While Ireland’s Lions players brace themselves for the delights of preseason training following their exertions in Australia and what must seem like all-too-brief downtime post-tour, the four provinces have begun the fit-out, personnel wise, for the early part of the season without those marquee names.
Friendly matches in the build-up to the United Rugby Championship (URC), which starts at the end of the month, offer an insight into the thinking of the respective coaches, Leo Cullen (Leinster), Clayton McMillan (Munster), Richie Murphy (Ulster) and Stuart Lancaster (Connacht), and to a rough depth chart.
There’s also scope for players to come from left field and on to a roster, an example of which can be seen in Leinster’s squad for the game against Cardiff in Tallaght stadium (3pm) on Saturday.
Lansdowne loosehead prop Jerry Cahir and wing/centre Joshua Kenny, who spent time with the Ireland Sevens squad and was a contemporary of Jack Murphy and Finn Treacy at Pres Bray, are listed among the replacements.
READ MORE
There is precedent in a Lions year or just a plan preseason for players to make the jump from club to provincial rugby; Royce Burke-Flynn, Barry Daly, Darragh Fanning and Rob Russell are examples, to highlight a Leinster quartet.
In the absence of frontliners, the brave and the bold must step up. A position of interest is outside centre. Garry Ringrose (30) had a superb Lions tour and was cruelly denied a Test place because of a head issue, but the scramble to back him up in the Irish jersey could inspire some interesting selection volatility in the provinces.
Robbie Henshaw (32) and Bundee Aki (35) have worn the number 13 shirt for the national team in the past while Jamie Osborne (23) and Hugh Gavin (21) did so during Ireland’s summer tour Tests against Georgia and Portugal respectively.
Osborne also wore the 13 jersey for the Lions when he played in the final midweek game against the First Nations & Pasifika, a match in which he scored two tries. His versatility is both a blessing and curse, as he looks to find a permanent home and not just a short-term let in one position across the three-quarter line and fullback. Inside centre might be the best fit.
Munster’s Tom Farrell, who will be 32 next month, was arguably the outstanding outside centre in provincial rugby last season but, from a national team perspective, that ship looks to have sailed.
James Hume (27), Stewart Moore (27), Jimmy O’Brien (28), Sean O’Brien (27), Shane Daly (28), Byron Ralston (25), David Hawkshaw (26) and Cathal Forde (24) are just some of the players who’ve had a spin in the respective provincial 13 jerseys while also lining out more often elsewhere across the backline.
There is a quintet of players, Connacht’s Gavin (21) and Shane Jennings (24), Munster’s Dan Kelly (24), Ulster’s Jude Postlethwaite (23) and Leinster’s Hugh Cooney (22), all of whom played at outside centre for several successful Ireland Under-20 teams.
Cooney, who lines out at 13 for Leinster in Tallaght on Saturday, was brilliant at 20s, quick, strong through the tackle, good lines of running and with a fine passing and offloading game, but injury kept him sidelined for much of the following season.
He got four starts in five appearances for Leinster. Anyone who saw his stellar performance in the AIL final for Clontarf understands his pedigree. Cooney must kick on this season.
Kelly can play both midfield positions, as he demonstrated with the Leicester Tigers; the question for another very talented player is whether he can get past Alex Nankivell or Farrell to start for Munster in the big matches.
[ Provinces gear up for URC return with preseason friendliesOpens in new window ]
Postlethwaite’s skill sets look more attuned to inside centre, a position where he’ll battle Irish international Stu McCloskey for a shirt. Ironically fellow Ulsterman Ben Carson, who played inside Postlethwaite for the Irish 20s, now seems a better fit for the 13 jersey.
In keeping with the versatility of the cohort mentioned, Jennings can and does play wing and fullback but, if he can get a consistent run at outside centre and just fine-tune his passing and positional awareness, he has oodles of ability and the capacity to play in the centre. Gavin, another young player of rich promise, is another for whom inside centre might be a longer-term option.
It’ll be instructive to note the comings and goings in the 13 jerseys over the first month or so of the season. Andy Farrell will no doubt take a keen interest.
