Rising star Coughlan primed for action

JAMES COUGHLAN has been playing great rugby all year with Munster A, Dolphin and – when he gets a chance – Munster. With Denis Leamy currently sidelined by injury, he could be handed a starting place at the Liberty Stadium tomorrow evening.

James has been particularly impressive in his leadership of the Munster A squad in their so far highly successful campaign in the new B & I Cup and is now hopeful that form will lead to promotion against the Ospreys.

“The B & I Cup has been fantastic,” he insists. “You know the coaches are looking at what we’re doing, and thankfully everything has gone according to plan so far. Okay, when you’re watching the boys in Croke Park, you have to have the burning ambition to put yourself in that position.

“But I think the B & I Cup is very worthwhile. If it wasn’t there, well, maybe we’d have four weeks when we weren’t exactly twiddling our thumbs but it’s difficult to run patterns against shadows. It gave us the opportunity to go through stuff we wouldn’t be doing on a week-to-week basis when the boys are around.”

The advent of the B & I tournament hasn’t gone down too well with the clubs who fear it will further diminish access to their leading players. And given that James Coughlan has been an essential part of Dolphin’s considerable impact in the AIB League over the past few years, they must be hurting when he’s not available.

“Obviously, the club has put me in this position and I’m very grateful for that,” he acknowledges. “But they know this is my job and that I’d much prefer to be in a Munster 22 than a Dolphin 22. There is a conflict there but that’s the case with every club. They realise that we want to be playing with Munster. If we’re available for club games, so be it, but our day-to-day role is to play with Munster and that’s the burning ambition that we all have. Anybody involved with a club side will tell you the same.”

There is no doubt that Coughlan has bought into the A team scenario as he enthuses: “We were very lucky that we went to Clonmel for an interpro and there were three or 4,000 there. The weather was a restriction at Nenagh and Coventry was a full house as well. The 18, 19, 20 year-old young fellas maybe haven’t been used to playing in front of big crowds and the pressure that goes with that.&”

Coughlan, who celebrates his 29th birthday next Thursday, has turned in many outstanding performances in the jersey, most notably in the famous game against the All Blacks just over 12 months ago, and he longs for the opportunity to do so at the highest level of all.

“If there wasn’t competition for places, we wouldn’t be as good as we are and we’d be wasting our time. As soon as the decision is made, we all tie into it and back the lads because we know anybody in the squad is only an injury away from the team.”

Something applicable to Ian Dowling, who despite being one of the most reliable players in the Munster squad, isn’t guaranteed anything these days, given the intense competition for places in the three quarter line.

Dowling is also grateful for the opportunity of competitive action: “The A set-up with Ian Costelloe and Axel (Anthony Foley) running the show is good and gives some of the young lads coming through a chance to show their worth. When you’re winning, it tends to breed confidence in the team and hopefully that will come out in the next few weeks.

“It’s a tough team to get into, no doubt about it, but that’s a good thing. You’ve got Dougie (Howlett) and Mafs (Lifeimi Mafi) from New Zealand, Jean de Villiers from South Africa and Paul Warwick from Australia and it’s great to be able to draw on all that knowledge and experience, especially for the younger lads. They’re all forthcoming with advice and tips on how to improve your game.”

There is a certain irony that Munster’s best performance of the season came against Ulster in the Magners League at the end of October – only for the four-week November hiatus to kick in immediately. The result is that there is a little uncertainty now that they regroup for the visit to Swansea followed by the huge back-to-back games against Perpignan in the Heineken Cup.

“We’re not going to win anything this month but you can lose a lot,” Dowling acknowledged. “The Ospreys have a great bunch of individual players and when they click together, they’re a great team. All we’re trying to do is control our own performance.

“At the back of our minds is the importance of the next three weeks but we’re trying to focus on our own game and get the job done as effectively as possible.”