Lighting up the road to Twickenham
HARD to believe that George North will not celebrate his 20th birthday until after the 2012 Six Nations championship, such has been his impact in this calendar year. For a winger, he is enormous but he has the pace, feet and subtle skills of a Shane Williams. That is a lethal combination.
Warren Gatland plucked him from obscurity last season but even he cannot have expected anything like the impact North has made, especially at the World Cup. Wales used him cleverly with Jamie Roberts from set plays to get over the gain line but North also has the ability to read the game well and was regularly found in support in broken play, on the shoulder of the ball carrier which inevitably resulted in a try. In will be interesting to see what impact he will now be able to exert in the Heineken Cup. Now that the element of surprise is gone and North will be a marked man, I wonder how he will cope? That said, it is very difficult to shackle him.
THERE’s every chance Fitzgerald can empathise with what George North is facing at the moment. Capped for Ireland in the last international at the old Lansdowne Road, Fitzgerald was a teenage sensation. By winning a Grand Slam, a Heineken Cup medal and a place on the Lions tour, 2009 offered him more than many a seasoned international in a life time of rugby. As happens, last season went pear-shaped when injury and poor form cost him a place in Ireland’s World Cup squad. However Fitzgerald is resilient. It is in the family genes and he has knuckled down to make his mark already for Leinster in the early rounds of the RaboDirect.
Out of necessity, Joe Schmidt played him at inside centre where he excelled. With Brian O’Driscoll and Shane Horgan out of the Leinster equation for the foreseeable future, Fitzgerald has a key role to play in Leinster’s bid to retain their European crown. He has the character to bounce back it will be worth tracking his progress. Declan Kidney will be a keen observer.
IT’S always worth watching a player who brings a special skill set to his position and as a hooker, Springbok Schalk Brits is probably the most talented in his position in the Heineken Cup. He can do things that other forwards could only dream of. He is Keith Wood and Shane Williams condensed into one. His talents were not really appreciated in his native South Africa where he was discarded after a few caps. He was too small, too loose and too flashy for them. South Africa’s loss has been the English Premiership’s gain where he has been the standout player over the past two seasons. One of the reasons he left home was with the presence of Springbok captain John Smit — not to mention the considerable power of Bismark du Plessis — he knew he would not get enough opportunity at international level. He has now become the heart of this Saracens side which makes the recent signing of Smit hard to rationalise. Brits, whose skills were such that his former side the Stormers signed him for two months over the summer to cover a back row emergency, will now feel he has something to prove again with Smit breathing down his neck. That will make him even more competitive and therefore even more interesting to watch. Keep an eye on him.
WIDELY regarded in New Zealand as the one that got away. Born in Auckland of Samoan extraction, Fotuali’i was magnificent for Samoa at the World Cup at a time when the New Zealand scrum-half’s Jimmy Cowan, Andy Ellis and to a lesser extent Piri Weepu were having the jitters at the base of the scrum.
He should have been an All Black but opted to play for Samoa while backing up for Ellis at the Crusaders. New Zealand rarely miss a gem but they have on this occasion. I first set eyes on him this time last season when he played for Samoa against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium and was awarded man of the match. He has everything you would want in a scrum half — pace off the mark, power, a great pass, good kicking game and strong tactical awareness. The Ospreys may have lost the best scrum half at the World Cup when Mike Phillips signed for Bayonne over the summer but they have replaced him with the second best scrum half at that tournament.
IT must have been difficult for McAlister watching the World Cup from the south of France especially when Colin Slade, Aaron Cruden and even Stephen Donald were afforded the chance to play a role at out-half in winning the World Cup when Dan Carter got injured. Shouldered most of the blame for New Zealand’s failure to land a drop goal to dispose of France in the famous quarter-final in 2007. When this year’s World Cup got underway, McAlister had already decamped to Toulouse where he made an immediate impact, guiding Guy Noves men to the summit of the French championship. McAlister has always floated between the No10 and No12 slots and at times he has struggled to come to grips with his talent and where he should play. Noves sees him as an out half and given the talent Toulouse have at their disposal, he will be expected to perform. He has previous experience in the Heineken Cup with Sale but in Toulouse he has the armoury up front and out wide to fulfil the youthful talent that made him a standout player against the Lions back in 2005. His time may finally have come.
IRELAND prop John Hayes has a two-match start on his Munster team-mate and outside half Ronan O’Gara in the race to be the first player to100 Heineken Cup appearances.
The pair – both double Heineken Cup winners in 2006 and 2008 and starters in the sides beaten in the 2000 and 2002 finals – are the only players able to reach the century mark of tournament appearances during the coming campaign, O’Gara embarking on his 15th and Hayes on his 14th Heineken Cup season.
Hayes already has 101 European appearances to his credit, having also played in both Munster’s Amlin Challenge Cup knockout matches last season, with O’Gara on a combined ERC total of 99 matches.
While the two Munster stalwarts have those three figures in their sights, Leicester Tigers prop Martin Castrogiovanni is poised for his half century of appearances with Jonathan Thomas (Ospreys) on the 48-match mark.
On the club front, the Scarlets will become only the fifth club to play 100 Heineken Cup matches when they take on Castres at Parc y Scarlets tomorrow. They will join Toulouse (118), Munster (115), Leinster Rugby (106) and Leicester Tigers (104) as the club centurions.
Cardiff will be the sixth to reach three figures when they travel to London Irish in Round 5 with Ulster next to join the elite group when they go to Clermont Auvergne in Round 6.
99 John Hayes (Munster)
97 Ronan O’Gara (Munster)
49 Martin Castrogiovanni (Leicester Tigers)
48 Jonathan Thomas (Ospreys)
99 Scarlets
95 Cardiff Blues
94 Ulster Rugby
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