Battling Boss bidding to stake claim for World Cup berth
The emergence of Wasps’ Eoin Reddan as a challenger to the current hierarchy — which currently sees Isaac Boss as Eddie O’Sullivan’s second choice scrum half — should bring out the best in both players.
Boss is afforded the first opportunity to impress when he teams up with sometime Ulster half back partner, Paddy Wallace, on Saturday while Reddan will be picked for the second test in Buenos Aires on June 2.
It would appear that the Wasps man is winning the race to be the back-up scrum half in France in just over three months.
Though some claim this tour is of little relevance to what will transpire between Ireland and Argentina at the Parc des Princes in September, try telling that to the Ulster player, who will win his eighth cap for his adopted country this weekend.
“There’s definitely a relevance to this tour,” says Boss whose grandmother hails from Glenarm in Co Antrim. “Everyone here knows there’s an opportunity to wear the Irish jersey and try to stake a claim for the Rugby World Cup in France. I think it’s a bit hard for the 15 guys left behind to watch but obviously they’re the front runners. All I can do and we can do is put pressure on them.
“At the same time there’s a lot of competition in the squad itself. Even in my position I know I’m never safe. Eoin Reddan is playing brilliantly for Wasps at the moment. There are a lot of candidates at the moment for scrum half.
“And Tomas O’Leary, who is on this tour also, is playing really good rugby. Hopefully I can have a good tour.”
The relative merits of Boss and Stringer have been endlessly analysed during this season. But after his performance against Australia last November, many saw Boss in a position to stake his claim for a regular first team spot. But that was never likely when Ulster’s season came off the rails.
While the former Wellington Hurricanes star differs to Stringer in many ways, there are certain similarities with Reddan’s game – the never ending temptation to break the gain-line and scare opposition defences into frantic defending.
“I realise Peter and I play an entirely different style of play. Everybody has got different strengths and weaknesses. Since I first got involved about a year ago it’s been a valuable experience as well — I learn things off Strings. I have got to know him and I find him a good guy.
“There are a lot of players coming through at the moment like Eoin — he’s a very good runner with the ball and Tomas is versatile in many ways as well. We’re all probably the opposite to Strings, but there are aspects of his game that we can learn off him as well to make us the complete footballer.
“We’re all competing in the background, he’s the incumbent and we all have our goals.
“But it’s a healthy competition.”
Boss also sees this tour as a golden opportunity to impress Eddie O’Sullivan in what he describes as an “ultra tough” rugby environment.
The 27-year-old man points to the problems the All Blacks faced when they toured the Latin American country 12 months ago. Graham Henry’s all conquering New Zealand struggled to tame a gutsy Pumas side, and the Ulster player expects a similarly searching test at the Colon Stadium Saturday.
“Make no mistake about it — it’s a very tough place to play. The All Blacks went there last year and were lucky to come away with a win. This is my first time touring Argentina but I can only imagine that it’s one of the more tougher places around. But we’ve prepared ourselves mentally for the challenge and we’re going to be up for it.
“You find with their supporters that they’re very patriotic and very passionate and they will be singing and chanting during the game. It will be like a soccer atmosphere — it will be a testing atmosphere.”
Boss is not surprised by Argentina’s sixth place IRB World ranking. Having beaten England and run France close during last Autumn’s Internationals, Boss can only imagine what damage the Pumas could inflict on a tier one nation if they were in the Six Nations or Tri-Nations tournaments.
“They’re trying to push themselves forward, and they seem to be very strong at the moment against some of the biggest nations in the world. They’ve got a lot of guys playing professionally in France, England and of course we’ve Felipe (Contepomi) playing in Ireland, so they’re world class performers.
“They do lack that regular international tournament – every one of the top flight nations has one. You can see how much Italy have improved since they came into the Six Nations — I can only imagine the benefits it would have to a strong Argentinean side.”
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