Competition for places hotter than ever as Leinster start another Champions Cup chase
TRUE BLUES: Leinster Rugby players Dan Sheehan, left, Leah Tarpey and Tommy O'Brien. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
Dan Sheehan wasn’t used to missing out. The Leinster and Ireland hooker went from a few seasons serving his time in the AIL to first-choice Test hooker in the blink of an eye. The only thing that stopped him in his tracks was an ACL injury suffered in South Africa in the summer.
The rehab has gone well. His day still starts at 7am and finishes at three. If things keep going to plan then he’ll be back on the pitch some time early in the New Year. A Six Nations role looks well doable and, when he does come back fit and fresh, he will be perfectly poised to make a case for the British and Irish Lions.
Andy Farrell’s British and Irish Lions.
“I want to be competing for every squad I can,” he said on Thursday. “I have big ambitions to go all the way, like everyone else does, but I have to put myself in the best possible fitness level so that I can go back and compete at the level I was and even bring it further.
“Yeah, of course it is on my mind, I try not to think about it, but like everyone else around here I do think of it. That’s definitely a big goal of mine as a kid: to reach for big Ireland squads and big Six Nations, Lions tour, it’s an ambition of mine.” Here’s the thing, though. You can’t keep one eye on the horizon to come at Leinster without training another on the hillock behind where a metronomic string of young talent emerges year after year Gus McCarthy being the latest.
The 21-year old was fifth-choice hooker at the province, with 25 minutes of senior rugby to his name, at the start of the season. Then injuries, principally to Sheehan and Rónan Kelleher, opened the door to an extended run and a debut and second cap with Ireland.
Sheehan didn’t share the surprise expressed elsewhere.
His own brother Bobby is a hooker with UCD in the AIL so Dan got to see plenty of McCarthy this last two seasons as the ‘new’ man learned his trade in that environment. He saw how McCarthy had worked on building bulk and explosiveness.
“Every level he has met there has been no bother to him.” We’ve seen this cake take shape before, not least when Sheehan emerged and usurped Kelleher as the main man at a time when the latter had his own injury issues. The difference this year as Leinster start another Champions Cup tilt is the added icing on top.
Rabah Slimani has been drafted in from France after 57 caps with Les Bleus, RG Snyman has managed to stay fit enough to impress over five appearances already, and Jordie Barrett has clocked in this week for a stint that will last through the season.
The depth of talent available is outrageous.
Leo Cullen has multiple international players across most areas of the pitch. He has nine such options on the wing, six at full-back and in the back row, five at No.10, four at lock, three at tighthead and the same at hooker since Gus McCarthy’s promotions.
The only areas where the resources are slimmer is at scrum-half where Jamison Gibson-Park and Luke McGrath are the only two with Test experience, and at loosehead where Andrew Porter and Cian Healy are the ones holding that fort.
Even this is to underplay their hand.
Jack Boyle is next man up after Porter and Healy and he just spent November in Ireland camp as a training panellist. And the other provinces would dearly love to have players like James Culhane, Tommy O’Brien and Scott Penny on their books.
It’s an embarrassment of riches and one that constantly invokes questions as to how they could be spread about in a more democratic manner. Still, keeping that volume of talent content is an art in itself and it shouldn’t be underplayed.
“Yeah, it is a cut-throat business in that everyone wants that jersey,” said Sheehan. “We have to talk about it. We can’t just expect lads to be okay with not getting picked. We talk about being a brother for everyone else, not dropping the head and you have a job every single week. If you’re not picked your job is to prepare the other lads.
“It just comes down to being close mates. We’re all very close. Obviously a lot of us coming from a very small area in Dublin, that might bring us all together, and then it’s pretty easy to pick up the lads who are a bit further off, like Jordie. I feel like lads sort of settle in pretty quick.” Leinster have 31 internationals on their books. All bar five or six are available this weekend.
Decisions, decisions.
