are going to go where the money is ,and for a better chance of silverware.Its human nature to want tobe successfull,and if club A offers better prospects than club B ,they are going to move .
Posted 03:27 20th May 2013
5Lock4ward says...
I've mentioned this on other posts but I've got to wonder if this guy doesn't regret choosing England when he could've chosen Ireland. He's a dominant line-out operator and an athletic ball carrier. What else he'd have to do to get back into the England squad is beyond me. I'd love to see the Lions selectors depth chart to see where he, among others, lies on the list.
Posted 02:01 20th May 2013