\u201cTiming was bad,\u201d he admitted when speaking from Chicago on Thursday about missing Leinster\u2019s defeat by Munster last Saturday in Croke Park<\/a> after slipping at home and injuring his knee. \u201cLike, I\u2019m fine now, training today. If that game had been a few days later, I probably could have played, but it was just deemed too soon.<\/p>\n \u201cMentally, I feel great. It\u2019s not something I\u2019m thinking about and worrying about. I feel fit. I feel like I\u2019ve been training well over the last few weeks. <\/p>\n \u201cI think I have enough experience now at this stage to just be able to flop back in and pick up where I left off. There\u2019s a few lads coming in similarly. They haven\u2019t played a whole lot of minutes or things like that.<\/p>\n \u201cYou just have to get over yourself a little bit. You can\u2019t dwell on these things or make them to be more than they are. Ideally, yeah, it would have been great to have played a little bit, but it is what it is and I don\u2019t really mind too much.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s unacceptable in this environment to have any excuse to not perform well. We\u2019ve had success before.\u201d He cited the 29-21 win over the All Blacks in November 2021 when short of game time save for a game against Japan one week beforehand.<\/p>\n Ireland<\/a> are also returning to the scene of their breakthrough 40-29 win over the All Blacks in November 2016, which ended a century of hurt and sparked a newfound rivalry. <\/p>\n Conan remembers watching that game from a teammate\u2019s phone on the floor in Parma airport after Leinster had beaten Zebre. \u201cIt was like 12-0 or something like that,\u201d he recalled, although actually it was 33-10, with Conan scoring one of Leinster\u2019s five tries. The years can do that.<\/p>\n [\u00a0Clayton McMillan says Jack Crowley deserves to start for Ireland against New Zealand in Chicago<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n As then, the Irish squad have enjoyed, and will continue to do so, off-field extractions such as golf days and attending ice hockey matches. There is also the added factor of Andy Farrell<\/a> returning to the day job.<\/p>\n Asked if the Lions<\/a> segue had changed Farrell in any way, Conan said: \u201cNo, no, no. Not at all. Still the same, still trying to make us better and grow as a team. It\u2019s great to have him back and it\u2019s great to be back in here in green. Lads are unbelievably excited about the next few weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n Conan also believes that Leinster\u2019s chastening 31-14 loss to Munster<\/a> on Saturday in the United Rugby Championship<\/a> can be a beneficial warning, however unpalatable the experience might have been.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, we even spoke about it last week in Leinster; you\u2019ve got to make it happen. Just because we show up on the day doesn\u2019t mean we are going to be right physically or mentally, so you\u2019ve got to get yourself to that space, whatever that means for you. Come game day, come kick off, you\u2019ve got to be ready to go.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just didn\u2019t show up on the day. Probably one of the worst performances. I don\u2019t want to be dogging the lads because I wasn\u2019t playing. It was pretty disappointing. It\u2019s kind of strange, lads playing that and straight off back into the group and then you are off into camp.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a good lesson in that it\u2019s no excuses. Other teams are going to pitch up with the right mentality and we need to match them and surpass them at everything else.\u201d<\/p>\n Conan had also been an ever-present in the Lions series in South Africa in 2021 before that aforementioned 29-21 win over the All Blacks. <\/p>\n So he speaks from experience when playing down the oft-held theory that Lions tours can lead to a hangover the following season.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a thing myself. I suppose I was very conscious after the season last year that I\u2019d obviously been on the go for a long time. I think including rehab and whatever else, I was on the go 14 months in a row, so I was conscious of taking enough time to get my body right and switch off and recover and mentally give yourself a bit of space before getting back at it.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Jack](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ZF4LY6BKZ53F7XBEZZIIEC56KQ.jpg\")
Jack Conan in Leinster squad training this month. Photograph: Dan Clohessy\/INPHO <\/p>\n![\"Jack](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/A6XO3E5DQCZHUA2SRYJFGUL53M.jpg\")
Jack Conan and Tadhg Beirne train at the Aviva Stadium in March. Photograph: Dan Sheridan\/INPHO <\/p>\n