Akin to “location” when it comes to house hunting, so it is said that come World Cup squad selections, “versatility” is king. Hence, as a player who is perhaps the nearest thing to the Swiss army knife of the squad, it seems likely that Jimmy O’Brien’s first World Cup will be confirmed when the final list of “33″ is announced next Monday.
Last November, he made an assured Test debut in midfield as a 27th-minute replacement for Stuart McCloskey, playing outside Garry Ringrose in a rejigged midfield as Ireland beat South Africa, before starting in the wins over Fiji and Australia at fullback and left-wing.
Stuart Lancaster has run him in training sessions at outhalf, his schools’ position and where he has covered in emergencies at Leinster, and word is O’Brien has been enlisted to do so at scrumhalf in this Irish squad.
His second-half performance as a replacement for his good mate Hugo Keenan at fullback in the Grand Slam finale against England was another reminder of his value. Even so, when starting the opening warm-up game against Italy at “15″, save for one fine punt with his left boot, O’Brien didn’t leave an especially indelible impression on the game before succumbing to a shoulder injury during the half-time interval.
“Yeah, it was frustrating because obviously you don’t know if you’re going to get another chance to impress, but to be honest a couple of days later it was probably a good thing that it didn’t get any worse.
“It was just a bang on my shoulder and my whole shoulder kind of shut down. I had no power in it. But it’s much better now and I’ve done my return to contact and it’s fine.”
O’Brien had to sit out the few elements of contact work in the squad’s Algarve training camp, including the session with the Portuguese team, but last week did contact work again.
Four years ago, he would have seemed a million miles away from playing for Ireland. Indeed, the World Cup opened the door for some game time with Leinster.
“To be honest, years ago, I’d never have thought I’d be this close to making it. So, yeah, it’d be a big dream of mine.”
A big performance against Samoa in Bayonne’s Stade Jean Dauger next Saturday (kick-off 8.45pm local time/7.45pm Irish) could go some way toward sealing the deal for O’Brien, and one or two others, but he readily agrees that the key, of course, to doing that is not to think of that at all.
“I think everyone in the squad, definitely me anyway, that’s how I’m approaching it, just like it’s another game. Obviously playing for Ireland is massive, but if I get selected just try and concentrate on the game at the weekend and hopefully get picked after. But I don’t want that going through my head if I’m playing because then you’ll be ‘off’, and you won’t be concentrated.”
Thinking that is one thing. Doing it is another, he admits.
“You try and catch yourself. I know I’ve been guilty of it. I think everybody has been [of] being let go. ‘When is the squad going to get announced?’ Even when the lads got cut there the other day it was a big shock,” said O’Brien with regard to five players being released back to their provinces unbeknown to any of the squad.
“It was hard to see the lads leaving. You catch that feeling, like ‘oh God, that’s going to be me’ but you kind of flick out of it as quickly as possible. You can catch yourself thinking then, ‘well, why would I think like that?’ But it’s not going to help me get on the plane.
“There’s no point worrying about it. I’ve definitely caught myself doing it but I’m just trying to catch myself earlier and earlier and not doing it for too long.”
