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6th April 2024
10:33pm BST
Craig Doyle was wide to Jamison Gibson-Park as he sought to play down a 17-minute hat-trick against Leicester Tigers by name-checking the lads that teed him up for each of his scores.
The Leinster scrumhalf was key for his side's 36-22 victory against a Tigers side that pushed his side a lot closer than the final scoreline suggests. Leinster found themselves 7-0 down after five minutes, until Gibson-Park really got whirring.
The 32-year-old ran some clever trail lines to score tries off great Joe McCarthy and Jamie Osborne breaks, and a lovely inside pass, on the left wing, from Dan Sheehan.
Aside from those highlight reel moments, Gibson-Park was excellent in his all-round game as he made snipes, kicked well and found his runners. Leo Cullen later joked that he was only recently reminded by Gibson-Park of the phone call that saw him trying to convince the Hurricanes star to head to Ireland. "I don't think he knew much about the place," Cullen joked.
Gibson-Park knows all about it now. He has been in Ireland eight years now and has three, Iris, Isabella and Jai, that were born here. He will go down as one of Leinster and Ireland's best ever 9s, and he has a lomg way to go yet.
Ahead of this weekend's Champions Cup action, the Six Nations folks wrapped a bow on the men's championship by naming a Player (Tommaso Menoncello) and Team of the Championship.
Eight players from the Ireland side that retained their Six Nations title were included in the 2024 Team of the Championship, after a huge public vote.
In recent weeks, during interviews we have had with Mack Hansen and Hugo Keenan, both named Jamison Gibson-Park as a teammate that is still underrated at Test level.
It is nice to see the Leinster scrumhalf getting some recognition, and accolades, to back up his class and consistent form.
Still, the man himself was quick to credit the one scrumhalf in world rugby that just about edges him. Praised for his hat-trick, he told TNT Sports that he was just following that trail line example set by Toulouse and France star, Antoine Dupont.
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