Cian Kelleher and Collie O’Shea get to next level

The overlap in the rugby lives of Cian Kelleher and Collie O'Shea represent a curious collision of circumstances over the past several weeks.

The two opposed one another in the Ulster Bank Division 1A final in the colours of Lansdowne and Clontarf respectively at the Aviva stadium, literally running into each other in one of the game’s seminal moments.

A little under a fortnight ago O’Shea made his first appearance of the season for Leinster in their final Guinness Pro12 fixture of the campaign, while it was arguably an even more auspicious day in Kelleher’s career as he made his debut in the senior match squad for his province, coming on as a replacement in the victory over Edinburgh.

Then on Monday Joe Schmidt named the pair in the Ireland squad to take on the Barbarians at Thomond Park on Thursday night. Irish defence coach Les Kiss offered an insight into the decision-making process that has given the two players a gilt-edged opportunity.

"We knew that it [the Barbarians match] was an opportunity to explore a few options but also to give guys a run that have come back into the frame more recently like Chris Henry. Cian Kelleher and Collie O'Shea, it's great to see them there, being in the environment, but it also lives up to the spirit of what the Barbarians is about.

“You always like to expose a couple of good, exciting young people into the framework. Overall we want to make sure that we are covering our bases. Some players are rested, some are carrying little injuries; we are just managing the whole thing to get the best mix possible.”

Kiss expanded on Kelleher’s selection: “When you look at what the 20s have done and his contribution in that area, he has shown before this season he is an extremely gifted player. He can play fullback, on the wing; he can cover centre if you wanted him to.

“He’s a player of excitement and it would be great to see him up against [Joe] Rokocoko; it’s in the spirit of the Barbarians, to have some of those guys on the pitch. From that perspective, it’s not just about now but it is also about the future.

“You’re always trying to expose players at different levels in different ways to see how they handle it, confident you’re doing it in the right way and those guys [he’d earlier mentioned Jack Conan] are amongst that as are Collie O’Shea, Luke McGrath. Being part of the environment, understanding what’s required to prepare, to be up against the calibre of player; what an opportunity for them.”

Kiss confirmed that Munster’s presence in the Pro12 final on Saturday and Connacht’s “gut-wrenching” exploits against Gloucester on Sunday meant the squad would entirely consist of Leinster and Ulster players. In choosing the squad game time this season was also a prerequisite in ruling out a number of other players.

"A couple of guys who were on the edge we thought, 'should we bring them in and play them or give them that extra time off?' There were a few in that boat. Jared Payne, Darren Cave, Robbie Henshaw have played a lot of rugby so there was certainly a mix and we wanted to get that balance right.

“We did approach it as much as possible on an individual basis to see if we were doing the right thing.”

Kiss singled out Iain Henderson, the form player in Irish rugby at present, as a player who would benefit from a rest, despite a curtailed season because of injury, and how it would allow the Irish management to repatriate players to the national set-up, using Henry, Dan Tuohy and Paddy Jackson as three examples.

The Irish defence coach also explained that they were awaiting an update on Munster scrumhalf Conor Murray’s medial knee ligament injury sustained against the Ospreys. “The information we have at the moment is that it’s not a concern, but we have to wait for the result of scans. We’re hopeful that it isn’t anything too bad.”