Leinster centre Rory O’Loughlin believes Isa Nacewa’s relaxed approach on the pitch is helping his younger teammates thrive on the big stage.
Nacewa made his first appearance since a 45-minute cameo against the Southern Kings at the start of February to inspire Leinster to victory against Saracens in their Champions Cup quarter-final at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday.
James Ryan and Dan Leavy grabbed the headlines for Leo Cullen’s side as they took one step closer to adding a fourth European title to their name.
And O’Loughlin heaped praise on Nacewa, 35, for getting the best out of his teammates against the back-to-back European champions.
“Playing with him, from a 13, is very easy as he’s very vocal – he’s always talking,” O’Loughlin told Off The Ball’s Oisin Langan.
“He is mentally very good at having a relaxed look about a game. He settles players down, and you see him when he’s out there, always celebrating and smiling, he really enjoys playing.
“When you’re playing with someone who is quite obviously relaxed, it relaxes you. And sometimes, when games get frantic and everyone is visibly nervous or rigid, it feeds throughout the team.
“Whereas you look at him and he’s constantly relaxed and constantly enjoying playing. He has experience of playing in big games and that feeds through to us, definitely as outside backs, and he has a different view on the game from where he’s come from.
“He’s very good for young players, like outside backs like myself, to have the confidence to throw that offload, or see an opportunity and call for the ball.
“As you saw with his try, there probably wasn’t even that big of a hole – he ran straight into Maro Itoje – it was just his strength and his carry that got him over the line, with the help of a few of the other lads as well.”
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