A story about Earlsie and ZeBowe
No I’m looking forward. Six Nations. World Cup. With intrigue and fascination.
Don’t you have to look back to look forward? (Note: He’s from Kerry).
Not too much. Everyone in that Joe Schmidt Irish squad is looking forward now. In every sense of the term. And there’s quite a few outside the November gathering looking forward with even greater relish.
Keith Earls will be back on a pitch near you in the new year. Don’t forget Keith Earls. At worst Earlsie will be going to the World Cup because of his versatility. I think he might be Ireland’s No. 13.
What’s established is that Ireland is very strong at half-back, and in the back three — irrespective of who plays, because the choice is as broad as it is deep. What has yet to be nailed down is who will be playing in the centre.
We are all intrigued to see how Earls develops under Joe Schmidt, who he’s never played for. He is the one person who has schooled Brian O’Driscoll in training throughout his career. He has the speed, the agility, the balance, the step, the acceleration. Defensively in the 13 channel, it’s as much about technique as it is size.
Many in Munster, never mind the wider rugby public, remain to be convinced of what I am proposing here. Those who have trained and played with this lad every day do not. For you anoraks, cast your mind back to his Munster-Dragons try at Musgrave Park in 2008. The flick-up. Class. I am one of Earls’ biggest supporters because when you see what he can do on a training pitch, there is no doubt it will be carried onto the pitch once he can get a solid run without injuries.
He’s been wracked by injuries and self-doubt. That is seen as a weakness, but it’s also a potential strength, because when he gets there and retains his sense of self-worth, he’ll be there for good.
You have to be confident about Earls’ international future when you see what Schmidt has done with players in terms of maximising what they can achieve. Take Andrew Trimble for instance. He’s gone from steady to very good with Ulster, from average with Ireland to excelling in green. Look at the difference in Robbie Henshaw from the Australia game 12 months ago to last Saturday. If he continues that development — and I don’t want to be putting too much pressure on those young shoulders — we have a fine prospect on our hands. He has that work-like-a-dog mentality, the way he got stuck into Adam Ashley-Cooper last weekend off the ball. Chipping away all day at him. That’s a great trait to have.
People still underestimate Gordon D’Arcy, even at this advanced stage of his career. But he is a man who can match his southern hemisphere equivalents physically. I also ran into Stuart Olding in the tunnel before last Saturday’s game, and was gob-smacked at the size of him. Also look at Ian Madigan’s graph under Schmidt.
Henshaw. D’Arcy. Olding. Madigan. Trimble. The coach is the common denominator in their surging graph.
Johnny Sexton has said it to me — nines and 10s are made look better because they don’t have to fret over anyone else: They know the rest are doing their job, and know their detail inside out. That’s usually a good chunk of the 10’s job, patrolling the forwards around the pitch. Not now.
Earls should be back in January. If he gets a clear run, there’s only one way his trajectory is going too.
Donal Lenihan expressed a view on TV afterwards that I was pondering myself: I hope the Irish set-up does not try to suppress Simon Zebo’s joie de vivre, that instinctive offload game which some misguided souls claim cost a try for Nick Phipps last Saturday (There was a bouncing ball and four missed tackles afterwards).
It struck me his celebration for the opening try was pretty muted. For Zebo anyway. If that was at Thomond Park, he’d have been around with the hands up, egging on the crowd. Supporters are only dying to get behind him. They want a maverick, they think he’s special.
Zebo thinks he’s special too. He thinks he’s LeBron James, and he thrives on that. People need to understand and appreciate different culture. His father is from Martinique, not Ballydehob. If playing to the crowd gets his juices flowing, then I’m all for it. This guy is good stuff.
I can understand if there is a management doubt there at the moment because for the first 12 months I knew him I had no time for Zebo either — I thought he was lazy, soft, and weak. But then when you take him under your wing, he grows. He’s not a fella who likes the cane. He listens, but he’ll test you to the max. He walks away from you and you’re wondering whether this fella is tuned into what you are saying at all. But he’s got it. And that pace of his is rapid. He is worth love-bombing.
I chatted with Tommy Bowe after the game. We were both thinking the same thing. That intercept try and the awful fear that he’d be run down by a flying Australia winger.
Running out into open space — for a winger that’s a thrilling and a frightening prospect. He was saying to me afterwards, the last time he had that opportunity against the same opposition in the World Cup in Auckland, he got run down and caught. And there’s nothing worse for a winger than getting caught in that situation.
Watching it back on video, he was so nervous about getting caught that he didn’t relax into his stride pattern at all. He was grimacing. That slows you up. The sports scientists say you are supposed to let your jaw hang loose in those pace situations. Watch the sprinters.
It’s like me missing a kick in front of the posts — that’s what he is there for — to finish. What are wingers picked for? Otherwise you are tagged as a workhorse and no winger wants to be a workhorse. Tommy may be 30 now but he’s still doing what he’s always done — delivering big moments and crucial tries. Psychologically that intercept was very important. Tommy’s handbrake is off now.
By the Six Nations, Joe and the rest of us will have a clearer indication of the wellbeing of some other absentees. At our strongest, Cian Healy, Donncha Ryan and Sean O’Brien also start, the key point being a deepening bench. You have genuine leaders in Best, O’Connell and Heaslip. And Peter O’Mahony has propelled himself into the realm of seasoned international already. The term ‘world-class’ is overused, but O’Mahony is well on his way to that plateau.
O’Brien’s shoulder injury may be garden variety, but Cian Healy has a road ahead of him. For an explosive loose-head to rip the hamstring off the bone while running up a pitch, you have to be fearful about how he’ll come back. But Jack McGrath has done very well, and Dave Kilcoyle was itching for action the last day, he was sitting right beside me at the Aviva last Saturday.
Conor Murray is looking composed (except when Nick Phipps is chirping away at him). But he’s yet to explode, form-wise. It will happen. He’ll only be happy when he’s the best player on the pitch, and I don’t think he’s reached that stage in his head yet. The best compliment I can give him is that I always knew he would accelerate his development to this point.
Munster don’t have a lot of players on international duty, but the great thing for the province is that those who are have become key to Ireland — Murray, O’Mahony and Paul O’Connell. Leaders are key. So is the X Factor. Zebo delivers that for both his province and his country.
