Johnny Holland comes up trumps to win plaudits

Once Anthony Foley made his biggest selection gamble of the season and picked Johnny Holland ahead of Ian Keatley to face Leinster, the rookie fly-half was always going to be a focal point in this heavyweight interprovincial battle.

And while he came out on the losing side and was even eclipsed by his more experienced and accomplished opposite number Johnny Sexton, the questions being asked of Foley were not critical of Holland but why the coach had not kept the young play-maker on the field longer at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday night.

Holland, 24, was called ashore after just 57 minutes in Dublin but it was long enough for the Cork man (in only his eighth senior start for Munster) to indicate that there could be a homegrown out-half finally able to become a worthy successor to Ronan O’Gara in the red number 10 jersey. Injured academy fly-half Bill Johnston may have something to say about that down the line but on Saturday at the Aviva, Munster’s future was in Holland’s hands.