The 2017 Test Lion that selectors went cold on: what happened to Jack McGrath?
It was not an easy move to make. After nine seasons with his home province, Jack McGrath took the difficult decision to leave behind everything he knew for a fresh challenge at Ulster. It was a move that would bring him away from one of the most impressive set-ups in club rugby, and an almost guaranteed stream of medals and trophies.
But McGrath wanted more. As the sun set on his 20s, he feared his career was on the slide. Once heralded as the natural successor to Cian Healy, who is almost exactly two years his senior, the balance of power had long since emphatically swung back in Healy’s favour.
And so as Leinster capped off the 2018/19 season as Guinness Pro14 champions and Heineken Champions Cup runners-up, McGrath packed his bags and headed to Ulster, a team whose last trophy arrived in 2006.
It was a move that would have seemed unimaginable just a few years previously.
In 2017, McGrath appeared to be at the peak of his powers. He had been Ireland’s first-choice loosehead for a number of seasons, and was named on the bench for all three Tests during the British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand that summer. Yet from that point, his form and position in the pecking order with both Ireland and Leinster, would slip.
The reason for this was as much down to Healy as it was McGrath. While McGrath had managed to reach a certain level of consistent, reliable performance between 2015-2017, he didn’t quite take his game to the next level.
Joe Schmidt’s Ireland had become a more dynamic unit, where forwards were encouraged to contribute in attack and get around the pitch more. Cian Healy clearly fit the bill better.
Healy’s renaissance had been remarkable.
After bursting onto the scene and establishing himself as a genuinely world class talent, in 2015, Healy had signed off on the insurance papers that would signal the end of his pro career. Surgery on a disk in his neck had left him unable to move his right hand.
He held off on posting those retirement papers, and eventually regained some feeling in his hand. Not only did he return to rugby, he came back fitter than ever before, having cut a considerable amount of weight and put an onus on improving his general cardiovascular fitness.
He gradually pushed McGrath out of the starting team at Leinster before doing the same at international level. By the time the 2018 Six Nations had rolled around, Cian Healy had once again cemented his place as Ireland’s premier loosehead, starting four of Ireland’s five fixtures. McGrath’s only start came against Italy. It was an exact reversal of how Schmidt favoured his two looseheads in the 2017 Six Nations.
That same year, the returning Lion started just two games in Leinster’s Champions Cup-winning campaign.
It could have been just another twist in the long-running Healy versus McGrath battle, but instead it proved the decisive blow. Not only was Healy the undoubted first choice again, McGrath found himself facing real competition for a spot on the bench at Leinster, with his struggle for form hampered by injury issues.
In the 2018-19 season, he made just 12 appearances for Leinster, his lowest return since the 2010-11 campaign. He encountered a similar problem with Ireland as Munster’s Dave Kilcoyne began to play some of the best rugby of his career.
The timing couldn’t have been worse. McGrath featured just once in the 2019 Six Nations before playing twice in the World Cup warm-ups. When Schmidt announced his final World Cup squad, McGrath’s name was nowhere to be seen.
He is believed to have pushed for a move away from Leinster, and his switch to Ulster was confirmed in April of last year. At the time, McGrath said he was his optimistic about his future.
“This was a difficult decision but one I believe will put me in the best position to continue to perform at the top end of the game,” he said. “I have enjoyed a huge amount of success at Leinster but I feel that looking beyond the World Cup to the next phase of my career I will benefit from the opportunity within the Ulster environment.”
His chances of resurrecting his international career appeared slim when Andy Farrell, who succeeded Joe Schmidt as Ireland head coach following the World Cup, gathered 45 players for a mid-season get-together a few days before Christmas. McGrath and Rob Kearney were two of the more high-profile absentees.
However, McGrath was back in the mix when Farrell named his squad for this year’s Six Nations. Farrell continued to favour Healy, with Kilcoyne on the bench, before the tournament was suspended as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
The question now, is what happens next?
This season was arguably a make-or-break opportunity for McGrath to inject some fresh life into his career, but he only got 10 games under his belt before the season was suspended. If the rugby calendar does return to some sort of normality, McGrath will be 31 come the 2021 Six Nations.
At that point you would expect that Farrell will be looking at younger talent with one eye on the 2023 Rugby World Cup. By that stage, it may be too late for Jack McGrath to force his way back to the top.
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments