2014 WAS AN exceptional year for Joe Schmidt’s Ireland, but how much better could 2015 be if certain players return from injury and others remain fully fit?
A clean sweep of the November Tests and a first Six Nations title since 2009; it doesn’t get much better than that. But this is a World Cup year, and this Ireland squad has the quality to contest a semi-final, at least.
There should be no tiptoeing around that point; with a coach like Schmidt in charge and world-class players such as Johnny Sexton, Paul O’Connell and Rob Kearney involved, this is as strong an Ireland set-up as we’ve ever had.
Expectations of them challenging for the World Cup may add pressure, but that mental weight will come from within a group who strive towards perfection.
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That Ireland were missing so many players through injury in 2014, particularly for the November series, allowed Schmidt to build an encouraging level of depth within his squad.
However, if Ireland want to create history at RWC2015, they will need their best players to be fit. Injury to Sexton would be disastrous, while Conor Murray looks indispensable at scrum-half.
Their replacements have performed superbly, but Cian Healy and Sean O’Brien are two vitally important cogs in the World Cup campaign.
An injury-free run for Luke Fitzgerald would be hugely welcome. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
The latter is a particularly essential figure in all of this. Chris Henry and then Rhys Ruddock have demonstrated that they can thrive in the seven shirt at international level, but 27-year-old O’Brien is among the best back rows in the world when fit.
His combination of explosive power, ball-carrying strength, work-rate, breakdown threat, set-piece understanding and mental fortitude make him a unique specimen. The squad is bigger than one player, but having O’Brien back would vastly increase Ireland’s chances at the World Cup.
It was worrying that the Leinster flanker was sidelined for a second time with the same shoulder injury, and ensuring that this recovery is conservative enough to be final is important for both the province and Ireland.
What of the likes of Keith Earls, Luke Fitzgerald, Dave Kearney, Donnacha Ryan, Iain Henderson, Marty Moore, Mike Sherry, and others? Injury-free runs of form for those players could swell the quality of the Ireland squad before September.
As coaches are so swift to remind us, injuries are part and parcel of professional sport. That has never been more apparent in rugby, where the increased levels of physicality are being reflected in injury rates.
It is virtually impossible that Schmidt will have no injury issues by the time September rolls around, but if Ireland can avoid losing their very best players, they will go to the World Cup as contenders.
This might be a little premature but I think Conan’s progress is staggering and a very welcome sight since more carriers that can pierce lines is something we really need.
Still though would love to see a back row of POM, SOB, and Heaslip in full flight but I predict either Ruddock or Conan @ 20 come Sept unless JS uses Henderson there so he can fit Tuohy in at 19 but would that be a little unbalanced?
We have carriers aplenty in the backrow. Even our second choice lads (Ruddock and O’Donnell) are great ball carriers.
The issue is elsewhere in the pack. Without Healy our first choice tight five is McGrath Best Ross Toner and O’Connell. None are ball carriers. Cronin and Henderson (second row) would be the ball carrying alternatives if needed.
Until Cronin sorts out his set piece – especially line out – he can’t really be considered as a starting option. Great in the loose, but set piece stability is paramount. It is a potential weakness: Best’s throwing not always up to par either
This goes to the error that Cronin made in moving to Leinster where Strauss had already established himself already, sure he’s won some medals (from the bench) but has fundamentally not improved as a player.
Of course as a card carrying Connacht fan I would have preferred him to stay West and continue his development with us, but as a Irish rugby lover I would have preferred if he had gone to a Club (anywhere – UK (Pro12 or Premiership) or France if it meant he was playing first team rugby as a starting Hooker. He will never improve his throwing to the required level coming in cold off a bench and usually with either absolutely no pressure or heaps of it.
Pup has assets that Strauss will never have, but it’s the fundamental (for a Hooker) of throwing the ball in straight that still dog his career…..
Cronins throwing might not have improved Hurley but every other aspect of his game has improved hugely during his time at leinster and he’s not the second choice hooker he’s first choice now and has been for about a year and a half now.
Ronan you may not be aware that Cronin has been first choice at Leinster for a very long time now.
He cannot throw a rugby ball into a lineout and has trouble hooking a ball most of the time.
If he can’t hit toner he can’t hit anyone.
Game time is not the problem.
I don’t think Cronin is nearly as bad as we let on sometimes. As some are pointing out, he’s been first choice, if not equal share, hooker at one of Europe’s most consistent clubs for a long time and you don’t win without sufficient set-piece ball. How bad can it really be?
Same goes for Rory Best. After the Leicester game, everyone jumped on the ‘Best can’t throw’ bandwagon again, completely ignoring that Ulster hadn’t lost a single lineout in any of their previous 3 matches. Hardly fair, I’d say.
The thing about throwing a lineout is that it makes a player look just okay when it works, merely doing what they should (We know intuitively that there must be some special ones, but how many lineout throws make the highlight reel?). However, it makes a hooker look absolutely terrible when they miss the target.
I’m not any more worried about lineout throwing in the 6 Nations or RWC15 than I am goal kicking, or defensive line speed. We don’t always get those right either, but we’ve won plenty of games lately with our current kickers and defenders.
Mark and Chris, very kind of you to try and correct me, but I’ve watched Cronin for Connacht and with Leinster and he is no where close to being a better player than he was when he was with Con Yes last season he got a lot more game time because of Strauss’s heart condition, but now Strauss has proved his fitness he’s back to being back-up. Put it this way if Cronin was still with Connacht and peforming as he is would Leinster still be looking at him, or at some of the current Munster lads..?
