Sweetnam Reflects On Breakthrough Season

9 appearances and a try to boot. Not a bad return for academy graduate Darren Sweetnam in his first season with the senior squad. The winger chats with us about the lessons learnt over the past ten months and his highs and lows of the 2015/16 season.

Making his senior debut as a replacement against Cardiff Blues in his native Cork in last season’s PRO12, Sweetnam’s next outing at Irish Independent Park would mark his second consecutive start in the red jersey and the second of eight starts in total this season.  Add to this his first try for the province against Cardiff in March and the 23-year-old has emerged as one of the season’s shining lights, joining the likes of Rory Scannell, Johnny Holland and David Johnston.
 
“I’m very happy with the way the season worked out for me but now I want to take that experience and build on it next season.  Playing nine games in a row was fantastic.  If you asked me at the start of the season, would I have done that, I’d have said not a chance.
 
“I had a good preseason but then injured my hamstring in the second preseason friendly and that put me out of contention for the start of the PRO12.  I put the head down, trained hard and things went well in Club (Cork Con) and Munster A games.  Then I got an opportunity away in Zebre and thankfully that went ok.  I played in the next eight games which was massive for me.”
 
Making his first appearance of the season – and just his second in total – as a starter, away to a hugely physical Italian side hungry to make it three PRO12 wins in succession for the first time, was no easy task.  But for Sweetnam, pragmatism paid dividends, adopting a ‘stick to what you know’ approach and the rest will follow.
 
“In the back-three at Munster there is a lot of competition so when any opportunity comes your way you need to take it.  I think for me, firstly it was about getting the stock and trade right and not make any major mistakes, be consistent, do the little things well and once you get that down you grow in confidence and start to express yourself.
 
“Fielding the ball comes naturally to me, I guess my GAA background must have something to do with that.  It’s a big part of my game and especially with the way we played during the season with a lot of box-kicking it was a useful thing to have in my skillset.
 
“Doing the basics right helps you gain the trust of the coaches and once they trust you, they won’t be scared of putting you in.”
  
Undoubtedly a season of mixed emotions, the Dunmanway native reflects on some of his standout memories from 2015/16, both good and bad.
 
“I suppose the Ospreys game at Irish Independent Park where I made a good [try-saving] hit on Tom Grabham and made the offload to Robin Copeland for his try.  From a personal point of view that was the highlight and it was nice to do those things at home in Cork, but from the team point of view we lost and that was hard to take – it was a game we should have won and we took some harsh lessons from the defeat.
 
“Our win over Zebre at Thomond Park was satisfying as well.  I was heavily involved in that game and although Zebre had lost some form heading into the game, the way we went about our business that night was very clinical.  The game was open and had a lot of space and it was nice to get a big win in front of our home crowd (Munster all-time record league win, 47-0).
 
 “The flip side of that was the defeat to Connacht at the Sportsground.  Had we played to our potential we had the beatings of them and I made a defensive mistake that led to a try.  But you learn a lot from your mistakes, the bounce of the ball caught me out and I learnt the hard way that day.”
 
So according to the man himself, how does he compare now to the player he was last September?
 
“Believe it or not it was actually when I went back playing for Cork Constitution in the AIL and Munster Senior Cup finals that I noticed my confidence was away up after playing for Munster.  I felt like I could take more of a leadership role with the club and that will help with my Munster career going forward as well. 
 
“I’m a confidence player and what I’ve experienced this season has given me more confidence.  I know now that I can do it so it’s about bringing that into next season and pushing on.”