Young outhalves hold key to Irish hopes of more Euro glory

As the DVD clips showcasing the six previous Heineken Cup triumphs by Irish sides tugged at the memory banks during ERC’s launch of their 2013-14 flagship tournaments, the thought occurred that if this is to be the 19th and last Heineken Cup as we’ve come to know and love, how nice it would be to stick one over the English and French club owners one last time.

The 18 previous cups have been neatly split three ways on six apiece (which no doubt irks Premiership Rugby and Ligue Nationale de Rugby no end) and the likelihood remains that Ireland, France or England will again supply the winner in Cardiff on Saturday, May 24th.

Of the four previous finals in the Millennium Stadium, encouragingly Leinster and Munster have won the last three, with the latter also reaching the final in 2002. However, the clips also reminded you that of the six Irish triumphs, Johnny Sexton was the outhalf for three, Ronan O'Gara for two and David Humphreys for the other.

Unproven 10s
Now, with O'Gara having joined Humphreys in retirement and Sexton decamped to Paris, the three previous Irish winners have relatively unproven 10s guiding them through the Euro minefields.

Whereas Ulster have nailed their colours to the Paddy Jackson mast, and Rob Penney yesterday declared that Ian Keatley is O'Gara's immediate heir apparent ahead of JJ Hanrahan, Matt O'Connor instead kept us and perhaps Ian Madigan and Jimmy Gopperth guessing until this Saturday's set-to with Munster in Limerick and beyond.

Recalling how Jackson was pitched into the semi-final and final two seasons ago, and then Test match rugby in last season’s Six Nations, Mark Asncombe commented: “Was he ready? Maybe not.” In what is becoming, no doubt, a wearying refrain, the Ulster coach also reminded us Jackson is still only 22. “People getting off his back would be a start. He got thrown in at the deep end at a young age and he has had to learn how to swim at the deep end pretty quickly.”

Nowhere to hide
"At times there has been nowhere to hide because we haven't had the depth to allow him to gain breath and I admire the way he has handled the pressure in the last few years. You look at the good 10s around the world and they take a few years to develop."

Therein lies the rub, but Anscombe noted: “It will help too when Ruan [Pienaar] is back. That experience inside you takes some of the pressure off and allows him to concentrate on the game, share that workload and field management.” Pienaar returns next Monday.

Coaching O’Gara has been a “wonderful experience” admitted Penney, adding: “Now that he has moved on, because he is such a dominating character and an influential figure in Munster, it has allowed Ian and JJ to develop. There will still be some up and down periods in their early careers because 10 is a difficult position to play.”

“Rog is not replaceable, but what the two lads that are endeavouring to do is cut their own path and establish themselves as international class footballers.

International class
"That's what you need to be successful at Heineken Cup level, that your 10s are international class and, with time, we are really hoping that they can get to that level."

Again, therein lies the rub, which perhaps explains why Penney confirmed that the more experienced man deserves the starting 10 jersey initially.

“You want to build confidence into your squad by saying: ‘look, you’ve done it for us in the past, you can do it again for us,’ and they’ll either do it or they won’t. And he knows JJ is coming. He deserves a good opportunity. He’s a very intelligent guy and he’s a really good leader amongst our team.”

Helpfully Conor Murray will be “in the mix” this weekend and while he doesn’t have Pienaar’s wealth of experience, his emergence as Irish scrum-half in the last two years and his Lions’ tour are as timely as his return.

“When Conor is not there we have two nines and two 10s with very little experience. We have got full faith that they can get that, but they need time and experience and you get that through playing. Along the way there will be the odd mistake and the odd setback, but Conor coming back is a real boost for the group.”

No pressure is being applied to O’Connor to pick Madigan, and given Gopperth’s experience it would be understandable – if very harsh on Madigan – were he to opt for the Kiwi. “There’s a slightly different skills set, slightly different age profile which is encouraging for the group,” said O’Connor.

“I thought Jimmy managed the first three games for us pretty well with a lot of quality sitting in the stands. Ian is different. He brings a different energy and enthusiasm to the contest that was on display on Friday night.

Continue to improve
"It is about making sure that both of them continue to improve the areas where they are not as good as the other guy and find ways for the team to win".

Helpfully too, Leinster have two experienced scrum-halves, whereas the province with the most seasoned out-half is Connacht, where Dan Parks (along with Gavin Duffy) is a guiding light for a relatively callow if talented group of backs.

“Their experience is massive and comforting for those guys,” noted Pat Lam.

Connacht’s problem is one of comparative resources elsewhere, and coming up against four-time winners Toulouse and English pacesetters Saracens, as well as Zebre.

“Everyone can win on their day. It’s fair to say that maybe Saracens or Toulouse would win nine times out of 10, but there’s one, and it starts with Saracens on Friday week. We’ve just got a responsibility to front up and already the momentum is building.”