Kevin O'Byrne: players well aware of where the line is with ruck entries

Peter O’Mahony and Zander Fagerson received red cards in the Six Nations for similar offences - professional players have taken note

Thu, 18 Feb, 2021 - 06:00

Brendan O'Brien

Among the Ireland internationals who returned to Limerick and the Munster high-performance centre this week was Peter O’Mahony whose season has been placed on hold after the red card earned against Wales in Cardiff.

Suspended for three matches as a result of the clearout that caught Tomas Francis, the flanker has been joined in his spell of forced inactivity by Scotland’s Zander Fagerson who committed a similar infraction against the Welsh last weekend.

Fagerson, who will now miss the remainder of the Six Nations having been handed an identical ban to O’Mahony, accepted he had been guilty of foul play but disagreed with the fact that it warranted a red card.

It made for a flimsy argument in this day and age.

Josh van der Flier spoke last week about how the policing of the ruck has changed since he first started out as a back row with Leinster only seven years ago, a time when players didn’t have to be quite so precise in either their entry or their execution.

That players still step, or maybe we should say launch, themselves over the accepted line now and again is clearly unfortunate if hardly surprising given the sheer number of rucks in the modern game but there is an understanding now that more must be taken.

As with any law, ignorance is no excuse.

“It is something that we practice every week, our technique,” said Munster hooker Kevin O’Byrne who, incidentally, has yet to earn so much as a yellow card across 79 appearances for the province. “We break it right down to the bare bones of tackling and ruck entry.

“It is something that we are fully conscious of. Nearly every professional player is conscious of it at this stage. It is never taken for granted.

It’s unfortunate that these things happen every now and again but as players we are fully on top of it.

O’Mahony has joined Craig Casey, Chris Farrell, Shane Daly and Andrew Conway back in the provincial setup this week as Johann van Graan’s side prepare for the trip to Scotland and a meeting with Richard Cockerill’s Edinburgh.

It will be a welcome return to the pitch for both sides. Edinburgh will be in action for the first time in a month while Munster will be hoping to build on the dramatic, late defeat of Benetton in Italy at the end of January when JJ Hanrahan nailed that drop goal.

“If you want to win things at the end of the season, they are the games that you have to win,” said O’Byrne. “That’s what makes a championship-winning team. The atmosphere is great. This group has won seven from seven at the start of the year, so we are raring to go.”

None more than himself.

Munster have played 13 games so far and O’Byrne has featured in 10. His six starts to date already equals the most he has made in any campaign since joining the club.

“I think I’ve mentioned it before, when you get a run of games it helps,” he explained. “In previous seasons I may have been in and out for whatever reason. When you get that run of games, form comes.

“It’s a bit easier to keep it rather than having that stop-start thing. I am probably relaxed a little bit about my rugby.

I used to be a bit tense about it, but I have relaxed a little bit. Those would be two major factors.

Player and club are clearly in a good place, each finding plenty from the other. Stephen Larkham’s influence is slowly making its presence felt in a more expansive approach to the attack and that suits O’Byrne.

CJ Stander joked late last year that the Cork man was an out-half playing in a hooker’s shirt and he has no issue with showing his skillset if the game or the occasions calls for it.

“Look, it is not like the other fellas can’t do it. You have seen that the other hookers can do it as well, but it is something that I can bring to the table every weekend. It is probably part of my point of difference, along with my set piece as well.”