THE WINGER AND THE PRAYER

IT SAYS something about the options available to Michael Cheika behind the scrum that Shane Horgan is no longer an automatic choice in the Leinster jersey he has adorned with such distinction for over a decade.

THE WINGER AND THE PRAYER

Confined largely to the role of impact sub on the 2005 British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand, bizarrely, he only started one of the 12 games but was introduced off the bench on seven occasions including all three tests. A Lions role such as this is one thing, fulfilling it for Leinster is something Horgan is not yet prepared to contemplate. Yet that is exactly where he found himself for the quarter-final clash against Harlequins at the Stoop with Isa Nacewa assuming his role in a back three along with Irish Grand Slam heroes Luke Fitzgerald and Rob Kearney.

When Kearney was ruled out of the biggest provincial rugby game this country has ever staged against old rivals Munster in Croke Park, Horgan was back in harness. Were it my choice – and Kearney was available – I would have reinstated the big winger anyway at the expense of the Fijian, Nacewa. Horgan understood better than most why Leinster had to make a statement against their southern nemesis that day and his presence on the field was guaranteed to offer his side the desire that was so essential in winning the Heineken Cup semi-final. Leinster had to draw a line in the sand and stand tall. Both physically and metaphorically Horgan was always guaranteed to satisfy those requirements.

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