‘Stroppy’ Jonny a hit with Boss

Jonathan Sexton’s loss to Racing Metro wasn’t easy for Leinster to absorb, but Isaac Boss still can’t help smiling every time he watches his old team-mate in action for his new Parisian employers.

The out-half’s crankiness when it comes to rugby and his quest for perfection, from himself and those around him, is well-known and Boss has been thrilled to see that continue in France.

“It’s good to see him throwing his hands up at them as well,” said the former Ulster scrum-half who has known his fair share of demanding 10s in a career that has spanned a dozen years and both hemispheres.

“All out-halves are stroppy in my experience. If they don’t get what they want they throw the toys out of the basket. That’s something I was introduced to with 10s as a young lad and something I expect now, that they will be able to tell me what to do.”

The expectation was that Ian Madigan was the heir apparent after Sexton’s departure and Jimmy Gopperth was arriving from Newcastle Falcons to keep the engine ticking over while Madigan was off revving up his international career.

Yet so smooth has been Gopperth’s assimilation — aided by Madigan’s

early-season inactivity due to the IRFU’s player management programme — that the playing field between the pair has shifted in the Kiwi’s favour.

Madigan has yet to feature at 10 this season and, though he will probably start this week against Cardiff Blues at the RDS, he has some ground to make up if his versatility doesn’t see him switched elsewhere along the line or on to the bench.

Even short-term that wouldn’t be ideal for Ireland.

“They both run really good games,” said Boss. “We have obviously had Mads the last couple of years and he is similar to Jonny in some aspects and totally different in others. Same with Jimmy. Jimmy can run a good ship and he’s experienced. He’s been around a while.

“I played with Jimmy back in New Zealand as well. They are both quite demanding and let the forwards know, but it is the role of the nines to take more responsibility. We have got to know what patches of the game to be able to take that and which ones the 10s take more of the responsibility.”

Madigan and Boss may have worked together for a number of years at Leinster now, but Gopperth also rode shotgun with the scrum-half at the Hurricanes for a season back in 2005, one which went dreamily until a semi-final tanking by the Crusaders.

“He’s quite a stocky fella,” said Boss, who is again vying with Eoin Reddan for the No 9 jersey, “he always has been, but I think he has got a bit stockier over the last few years. He has obviously been in the Premiership and the Championship over there for the last few years.

“There’s probably more of an onus over there for the 10 to play a more traditional type of football sometimes, so he mixes that very well with the running game and he has got the experience to know when to plug a corner or something like that and keep the forwards going forward.”

Competition for places will be just one incentive this week ahead of the annual autumn clash with Munster and the Heineken Cup openers. Another will be a determination to atone for last week’s poor performance and defeat in Glasgow. The expected return of more Lions is a boost there.

“It is but we were speaking about it earlier and first of all they just have to slot back in,” he said. “We have to put or best foot forward and not look to those guys to change things around for us or be game breakers or any of that stuff.”