I tend to watch games from a scrumhalf’s perspective. Old habits. What struck me about Connacht beating Munster at the Dexcom last Saturday was the impact of the nines.
Ulster pulled off a shrewd piece of business convincing Matthew Devine to swap Galway for Belfast next season. Ben Murphy is deserving of his place in the Connacht team, but Devine’s impact was noticeable.
Alongside Jack Carty’s introduction, he brought pace and control.
We’ll find out next season who is the better scrumhalf between Devine and Nathan Doak. Or who Ulster coach Richie Murphy prefers. Murphy’s attack coach Mark Sexton will have a big say on who gets the nod.
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Considering what we already know about Stuart Lancaster’s ability to build a squad, and all the recent Connacht signings, it’s a brave move by Devine.
Craig Casey is also having a remarkable season. Craig’s form has not dipped with Munster’s collective performance. His decision-making has even taken a leap forward. That comes with experience.
If Munster are searching for positives from Clayton McMillan’s first year in Limerick, it is Casey’s consistency. He’s never been more important to the system. For Munster and Ireland.
If the schools and the clubs produced a Craig Casey in every position, every other year, Irish rugby would be in a healthy place.
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But it doesn’t. Not in specialists roles. International scrumhalves, in particular, are a rare breed in Ireland. This has to have something to do with Gaelic games and soccer ruling the roost across so many constituencies.
I am from Patrickswell, a hurling hotbed, but I mostly played Gaelic football growing up. All the kicking and catching improved my rugby fundamentals. There are so many transferable skills.
Undoubtedly, the heroes of Munster sport throughout the 2020s have been hurlers. Especially in Limerick, but Cork and Clare as well. It used to be Paul O’Connell and Ronan O’Gara. Before them it was Gallimh, Axel, Claw – nicknames that slipped off the tongue – and Keith Wood.
All the young players today want to be the new Cian Lynch, Diarmaid Byrnes or Gearóid Hegarty. The hurlers are the best athletes on television and they are in touching distance at the local club.
Success is contagious, if the foundations are strong enough.
If I was growing up in Limerick in 2026, I’d still have my Gaelic and rugby heroes but the hurley and sliotar are always to hand, banging against any spare wall to replicate the actions of the giants we see in Croke Park.
This is a big summer for the Limerick hurlers. If they can bounce back from last year’s defeat to Dublin, and win another All-Ireland, they have to come into the conversation with Brian Cody’s Kilkenny hurlers as the best we’ve ever seen.
None of this is by accident. It started with the identification of both talent and quality coaches from under-14. That’s also when an elite athlete playing hurling, soccer, football, rugby, or whatever, tends to specialise. They might carry a second sport into their teens, hurling with the club or rugby in school, but the best set-ups will draw their focus.
In Limerick, hurling is on top thanks to a rare group of players, a forward-planning county board and the support of JP McManus.
How Limerick GAA has built upon its youth development should be studied by rugby. The draw to hurling is stronger than ever. Rugby will always produce fewer athletes in comparison to the GAA. It’s a numbers game but we know what is possible because before the revival of the hurlers, Munster in Thomond Park felt like the only show in town.
Ironically, the IRFU are doing something similar to how Aussie Rules recruits from the GAA by targeting Irish-qualified Australian props. So they are hardly sitting idle. David Humphreys, the union’s performance director, has spoken about bridging the gap between Leinster and the other provinces.
Perhaps the aim should be to enhance talent ID in Munster rugby before the Cork and Limerick hurlers (or AFL recruiters) have them sown up. If that comes out of the governance review Munster is currently conducting, this season could go down as a watershed.
The historic lack of depth at scrumhalf used to apply to the propping department. But the loosehead crisis in Leinster has uncovered a few layers below Andrew Porter. It forced Andy Farrell to work down the depth chart during the Six Nations. Same goes for Leo Cullen at Leinster. The immediate benefit was Jerry Cahir earning himself a contract with Connacht next season.
Maybe the work being done to develop scrumhalves will result in a flood of them punching through at provincial level next season.
Interestingly, Ireland has never lacked for outhalves. As Jack Crowley and Sam Prendergast have learned, the 10 jersey draws enormous attention. But more and more teams ‘play off nine,’ especially Jamison Gibson-Park at Leinster. In a time when the permanent resident at number 10 remains in a state of flux, the Irish scrumhalf has never been more important or valuable.
Opportunity also opens up at Leinster next season with Luke McGrath joining Perpignan and Gibson-Park being the undisputed Ireland starter. So Fintan Gunne will get a chance.
Murphy, Devine and Gunne should all be eyeing up the third choice nine ahead of next year’s World Cup. Doak sits in that slot behind Craig and Jamo, but a World Cup squad can create space for young players to make a late run. I managed to squeeze into the frame in 2011.
Rugby is in a holding pattern this week. Connacht and Munster are fighting to prolong their seasons in the final round of the URC while Leinster and Ulster hope to avoid any more injuries before their European finals in Bilbao.
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