Schmidt sweats as Munster eye up Ruddock
Capped once for Ireland at senior level, Ruddock has featured 35 times for Leinster in the past three seasons but has found it difficult to dislodge the experienced triumvirate of Sean O’Brien, Shane Jennings and Jamie Heaslip and has started just twice in the Heineken Cup.
Just turned 21, he has captained the European champions in the absence of the front-line troops both this season and last. But he signed a one-year contract last summer when the club wanted him to pen a deal twice that length.
“I can understand why they’re interested in him,” said Schmidt. “We’d obviously be very disappointed to lose Rhys. He has captained the side seven or eight times and that’s a measure of the respect we have for him as a potential leader of the club.
“There’s a few things that have gone against him this year as far as injury is concerned. He got a few knocks and it kind of messed with a bit of his rhythm but he came on and had a good impact against Glasgow at the weekend.”
Ruddock offers versatility as well as talent having featured on the blindside, openside and at number eight this season but his stated long-term strategy is to concentrate on winning the number six jersey.
Leinster can also turn to the likes of Kevin McLaughlin, Dominic Ryan and Leo Auva’a for cover in the back row but Irish rugby in general is well stocked at the rear of the scrum and Munster are no different with Peter O’Mahony the latest prime candidate to emerge.
That said, Tony McGahan could do with Ruddock now rather than waiting for the summer what with David Wallace, Denis Leamy, Niall Ronan and Tommy O’Donnell all sidelined.
Meanwhile Will Chambers is set to play his last game in a Munster jersey tonight after signing a three-yearcontract to rejoin Australian rugby league outfit Melbourne Storm.
The 23-year-old centre joined from Super XV champions Queensland Reds on a short-term contract in October and has played eight times for Munster, scoring a try off the bench in the Heineken Cup away win over Castres in November. Chambers has played just four times since that game, however, his most recent appearance coming in the RaboDirect Pro 12 defeat at Ulster on December 30.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed the last couple of years, especially with Munster, who are a great club with awesome supporters,” Chambers said yesterday.
“This was a very difficult decision with several things to consider. The overriding factor was a return to Melbourne to be coached by Craig (Bellamy) and being part of the Melbourne Storm culture once again.”
Chambers will start training with his new club on January 30, making tonight’s British & Irish Cup quarter-final against Ulster at Ravenhill his final bow for Munster.
According to the Melbourne Storm, Chambers had met with the NRL club’s general manager of footballoperations Frank Ponissi in Limerick in late November.
Chambers was always a short-term option for Munster coach Tony McGahan in what has been an exhaustive search for a midfield fix.
That is set to continue, with Northampton’s James Downey, set to face his old club this weekend when the Saints host Munster, in the frame and former target Benson Stanley of the Blues, available for next season, with his contract in Auckland up at the end of the 2012 Super XV season.
In the meantime, having settled on a Lifeimi Mafi-Keith Earls axis atcentre with Danny Barnes as cover, McGahan could well switch his focus to the back row with Niall Ronan and Denis Leamy ruled out for the season and set to be de-registered on the March 24 deadline for the Heineken Cup knockout stages.
Clubs are allowed to make three changes by then, though one must be a front row player while much will depend on the speed of David Wallace’s return to full fitness.
He is set to return in March from a knee injury suffered in a World Cup warm-up game in August.
Meanwhile, Schmidt, McGahan and Ulster counterpart Brian McLaughlin are hoping to meet again next week to discuss their response to the recent IRFU policy shift on the recruitment of foreign players having already met once in Portlaoise some weeks ago.
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