LONG READ Opportunity knocks as Andy Farrell ushers in a next-gen Ireland

On June 14th, last year, Leinster defeated Bulls in the United Rugby Championship Grand Final. Many of that victorious side were in attendance, at Aviva Stadium, six days later to see their new British & Irish Lions teammates lose to Argentina.

53 weeks later, and with little rest or relaxation in between, Leinster’s core will face Bulls in another URC final, at Croke Park. They will have a night to celebrate or commiserate, another at home with family and friends, and then Ireland’s summer camp really kicks off. This week, Farrell had players from the three idle provinces up at the High Performance Centre, in North Dublin.

12 of last summer’s Lions have been selected to tour Australia and New Zealand. July 20th will be the first time in two years many of them will get to enjoy some summer holidays.

Ireland embark on their first ever Nations Championship summer tour with a vastly experienced side and a head coach eager to keep momentum from their Triple Crown finish to the Six Nations. Andy Farrell used 35 players in that seven-week window, giving 11 of them their first taste of championship action, including three new caps. For the upcoming tour, 36 players will travel, initially, with three Connacht players – Billy Bohan, Sam Illo and Sean Jansen – hoping for Test debuts.

Farrell looks West as Ulster prospects miss out

If we include Ciarán Frawley, who officially leaves Leinster at the end of this month, Connacht will have seven representatives in the Ireland squad. Munster finished three spots ahead of Stuart Lancaster’s side in the URC standings, but have only three players travelling. That paltry number will raise louder alarm bells in the province, with cold-comfort from seeing Jack Crowley, Edwin Edogbo, Calvin Nash and Tom Farrell name-checked in a 10-man list for injury-related exclusions.

No rest for the talented as Leinster have 19 men in the squad (18 if you flip Frawley). Ulster are next best, on eight, but four of their best young prospects must spin their wheels, this summer. David McCann and Jack Murphy were outside shots, but it is surprising to see Bryn Ward and Jude Postlethwaite missing out on the fun.

Bundee Aki and Cian Prendergast are familiar faces in Farrell squads, with the uncapped trio of Billy Bohan, Sam Illo and Sean Jansen joining Darragh Murray for a taste of the big-time. At 20, Bohan is the squad’s youngest player and grand-son to Irish rugby legend, Mick Doyle. Illo was in the Leinster academy but headed to Galway, five years ago, after failing to get a senior contract. It is worth noting, Illo has been selected ahead of Finlay Bealham, his Connacht teammate. The 34-year-old toured withthe Lions, last summer, so Farrell, John Fogarty and Paul O’Connell may be content with leaving him at home and seeing if illo has what it takes.

Lancaster has already done some canny recruitment in his first, proper transfer window, at Connacht. Having seven players in an Ireland squad will be another calling card as he looks to improve again, for future seasons.

The search for a new No.8

Jack Conan turns 34, at the end of July, and has found himself deployed at blindside for exactly half of his 22 matches, this season. Farrell has conundrums at loosehead and left wing but will be eager to come up with another solution at No.8.

Caelan Doris is the undoubted king in that position, but Farrell has also looked at his captain (three times this season) at openside. He could do with another decent option at 8. Cian Prendergast will be eager to impress his claims upon the coaching staff. The inclusion of Sean Jansen, his Connacht teammate, is a signal of bullish intent.

Five years ago, Jansen was working away as a builder’s labourer in, and around, Dunedin, in his native New Zealand. He played club rugby for North Otago in the Heartlands competition, earning a match fee of NZ$100 (about €50) per game. Conscious that he may have missed the boat to becoming an All Black, Jansen, with the help of his uncle, sent around highlight clips, in the hope of securing a move to a better club. Those clips found their way to Steve Borthwick, who was then coaching at Leicester Tigers.

Jansen impressed in his early stint at Leicester and asked him to stick around for 2022/23. Midway through that season, they were hoping to tie him down on a longer deal. Connacht had been alerted to him being Irish qualified, through his grandfather, James and grandmother, Maura. If he could not play for New Zealand, Jansen would set his sights on becoming an Irish international. “It is my dream to play for Ireland,” he told me, last September.

