MAD SCIENTIST is a stretch but John Cooney is not shy of exploring new approaches to his favourite art: kicking the rugby ball. A late adopter, he has never been precious about his technique either.
As he explains, he was 25 or so when he had to step up to take his first professional shot at goal for Connacht, quite simply because there was no one else. He had to borrow a tee – one that he ended up using for the next three years. At the time of writing, this season he has an 88% success rate for kicking.
And Cooney, now 32, rails against some common
