Certain caveats have been roaming about in my head over the past month or two about the Irish rugby teams chances in New Zealand, foremost of them being issues surrounding prop, scrum-half and in the centres. 'Prop!', I hear you say, 'Well obviously!'. And yes, I'm sick to death of the propping talk as well. At this stage in our rugby education the Irish people are well aware of the importance of the dark arts of scrummaging, and it has been well impressed upon us on many occasions that we are not particularly blessed in this facet of the game. The obvious dilemna this time around is that if either Cian Healy or Mike Ross were to be injured then Ireland would be in serious trouble. Ok, stating the obvious again, I know. What everyone seems to be forgetting is that up to very recently we were screwed up front even without injuries! Until the advent of the Healy-Ross axis we were hopeless before the whistle went -all due respect to Horan and Hayes- and we should at least be grateful for that, I believe.
So. 'Buckley or Hayes?', I hear you ask. Does it matter! They both have their pros and cons, though Buckley's list of pros has never seemed so inadequate. Personally I thought he would one day improve at his scrummaging, based on the old 'how much worse can this guy get!' adage. Hasn't quite worked out that way... The underlying point is that the Irish management has missed a trick here in not calling upon a young lad by the name of Jamie Hagan, formerly of Connacht and now returned to his native Leinster imbued with good solid western heart and not a little skill too. Down here in Galway the common people are maligning the departure of messrs Keatley, Cronin and Carr, but if you were to ask the Connacht inner circle who they'll miss most, they would all answer Hagan. Connacht have built a lot of their game around this young man in the past two season and he has always impressed, a great scrummager and handy around the park, and by all accounts a solid young fella. Just the kind of guy one might bring to a World Cup as back up, dream on, says you...
Apart from the propping position, which by the way is almost certainly Buckley's, there are a couple other calls to look out for tomorrow, and at this stage everyone knows what they are and it's just a case of tuning in at lunchtime tomorrow and finding out. Leamy or Jennings? Been unimpressed with Denis of late, and Jennings brings so much to Leinster but has never impressed in green, and was unfortunately anonymous once again yesterday. Deccie loves Denis, probably enough said there. The backs? Whew! Call this one! Murphy should go, Luke shouldn't, Paddy only has to turn up at training to know he's got a spot it would seem, Ferg could be very unlucky.
And on to scrummy. This to me is far more than a selection dilemna, this could very well determine how we go at this world cup, make no mistake about it! The issues at 9, believe it or not, go all the way back to 2007 and the fall of Peter Stringer. Since then, only one man has properly 'owned' the jersey, and he is in woeful form. I've often wondered about the Cork hurler's ability to play in such a technical position when he clearly would rather hit a ball with a stick. This is to take nothing away from O'Leary, he's a superb athlete, a true competitor and a cracking defender. It's just the other stuff we're not sure about, you know, the skills and decision making stuff. The fault is not his really, no one has turned up demanding that he hand them the jersey. Reddan has flattered to decieve at times and his inconsistency has been his undoing. Reddan has had his good spells but O'Leary has always been hovering out of sight, Kidney's golden boy, his name already pencilled in for the Australia game, with the remit of hunting down Antipodeans firmly on the coaches mind.
Conor Murray. Cometh the man, cometh the hour. Let's get this straight. It's far too early to suggest that Murray is our White Knight. After all, the guy's only played a handful of games for Munster let alone Ireland. But such is the dearth of options at 9, and such is the absence of stand-out performer, that the young Munsterman may well claim the jersey sooner than one might think! Listen out for the buzz round the bars in the coming weeks, some poor scrum-half is going to have a bad game and the public is going to roast him for it, the cries from the galleries will be in unison, 'Murray', they'll chant. But first he must make the plane, poor Bossy... Anyways, anyone with half a head can see that Murray's the real deal, well, he's got all the attributes of a top scrum-half: he's assured, there's great rythm and technique to his passing, apparently he's got an excellent disposition, he's a good kicker, he's big.... scratch that. He's very big. I'd like to see himself and Mike Phillips going at it. You'd hardly be able to tell them apart! He's passed all the tests so far, the biggest one may be a year too soon but that's no reason he shouldn't be given a go. I mentioned to my brother the other day that Kidney has a knack for springing a surprise every so often, of picking a surprise player, someone who he's gauged to be ripe and ready for his bow, most famously it was the unheard-of O'Leary in the quarters (I think) of the Heineken cup. Here's hopin'.
George Hook echoed my thoughts the other day when he growled something about how 'Murray would already be first choice if we were Antipodean'. True. It's the same for the second five/eight thingy we tried at the end yesterday when ROG came on for D'arc and Jonny moved into to centre. Australia would have played them together from the start, and Conor O'Shea was quick to criticize that fifteen minutes of Sexton at 12 was pretty worthless all told. Hear, hear. I happened to see some of a replay from '07 the other day of the England-Australia quarter-final -Setanta has been airing a lot of these replays to whet the appetite. You know what they're like- and I got to see the impressive Berrick Barnes in one of his first tests. The Aussies had lost the great Stephen Larkham to injury in the days leading up to their first pool game and had called upon the 21 year old Barnes to step up, even with Matt Giteau knocking about in the centre. Boy this kid could play, never looked out of place. Declan Kidney, take note: Cometh the man, cometh the hour.
In other news....
The second-string All Blacks spoiled the party for the rest of us yesterday by losing to a very mediocre Bokke team and handing the South Africans the bit of momentum they so desperately needed. I mean, they don't need much of it to get going, bloody Saffas... Stand-in All Black Stand-off Colin Slade had a game he'll want to forget, and will no doubt cause Grahem Henry to lose some more sleep about the 'Carter-cover' question. No answers yet Grahem, cheer up, you've only got the best in the world!
Injuries: Scotland have lost another back, this time Nikki Walker, one of their big wingers. They'll be severely stretched if they ship anymore, but at least they don't have Ireland's problem of having too many backs! Scotland just pick whoever's there...
Wales have lost another hooker! The impact of not having Matthew Rees was very evident in Cardiff on Saturday, in both the leadership stakes and at the set piece. Richard Hibbard was the latest to fall, they have got a fair few hooker's knocking around so they should be alright, could be very disruptive though... Wales themselves looked terrible I thought, then again they always do...
And finally, hard luck Felix Jones. The lad just can't catch a break...
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