Jansen has played twice with Ireland ‘A’ and he finished this season as Connacht’s Player of the Year, scoring 12 times in 20 games. There is no messing about with this block of Dunedin granite. He is the smash-mouth alternative to Doris, and a player that may allow Farrell to get more creative with his captain.

Ongoing drama at out-half

At this stage, Irish rugby supporters have had enough drama around the 10 jersey. It only makes them pine more for the Johnny Sexton era.

Jack Crowley looked to have locked down a long run in the position, following a strong finish to the Six Nations, only to pick up an annoying leg injury. A blood vessel issue is causing the Munster man neurological “dead leg” symptoms. If that sounds complicated, it has proved just so. On two occasions, in the final weeks of the URC season, Crowley was named in Munster teams, and trained fine, only for the leg problem to flare up, and for him to withdraw. Munster head coach, Clayton McMillan was hopeful Crowley, who was making progress with medics on the matter, would be able to face Japan or New Zealand. However, Ireland have erred on the side of caution and will leave an incredibly frustrated Crowley at home.

That leaves the door ajar for Sam Prendergast and Harry Byrne. Frawley was always set to travel – despite being cut adrift by Leinster – but Prendergast and Byrne will have had their doubts.
Prendergast has rebounded from a torrid time, mid-season, to reclaim Leinster’s 10 jersey, but his defensive game remains flawed. Byrne had a poor Champions Cup final and his match-winning penalty against La Rochelle, back in January, seems a life-time away.

Frawley should get the starting nod against Australia, in Sydney, but he has not played a single minute since his positive bench cameo against Bordeaux. Expect Farrell to toss a gauntlet in training, before that flight to Australia is even boarded, to see who picks it up.

Jamie Osborne and the thirtysomething centres

With the greatest of respect to Robbie Henshaw, I was surprised to see his name included in Ireland’s touring squad. An absolute warrior for the past 14 seasons, Henshaw has looked on the wane in the past 18 months. The Champions Cup final against Bordeaux left him looking like a player competing in a helter-skelter world that had passed him by.

Farrell is staying loyal to Henshaw, who turned 33 last week, and his ageing core of centres. Bundee Aki (36), Stuart McCloskey (33) and Garry Ringrose (31) are heading Down Under, too. McCloskey has peaked in his 30s and won Ireland Players’ Player of the Year, earlier this month, but missed the end of Ulster’s season after picking up a hamstring strain.

Leinster made a conscious decision to move away from Henshaw-Ringrose after their chastening final defeat in Bilbao – with Jamie Osborne and Rieko Ioane donning 12 and 13.

Barring that opener in Paris, when few Irish players fared well, Osborne did a fine job as fullback in the Six Nations. Hugo Keenan is back, now, so hopefully Farrell avoids the temptation of keeping Osborne in his back three and pairs him with McCloskey, for a game or two.

With Henshaw, Ringrose and Aki all travelling, though, do not hope too hard.

Ireland’s strongest possible XV

As well as that quarter of injured Munster players, here were the other men the IRFU listed as unable to tour – Ryan Baird, Shayne Bolton, Jack Boyle, Mack Hansen, Paddy McCarthy and Andrew Porter. No mention of James Lowe, but he was always unlikely to play for Ireland again after opting against a diminished contract off to go play his club rugby in Japan.
Ireland are touring, then, with their fourth-, fifth- and sixth-choice looseheads. They look a little light in the second row and on the wings. Crowley missing the tour is a huge blow, too. Focusing on the positives, Ireland can still field an experienced, hardy team, with plenty of punch and pizzazz on the bench.

POTENTIAL IRELAND 23 (for Australia)

15. Hugo Keenan
14. Tommy O’Brien
13. Garry Ringrose
12. Stuart McCloskey
11. Jamie Osborne
10. Ciarán Frawley
9. Jamison Gibson-Park
1. Tom O’Toole
2. Dan Sheehan
3. Tadhg Furlong
4. Joe McCarthy
5. James Ryan
6. Tadhg Beirne
7. Josh van der Flier
8. Sean Jansen

REPLACEMENTS: Rónan Kelleher, Billy Bohan, Tom Clarkson, Cian Prendergast, Jack Conan, Craig Casey, Sam Prendergast, Bundee Aki.