Bent could be answer to Ireland’s prop prayers

If Michael Bent’s abilities as a player are half as impressive as his back story then Ireland’s lack of depth at the troublesome tighthead prop position will have eased dramatically with the Kiwi’s arrival.

The 26-year old flew in with his girlfriend on Sunday evening just a week after Taranaki’s NPC semi-final defeat to Canterbury and by lunchtime yesterday he had already done a stint on the bike, had discussions with coaches Gert Smal and Greg Feek and studied play calls and patterns. He is the second non-native front row forward to link up with Declan Kidney’s squad inside the last week after hooker Richardt Strauss’ call-up last Wednesday but team manager Mick Kearney was keen to play up Bent’s green heritage.

“Michael Bent qualifies on the basis of his grandmother on his mother’s side who grew up in Rathmines and served in the British Army over in Wales where she met her husband who had joined the New Zealand Air Force and was stationed in Wales. He is the holder of an Irish passport and his sister Kim was an entrant in the Taranaki Rose of Tralee contest a number of years ago. She plays the tin whistle and has been living in Dublin for a number of years.”

Donncha O’Callaghan’s mischievous eyes lit up on hearing those particular nuggets of information but the Munster lock had to face the inevitable question about allegiance and qualification rules before he could present his juicy dossier to the rest of his colleagues.

“My opinion is that we want to have the strongest team,” said the man with 88 caps. “I don’t think its bending the rules in any way. Other countries are using it a long time and maybe we don’t look into it an awful lot. I remember Kevin Maggs when I won my first cap (against Wales in 2003) and the way he spoke at the captain’s meeting. You couldn’t come across a more passionate ... how would I put it ... he wanted to go out and give it his all every match.”

Bent had been on the Irish radar for a number of months, ever since Leinster put the feelers out worldwide that they were in the market for Irish-qualified players through what is basically the old granny rule.

The Hawera-born tighthead came to the province’s attention through Karl Hogan, an agent central to many of the deals bringing southern hemisphere players north of the equator, and the vibes emanating out of New Zealand are certainly favourable. He made two Super Rugby starts for the Hurricanes at tighthead last year and, though out of favour with coach Mark Hammett this season, he covered both sides of the front row off the bench and was slotted into the loosehead role five times. Any frustration felt at that must have been diluted by his NPC campaign with Taranaki for whom he was the only forward to appear in all 13 of their first-class matches and coach Colin Cooper lavished praise on his scrum skills and improvement around the park last week.

Kearney spoke yesterday of the need to manage a jetlagged Bent carefully but he is match fit after the NPC schedule and Irish fans will get to run the rule over him sooner rather than later although no firm decision on game time has yet been made. Bent trained with the national side yesterday and will do so again today before transferring his attention to Leinster tomorrow. After that it is back to Carton House on Thursday and Friday with the possibility that he could feature for Leinster against Ospreys on Sunday.

For now, all options are being kept open but such has been the speed with which he has been drafted in — his planned arrival was brought forward by three days this week — that he looks a good bet to feature at some point in the November Tests. Kearney said that he could conceivably play in one, two or even three of the fixtures against South Africa, Fiji and Argentina, although Declan Fitzpatrick came through his return to action with Ulster unscathed last weekend and Mike Ross remains first-choice number three. All of which represents a veritable embarrassment of riches in light of Ireland’s recent shortcomings on that side of the front row.