Donal Lenihan: Evergreen Keith Earls remains a serious weapon for Munster and Ireland

Ireland's Keith Earls celebrates after scoring a try against Scotland. Picture: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Spare a thought for the provincial coaches this week.

When the Heineken Cup was revamped back in 2014, the tweak that exercised the minds of the brains trust in Munster and Leinster in particular, given the numbers both supplied to the national squad, was the reduction in preparation time from three to two weeks between the finish of the Six Nations and the quarter-final of the newly-branded Heineken Champions Cup.

How they would welcome a two-week window now, with just days to integrate their international squad members back into camp after two months in exile.

As a result, all four provincial head coaches face a big selection dilemma heading into the opening round of pool games this weekend.

Things have been made even more complicated by the fact that, due to the pandemic and the inability to finish out last season’s Top 14 in France, the Champions Cup has reverted back to 24 teams from the 20 it had been reduced to six years ago.

With only four teams emerging from each pool of 12, there’s very little margin for error.

Before looking forward to the weekend of European action however, let’s take a step back and examine where Ireland are after six games in seven weeks.

Andy Farrell will be relieved Ireland finished the campaign with their best performance of the series, albeit one that still leaves plenty of scope for improvement.

If the lineout was significantly improved in the last two outings, the scrum is still a work in progress. Having to start Andrew Porter at tighthead in all six games does not reflect well on Farrell’s confidence in his back-up troops. He will be praying that Tadhg Furlong makes a full recovery for the trip to Cardiff to face Wales on February 7.

I suspect missing 15 tackles in the opening 30 minutes on Saturday will really irk Farrell, given his role as the former defence specialist, and encourage him to get his hands dirty in that area in the weeks ahead.

Ireland’s kicking strategy evolved over the period and is far more effective with Johnny Sexton on board. While Billy Burns made great strides as the back-up out-half, a significant gap remains between Sexton and the rest. That’s not a healthy situation.

What these games highlighted once again is that the breakdown has become the key influencer in dictating who wins, with the battle to retain possession or generate turnovers having such a big influence on the outcome. That is why it has become crucial for Ireland to achieve the right balance in the back row.

On the basis of performance over the last two months, Caelan Doris is now a permanent fixture in this unit and has taken ownership of the No. 8 shirt from CJ Stander. One of the big positives has been the ability of Doris to generate momentum with his explosive carrying.

Stander has shouldered that burden, almost singlehandedly, for so long that teams worked out if you stopped him stressing the gain line, more often than not, you stopped Ireland. Stander enjoyed another productive campaign but is now in a battle with fellow Munster men Peter O’Mahony and Tadhg Beirne for the No. 6 jersey.

Beirne was another to impress, having started in both the second and back rows. That versatility makes him a very attractive option off the bench. Farrell is gifted with some outstanding back rowers but needs to find the right mix of ball winners, poachers, carriers, and explosive defenders.

It could well be a case of tweaking his options depending on the opposition.

Despite playing out of position against England and Scotland, O’Mahony had two of his most impactful games in some time. The issue that will shape the final selection could well come down to how long it will take Dan Leavy to recover the outstanding form that made him an automatic choice at open side prior to his horrific leg injury.

If he manages to do that, his return may well provide the missing link. Between now and the opening Six Nations game against Wales in the Principality Stadium, Leinster have four Heineken Champions Cup games, against decent opposition in Montpellier and Northampton Saints.

While neither Montpellier or Northampton are good enough to win the Champions Cup, both have the capacity to ask more questions of the returning Leavy than any side he has played against in a thoroughly lopsided Guinness PRO14 since his return to arms.

In addition, Leinster have a St Stephen’s Day clash with old rivals Munster in Thomond Park and welcome Connacht and Ulster to the RDS in derby encounters.

What chance Munster and Leinster choosing their first-choice back-rows and let them at it? That would be far more entertaining than watching the usual re-run of festive favourites on television and would be of huge benefit to Farrell.

The other issue the head coach needs to decide on is the composition of his back three. He has mixed and matched his resources in this area over this international window, introducing three new caps in Hugo Keenan, James Lowe, and Shane Daly.

He also presented Jacob Stockdale with ample opportunity to show whether he is capable of filling the void left by Rob Kearney at full back. It’s only in Kearney’s absence that you really begin to appreciate how brilliant his positional sense was in addition to being an absolute rock under the high ball.

Stockdale offers so much as a rugby player but until he masters those basic requirements at full-back, the question marks will remain. Unfortunately, he did nothing to advance his case against Scotland and, in my opinion, that experiment should end there.

What we did learn is that the evergreen Keith Earls remains one of our most potent attacking weapons and that Lowe, while hugely effective with the ball, still has defensive issues to work on. Keenan took his opportunities well, both on the wing and at full-back, but one wonders why Andrew Conway appeared to fall out of favour as the campaign progressed.

While Farrell can sit back and cherry-pick which individual players and Champions Cup games to forensically dissect over the next few weeks, his provincial counterparts face some serious questions surrounding the composition of their sides for those opening games.

In the absence of the international stars, a number of young players have not only emerged on the provincial scene but driven their teams on an incredible undefeated run in the PRO14.

Leo Cullen, Johann van Graan, Dan McFarland, and Andy Friend must now weight up the options in selection in knowledge that they have to hit the ground running this weekend.

Several factors will have to be taken into consideration here, not least the number of minutes played with Ireland over the last seven weeks.

In that respect, Cullen will be raging with the workload Porter carried, at a time when Tadhg Furlong is unavailable to him. As a result he will contemplate starting Michael Bent against Montpellier this weekend.

On the other end of the scale Shane Daly has only seen 20 minutes of action, due primarily to injury, over the last two months and therefore may be a little undercooked to face Harlequins.

Van Graan may also be reluctant to step down the likes of Craig Casey and Gavin Coombes who have served him so well during this period.

That is why, despite an unprecedented return of 26 wins from the 28 PRO14 games played by the four Irish provinces to date this season, there is no guarantee of success in any of the four European pool ties to be played over the weekend.

With the quality of opposition ratcheting up to another level, and with little or no preparation time to reintegrate everyone, things are about to get a little more challenging on the provincial front.