Ireland experience will benefit me, reckons Munster tyro Jack O’Donoghue

Jack O’Donoghue admits he was “shocked” when recently called up by Joe Schmidt to the Irish Six Nations camp.

While he didn’t get his first international cap, given the back-row strength available to Schmidt, the experience will stand to him hugely, as he develops his career, all the time with an eye on the Irish squad to tour South Africa in June.

“I was obviously delighted to get the call,” said O’Donoghue. “It was kind of a shock. I didn’t really see myself in the Six Nations mix, but it came and I’m delighted. When I got up there I was probably a bit nervous, because you are thrown into the deep end and you have to know all the calls and stuff. I was just sticking to what I do know and do well at Munster and try and bring that into Ireland. I really enjoyed the experience and I know it will stand to me coming to the end of the season.“

Obviously, he has a decent chance of making the squad for South Africa, though he’s aware that players of the stature of Peter O’Mahony, Iain Henderson, and Sean O’Brien may well be available after injury.

“Yeah, I captained the 20s and I suppose that’s the next stepping stone,” reasons the 23-year-old Waterford man.

“You see from the week with Ireland that that is the standard I need to get to. Even though I mightn’t be there physically and size-wise, at the end of the season, if I show that I can be a dominant back-row, I can push for Ireland then in the next year or so.

“I don’t think there will be that big of a squad. Joe Schmidt has to go with a squad he thinks is going to win the three games in the series. South Africa will be a tough opposition and I am going to focus purely on Munster until the end of the season.”

Ironically, one of those standing in his way of getting to South Africa is his Munster team-mate CJ Stander, who has been a huge help to his developing career and who was arguably Ireland’s man of the Six Nations, but that didn’t surprise O’Donoghue.

“Absolutely not,” he stressed. “You saw at the start of the season the way he was carrying for Munster, the amount of man-of-the-match performances he’s had. It was about time that he went on and showed the exact same thing for Ireland.

“Against Scotland, what was it, eight carries in five minutes? He’s a brute of a man running forward and we’ll relish that when he comes back to Munster.”

The team’s season is in near crisis after the latest setback in Cardiff last week, leaving O’Donoghue to acknowledge: “We need to bounce back. We need a reaction from last weekend. It wasn’t good enough. We went 8-0 up and then to have things finish the way they did... to not even come away with a bonus point was even worse.”

A win alone is unlikely to satisfy the fans who will turn up at Thomond Park tomorrow evening (7pm) for the Guinness Pro12 clash with Italian strugglers Zebre.

It may well have to be accompanied by a bonus point to keep alive flagging hopes of a top-four spot in the Pro12 and a place in the Champions Cup next season.