Heineken Cup a real test says Rocky
Wed, 22 Oct 2008 08:12
Australian and Leinster star Rocky Elsom
Australian star Rocky Elsom has made a quick adjustment to life in the European game and, while he says he has settled in well to life at Leinster, he admits the Heineken Cup has proven a much bigger challenge than he had been expecting.
Having taken a break from his international career to experience the European game Elsom has quickly established himself as a big player for his new Irish side.
Already with a couple impressive performances under his belt, as well as two tries in two European Cup outings, the powerful flank has quickly shown why coach Michael Cheika has been so keen to have him in the squad.
Speaking to the ERC following Leinster’s 41-11 demolition of the London Wasps on Saturday, Elsom admitted that the Heineken Cup had surprised him with it’s intensity but that he was pleased with the team’s performance in Europe so far.
"It’s been pretty hard, I think the tournament poses a lot of different challenges that I thought it would’ve, " he’s said.
"But really happy with the way we’ve gone, we really prepared, as soon as I got here, for these two matches, and so far it’s paid off.”
The former Waratah’s star says he could not be happier with his decision to join the Donnybrooke based side and, despite the fact that he doesn’t believe Cheika bought him to the club for his try scoring ability, he does confess to have enjoyed getting his name on the score sheet.
"I think I’m pretty lucky to have joined this team and everyone’s been reasonably nice to me, and the team has performed reasonably well, particularly over the last couple of weeks.”
"It’s [Try scoring] not really what I’m here to do, but its nice none the less."
