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'Learning his trade at a cutting edge': Why the 19-year-old brother of an England winger has suddenly had his progress accelerated at London Irish
Declan Kidney took fright at one stage while watching London Irish getting soundly beaten last week by Exeter, the defending Gallagher Premiership champions. It wasn’t the sight of the record-breaking Sam Simmonds scoring a hat-trick that had the Irish boss going weak at the knees, it was the little bit of arithmetic he did regarding three players he started that night, rookies Chunya Munga, Ben Donnell and Phil Cokanasiga.
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The trio share just a dozen Premiership starts between them in this 2020/21 season, but what did for Kidney versus the Chiefs was the moment when he added up the ages of the three players, two 20-year-olds and a 19-year-old and realised how old it made him feel. “We had Chunya playing second row, Ben Donnell playing six and Phil playing centre. When you added up the three ages I was still older than them – that was a bit depressing,” quipped Kidney, the former Ireland Grand Slam-winning coach who also twice led Munster to European glory.
Giving youth a head start in their senior careers at London Irish has become a noticeable policy of Kidney’s at the Premiership club. For instance, Tom Parton, Ben Loader and Ollie Hassell-Collins have been developing nicely as a youthful back three and the experimentation doesn’t end there.
Munga and Donnell had been doing their respective bit to gain notice at lock and back row all season, while Cokanasiga has now joined the Irish party in recent weeks, a career-ending concussion for Theo Brophy-Clews and injury to Terrence Hepetema opening up selection for a teenager who made four appearances in the restarted 2019/20 campaign.
With an emergency vacancy at No12 to fill, Cokanasiga has stepped forward and will start his third successive Premiership match in midfield when Irish visit Gloucester on Friday night. As the younger brother of Phil, the 23-year-old Bath winger who has been capped by England on nine occasions, the Cokanasiga name will surely attract attention.
"If we had Anthony Watson, Joe Cokanasiga, Johny Williams and Jonathan Joseph, if they were all here we would have a nice conundrum for selection"
– Declan Kidney knows Irish have a reputation as a feeding ground for its Premiership rivals#LIRvEXE
https://t.co/7058VnQWLk— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 18, 2021
“It is always the trouble with brothers, isn’t it, you get compared after a while,” said Kidney when asked how the younger sibling has been doing on his watch at Irish. “There are opportunities that came up his way with lads out injured, with Theo and Terence out, and he is a young man who has gone in there and he is learning his trade at a cutting edge.
“Everybody talks about giving the younger fellas experience. You want to do that but you want to win your matches at the same time. He will have benefitted from his exposure to date. I have been asking a lot of those younger fellas. It is hard to draw the difference between the seasons – we started back playing the end of the 19/20 season in August and in the last twelve months, he has had quite a bit of exposure now at senior level – more so than he might have had in a pre-pandemic year.
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“His progression has been accelerated and hopefully we will see better things from him to come because when you are up against players like (Ollie) Devoto like that last week then you build confidence and go, ‘Okay, I played there, let’s see what happens in the next one’.”
Asked what has especially stood out about the youngster, Kidney added: “Probably bits that you haven’t seen yet. Like his vision with the ball in hand is quite good and when he gets more comfortable there you will probably see him do a couple of things with the ball there.
“He is in between your centre who can be direct but also has a skill set to take gaps when they come so he has a dual skill set which is handy and he is just developing. Very early stages yet but because of the other parts of his game that he has to work on to exploit those to the full, he is not a one-trick pony. He can do a few different jobs.”
It was June 26 last year when Skivington was unveiled as the Kingsholm successor to Ackermann, a decision that sparked friction between the two Premiership clubs https://t.co/WQJ4lKHerI
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 26, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
I hope Leinster’s proud of themselves fielding a poor team. They should decide if they’re all in or not.
1 Go to commentsJordie is looking at 16 games maximum if Leinster reach both the URC and champions cup finals. Thats not guaranteed. Some of those home URC fixtures will be cakewalks as well for Leinster and there is not much doing during the 6 nations in Feb and March so he can probably get a decent rest then. He will have to really put in it for maybe 7 or 8 games max. It should be a good move for both.
13 Go to commentsThe game was a quarter final, not a semi final. Barrett will be here for 6 months, he is no one's replacement at 13. That mantle will most likely ultimately go to Jamie Osborne, though Garry Ringrose has at least 4 more years in him. The long term problem position (in the next 3 years) for Leinster is tighthead prop, though there are a couple of prospects at schools level.
23 Go to commentsSo much for all that hype surrounding the ‘revival’ of Aussie rugby. The Blues were without the likes of regular starters Perofeta, Sullivan, Christie etc… This was a capitulation of the highest order by Australia’s finest. Joe Schmidt definitely has his work cut out for him.
2 Go to commentsYes they can ignore Sotutu. Like Akira Ioane plays OK at Super level but gets lost in tests. Too many chances too many failures.
2 Go to commentsA wallaby front-row of Bell, Blake and Tupou…now that would be hefty
1 Go to comments“But with an exceptional pass accuracy rating “ Which apart from Roigard is not a feature of any of the other 9s in NZ. Kind of basic for a Black 9 dont.you. think? Yet we keep seeing FC and TJ being rated ahead of him? Weird if it’s seen as vital to get our backline beating in your face defences.
1 Go to commentsThanks BeeMc! Looks like many teams need extra time to settle from the quadrennial northern migration. I think generally the quality of the Rugby has held up. Fiji has been fantastic and fun to watch
13 Go to commentsLets compare apples with apples. Lyon sent weak team the week before, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Give the South African teams a few years to build their depth, then you will be moaning that the teams are too strong.
41 Go to commentsDid footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
13 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
10 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
13 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
6 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
25 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
6 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
10 Go to comments