It wasn't exactly what Skerries man Jack Hanratty had in mind when he accepted the role of 'Leo the Lion' for Leinster's 2011 Heineken Cup final.
e had already fulfilled the engagement for the semi-final in the Aviva Stadium, another dicey situation in which Jonathan Sexton's 81st-minute penalty guaranteed a 32-23 defeat of Toulouse.
Three weeks later, the task to entertain became impossible, Leinster trudging to the dressing-room at half-time after a 22-6 mauling from Northampton.
"I was waiting in the tunnel and I remember walking past Michael Dawson, the Leinster CEO," said Hanratty.
"He said: 'No pressure. But, there isn’t a lot of happiness around here.'"
A true professional, Hanratty shut out the gloomy atmosphere to get on with his match, a penalty kicking contest against his Northampton's mascot Bernie the Dog.
"It was weird. I kicked all three of them to almost complete silence," he said.
"I sprinted away like a lunatic and lifted one of the cheerleaders, carrying her off in celebration. There is a brilliant photograph of it somewhere.
"I will always be the answer to the question: who is the kicker who went 100% at the Aviva Stadium and the Millennium Stadium in the Heineken Cup semi-finals and final of 2011? I was 3 out of 3 in both kicking competitions.
"That was my claim to fame."
Of course, there are many people who think Hanratty was Leo the Lion for many years. Some even think it is him running around The RDS to this day.
Perhaps, that is because the former Leinster Development Officer had slipped away silently within a year.
"The truth is I left Leinster in 2012 and I have been in Canada ever since," he said.
The Leo the Lion appearances are something that follow Hanratty around in the same way that the Canadian TV show Trailer Park Boys does over there.
"I did a cameo appearance on that show when they did an episode in Dublin because I used to be in the Gaiety School of Acting for two years.
"Every time I am with a new national team in Canada, that Netflix special is sent around on a Whats App group of me doing the scene from the show. Every time."
There has always been the entertainer inside of Hanratty waiting to get out and it was his willingness to do whatever he could for Leinster that made him a popular figure within the organisation.
"I just loved being involved and I did anything that was needed from Leo the Lion to the bag man for Leinster A," he said.
However, the generosity of spirit to do whatever was needed was not quite in line with foraging his own future as a coach.
It was a mentor-like discussion with his manager Declan Fassbender that drove home the importance of taking himself seriously.
Only then would others do the same.
In 2012, a rugby club from Canada, Halifax Tars, got in touch about the possibility of a Leinster coach coming over for a few months.
"I was working for the brand of Leinster. But, just because you had a polo shirt and an IRFU Volkswagen didn’t mean you had the knowledge.
"Because of my background in acting and public speaking, I felt I could go into a team, no matter the age group or gender and be convincing because I was well-rehearsed. That was second nature to me."
He did not have any frame of reference for what he would walk into in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
"I felt I was truly thrown into the deep end when I went there," he said.
"I arrived thinking we would have great fun in the Tars clubhouse. There was no clubhouse. There was no Academy. There was no under-age rugby.
"There were just two men's teams and two women's teams. It was really old school, really humbling."
The comparatively lavish resources and top-to-bottom professionalism of Leinster was replaced with what looked like a start-up organisation for a short time.
Before long, Hanratty was invited back to be the head coach of Nova Scotia 2013.
The sabbatical to Canada has turned into an eight-year investment in himself and in the rugby culture of the other north American country.
"At Leinster, I felt I was always trying to prove myself, never admitting to my limitations as a young coach, and it was the same in Canada at first.
"Gradually, I began to realise that showing vulnerability was a way of getting buy-in in this environment and holding myself accountable to improve.
"This is my 11th year working professionally in rugby which is quite a long time. Here, you can be very open to everyone. It is okay to admit you don't know everything.
"People respect you for being honest about that. There is no bluffing."
Hanratty entered an environment in which the players have to pay for the privilege of playing for Halifax and, even beyond that, for their province Nova Scotia and sometimes even their country.
The layers of responsibility have been added on. They have come with tours to Hong Kong and Portugal and a two-week placement with Kieran Crowley's Benetton Treviso, all accelerating his growth as a coach and a leader.
"I am working in a very small organisation with two full-time staff and one part-time. But, it has been a chance to lead at a young age, a chance to make mistakes and learn from them," he said.
"There are 12 clubs eligible to play for the provincial team, Nova Scotia. I have to go out and sell the provincial teams to the players in the clubs.
"It isn't easy. That means the players spending upwards of $1,500 to play for Nova Scotia."
The geography of a vast nation is reflected in the fact the nearest provincial team, New Brunswick, is a 5-hour drive away, so they fly and that takes money.
"These players are paying for a service," he stated.
"We have to provide something that is value for money, in terms of the environment, the quality of what they are getting from us, their feedback and the all-round branding of the organisation."
Hanratty roles'a have expanded to all levels of the province, onto the regional level with the Atlantic Rock and up into the national set-ups.
"I have two email addresses. One is rugby Nova Scotia and the other is rugby Canada. I would wear multiple hats on a regular basis," he laughs.
"I am the Director of Rugby for the province of Nova Scotia, head coach of the men's and women's senior programmes and, underneath those, Director of Rugby for the under 23s, under 18s and under 16s.
"There are a lot of plates in the air and I have to try and make sure they spin smoothly."
The creation of the Major League Rugby has provided a professional pathway - Toronto Arrows is a natural next home - harvesting many of the Canadian players because they can actually get paid for playing the game professionally rather than pay for it.
In an interesting twist on the global trend, Women's Rugby is the main power player in Canada, partly because it is one of the few contact sports in the country.
"It is way easier to sell women’s rugby," said Hanratty.
"There are rugby scholarships to universities in Canada. For those interested in education, it is such an easy sell to parents and players.
"After that, they may have the ambition to play sevens for Canada, who won a bronze medal at the last Olympics, or the senior women's team, which is ranked third in the world.
"I've always wanted to go to a World Cup and, at the moment, I am in line to go to the women's event in 2021."
The contrast between the men's and women's goals is what makes all the difference for any coach worth his weight in Maple Leafs, winning the obvious end goal.
"What's great is that when you're with the women's side the goal is to win the World Cup, not just to get there and compete because they have some of the best athletes in the game," he shared.
"Our weekly meetings of staff is a spread of people from here to Vancouver, two flights away for me, about how to be the best attack and best defence or how to beat the world champions.
"When you are having conversations around how to be the best in the world, that is pretty motivating and drives you to be better.
"My goal right now to get to and win that World Cup and address my future after that."
