"On any given Sunday you're gonna win or you're gonna lose. The point is -- can you win or lose like a man?"

Tony D'Amato (Al Pacino) -- 'Any Given Sunday'

Choose any one from a myriad of scenes or monologues in the 1999 blockbuster and chances are that it will strike a nerve. Any Given Sunday is a behind-the-scenes look at the life and death struggles of American footballers, seen through the eyes of those who play and those who lead.

People not familiar with the intricacies of 'football' point to the film as a kind of guide to the wider sporting psyche.

Shane Jennings hasn't seen it, which is surprising, because the Ireland international back-row forward lists American Football as a favoured passtime.

He enjoys scrutinising the statistics that play such an intense role, analysing the work going on behind the scenes in the multi-billion dollar independently-owned franchises, and watching the hits that help breed the sport's popularity.

Leinster supporters need not worry, mind. Jennings has business to attend to this weekend "unless the Pittsburgh Steelers want to bring me over", he joked on the eve of the big Magners League kick-off.

His enthusiasm for the sport began as a youngster, he explained.

"I started watching American Football a few years ago and I really got into it when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the 2003 Super Bowl," he said.

"There were a series of good shows on Sky Sports around the competition at that time and I suppose my interest just grew.

"The IRFU Athletic Trainer, Brian Green, has a keen interest in the sport. Gavin Hickie [the former Leinster hooker and a schoolmate in St Mary's College, Rathmines] was really into it and, nowadays, Gary Brown is also interested," he said.

"The Giants v Dolphins game in Wembley last year clashed with a game that weekend, so it wasn't to be. Unfortunately, there's too much of a cross over in the seasons so I haven't had the opportunity to attend a proper NFL game yet. Hopefully one day I will."

You could imagine Jennings relishing an opportunity to smash into opposing defenders with the same gusto that has been synonymous with his aggressive and attacking style that has been nurtured since his schooldays.

His two-year spell with Leicester Tigers only added to his appetite for the sport playing, as he did, alongside England hooker, George Chuter. Though their paths didn't cross during his time in Welford Road, England great Martin Johnson played for the Leicester Panthers Youth and Senior teams before his rugby union days and also worked as a studio analyst for ITV at Super Bowl XLI.

"When I first moved to Leicester there was an American Football game on in a park every Sunday across the road from my house, it was just a coincidence. George knows a lot about stats and the history of games and we would spend a lot of time talking about the sport.

"I have never seen Any Given Sunday, but I enjoy watching the in-house productions by the franchises where you get a chance to go behind the scenes. I'm just about to start reading the Lawrence Taylor autobiography, the old linebacker from the New York Giants. But my favourite team is the Steelers.

"They have a good history and built a dynasty that brought four Super Bowl championships in the 1970s and I liked that they showed faith in a young guy called Ben Roethlisberger who was a star player for them back in '06."

Jennings draws parallels with the business end of the sport. The recently appointed vice captain in Leinster's new leadership team appreciates the values placed on integrity, loyalty and professionalism.

"Players want to be associated with a winning, successful and above all ambitious side who constantly want to better themselves in everything that they do," he said.

"That ambition filters from the CEO to each and every employee."

In one of the film's most powerful scenes when D'Amato is talking about leadership, he suggests: "That's what a leader's about: sacrifice. The times he's gotta sacrifice because he's gotta lead, by example. Not by fear and not by self-pity."

It's a powerful message by which to define the universal sporting objective.

- Peter Breen