Leinster vs Edinburgh

in Pembroke and Gaelic football with
Clanna Gael Fontenoy.
That’s a lot of mileage.
As is usually the case, it was a trip down
to a local rugby club that sparked an
obsession with the game.
“I was four or five when I joined St
Mary’s. My dad was involved there and
my older brother was already playing
there so it was fairly natural to go down
and join them.”
While Mark may have been a little
bit skeptical at first, the strong rugby
tradition in his family meant he was
going to give rugby as many visits as was
needed.
“My dad captained Mary’s when he
was younger.
“He also played with Connacht and Old
Belvedere. His brothers played interpro
rugby too. There was a big family
influence to play rugby. I wasn’t much
of a fan as a kid. I still played it but I
was playing lots of things. But something
switched in me and then I was in it. It was
probably my dad and brother throwing
me a rugby ball all of the time!”
Households all over the country see the
younger sibling attempting to copy the
older one, and the Hernans were no
different, as Mark looked to emulate his
older brother, Peter.
“My brother definitely played a big part
in getting me into rugby. He was more
into rugby than me when I was small and
he would bring me with him down to St
Mary’s.
“He kind of got me into it. He played in
school too. He’s been great for me and
he helps me a lot. He supports me big
time.”
While Mark’s dad played a key role in
bringing him down to St Mary’s, it was
the other way around just a few years
later.
“A lot of my friends were playing in
Lansdowne, so I moved over there when
I was about nine or 10. I got my dad
involved when we moved and he started
doing a lot of underage coaching with
us. I played there until first year in St
Michael’s when that became the big
priority. But it was great to get back to
the club after I finished school.”
Rugby certainly became the priority
once Hernan stepped through the gates
of St Michael’s College. And it was
some current Leinster senior players who
helped sway him away from the dozen
or so other sports occupying the young
athlete.
“It was easy to look up to the lads
who had just left the school and were
breaking into the Leinster team.
“When I was in first year, Josh Murphy,
Ross Molony, Ross Byrne and Denis
Coulson all came back to the school to
coach us. They were only in first year
of college. They were all playing Irish
U-20s so it was cool to see those lads as
a 13-year-old.”
It was to be a fruitful time for Hernan,
as he would go on to captain the St
Michael’s 2019 Senior Cup team to
glory alongside fellow Academy players
Jack Boyle, Lee Barron and Chris
Cosgrave.
Despite leading the team to success,
Leinster representation didn’t immediately
follow.
“I didn’t really play much Leinster
underage compared to the other lads. I
didn’t play Leinster U-18 or U-19.
“It was when I left school I got a call to
go to the Ireland U-19 trip to France and
I stayed in the camp right through the
U-20s. It wasn’t like I was on every team
coming through.
“It meant I didn’t really know what to
expect, and I don’t think people really
knew what to expect from me. Lots of
people probably didn’t know who I
was,”says Mark with a smile on his face.
Hernan was stepping into the unknown
somewhat ahead of his first U-20 Six
Nations game.
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 91