His Darts for Connacht were way better than they have been for Leinster because he played consistently, week in week out and hardly ever was sprung form the bench. In three seasons he started about 90+% of our games and generally finished most of them too (about 65-70%).
Throwing in is a rhythm, like a golf shot. It’s not mechanics, it’s feel and timing. The more you get to do it in pressurised situations the more you improve. If you’re being sent on when the game’s completely in the bag and the pressure off, or you’re trying to pull it out of the fire in the last 1/4 and the pressure ois off the scale, it’ll affect a hookers throwing rhythm. Likewise knowing you’re only a couple of dodgy throws from the bench can’t help psychologically….
Having two comparable (at their best) international standard Hookers in the same team is not good, only one can play at anyone time and there isn’t scope to slot in anywhere else in the pack to keep sharp…
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This might be a little premature but I think Conan’s progress is staggering and a very welcome sight since more carriers that can pierce lines is something we really need.
Still though would love to see a back row of POM, SOB, and Heaslip in full flight but I predict either Ruddock or Conan @ 20 come Sept unless JS uses Henderson there so he can fit Tuohy in at 19 but would that be a little unbalanced?
We have carriers aplenty in the backrow. Even our second choice lads (Ruddock and O’Donnell) are great ball carriers.
The issue is elsewhere in the pack. Without Healy our first choice tight five is McGrath Best Ross Toner and O’Connell. None are ball carriers. Cronin and Henderson (second row) would be the ball carrying alternatives if needed.
Was nice to see Cronin get mammoth carry in that led to Conan’s try the other night. He’s been a bit off the boil lately.
Until Cronin sorts out his set piece – especially line out – he can’t really be considered as a starting option. Great in the loose, but set piece stability is paramount. It is a potential weakness: Best’s throwing not always up to par either
With best on the pitch there’s the bonus of two or three steals on the deck plus he has a consistently high tackle count.
A fit luke Fitzgerald would be huge, has the workload and brain plus ability to find space.
A fit Henderson would be great also.
What may be key to our wc hopes is Ross’s form or Moore’s ability to step up and take the jersey.
This goes to the error that Cronin made in moving to Leinster where Strauss had already established himself already, sure he’s won some medals (from the bench) but has fundamentally not improved as a player.
Of course as a card carrying Connacht fan I would have preferred him to stay West and continue his development with us, but as a Irish rugby lover I would have preferred if he had gone to a Club (anywhere – UK (Pro12 or Premiership) or France if it meant he was playing first team rugby as a starting Hooker. He will never improve his throwing to the required level coming in cold off a bench and usually with either absolutely no pressure or heaps of it.
Pup has assets that Strauss will never have, but it’s the fundamental (for a Hooker) of throwing the ball in straight that still dog his career…..
Cronins throwing might not have improved Hurley but every other aspect of his game has improved hugely during his time at leinster and he’s not the second choice hooker he’s first choice now and has been for about a year and a half now.
Ronan you may not be aware that Cronin has been first choice at Leinster for a very long time now.
He cannot throw a rugby ball into a lineout and has trouble hooking a ball most of the time.
If he can’t hit toner he can’t hit anyone.
Game time is not the problem.
I don’t think Cronin is nearly as bad as we let on sometimes. As some are pointing out, he’s been first choice, if not equal share, hooker at one of Europe’s most consistent clubs for a long time and you don’t win without sufficient set-piece ball. How bad can it really be?
Same goes for Rory Best. After the Leicester game, everyone jumped on the ‘Best can’t throw’ bandwagon again, completely ignoring that Ulster hadn’t lost a single lineout in any of their previous 3 matches. Hardly fair, I’d say.
The thing about throwing a lineout is that it makes a player look just okay when it works, merely doing what they should (We know intuitively that there must be some special ones, but how many lineout throws make the highlight reel?). However, it makes a hooker look absolutely terrible when they miss the target.
I’m not any more worried about lineout throwing in the 6 Nations or RWC15 than I am goal kicking, or defensive line speed. We don’t always get those right either, but we’ve won plenty of games lately with our current kickers and defenders.
Mark and Chris, very kind of you to try and correct me, but I’ve watched Cronin for Connacht and with Leinster and he is no where close to being a better player than he was when he was with Con Yes last season he got a lot more game time because of Strauss’s heart condition, but now Strauss has proved his fitness he’s back to being back-up. Put it this way if Cronin was still with Connacht and peforming as he is would Leinster still be looking at him, or at some of the current Munster lads..?
His Darts for Connacht were way better than they have been for Leinster because he played consistently, week in week out and hardly ever was sprung form the bench. In three seasons he started about 90+% of our games and generally finished most of them too (about 65-70%).
Don’t believe me, check his stats – http://www.itsrugby.co.uk/player_5346.html – in particular the number of minutes played.
Throwing in is a rhythm, like a golf shot. It’s not mechanics, it’s feel and timing. The more you get to do it in pressurised situations the more you improve. If you’re being sent on when the game’s completely in the bag and the pressure off, or you’re trying to pull it out of the fire in the last 1/4 and the pressure ois off the scale, it’ll affect a hookers throwing rhythm. Likewise knowing you’re only a couple of dodgy throws from the bench can’t help psychologically….
Having two comparable (at their best) international standard Hookers in the same team is not good, only one can play at anyone time and there isn’t scope to slot in anywhere else in the pack to keep sharp…