Off the beach and off the bench for Niall Scannell

Here he was, coming on as a replacement against the Maori All Blacks, less than three days after he had had sand between his toes on Portugal’s Algarve

Thu, 30 Jun, 2022 - 07:10

Simon Lewis

Wearing borrowed boots and a smile as broad as the nearby Waikato river, Niall Scannell was finding it a little difficult to comprehend the journey he had just completed, both literal and metaphorical.

Three years had passed since the Munster hooker had last set foot in an Ireland training camp and here he was, coming on as a replacement on the New Zealand tour against the Maori All Blacks in Hamilton on Wednesday, less than three days after he had had sand between his toes on Portugal’s Algarve.

From Alvor to Auckland and beach to bench, it was a lot to take in but the praise of Ireland head coach Andy Farrell will have given some welcome clarity in the aftermath of 32-17 tour defeat.

“Special mention has to go to Niall Scannell,” Farrell said, “coming off the plane a few days ago and playing really well. He was a little bit worried that he would let the team down. He certainly didn’t do that. He added when he came on.”

Scannell, 30, whose 20th and most recent cap had come as a replacement at the World Cup quarter-final defeat to New Zealand in Japan in 2019, had been called by Farrell at the weekend when it became clear that an injured Rob Herring may need some cover.

That set in motion what he described as a “whirlwind few days”.

“When Faz rang me he did note that it was about midnight and ‘good job, you’re still up anyway’ so he knew I was up at midnight so we’ll just leave it at that. I was enjoying a few beverages with my wife and my brothers over in Alvor in Portugal.

“But look, we’ll be there again and walking back into them to tell them I was going to have to leave straight away because I was going to New Zealand was a great buzz. They were delighted for me and Maeve, my wife, was delighted as well and in fairness to her she was left over in Portugal so I’m sure I’m going to owe her another good holiday when I get home.

“I obviously had a whirlwind few days, and ended up getting a coffee in Auckland trying to perk myself up. I was away on holidays and to be honest I was just delighted to get the call-up. It’s obviously been a while since I’ve been in here. I had 48 hours travelling on my own which is tough going but as soon as I got in with the lads in the camp it was a great energy boost.

“To be fair they were all rowing in with boots, gum shield, shoulder pads, gear, the whole lot, they all rowed in to get me out on the pitch. So I just had to get my part as best as I could, in terms of learning the line-outs and the plays, and things like that.

“Obviously the performance didn’t go the way we planned but I was delighted to get some game time and just to be back in camp is great for me and hugely energising. Yeah, I’d sacrifice holidays for that any day.”

The boots belonged to fellow front-rower Andrew Porter and Scannell said: “Jeeze, they were alright at scrum time in fairness to him. I must enquire about keeping them. The only problem was that they said: ‘Final - Marseille - Champions Cup’ on them, which was a hard one for a Munster man to wear.

“But in fairness to him, the minute I came in the door he said he had the same size and gave them to me. So fair play to him and I badly needed them. To be fair most of the lads were the same, so it’s just great to come into an environment that you haven’t been in for so long and everyone is so welcoming and is rowing in.

“So I was delighted with how the lads helped me out for the last 36 hours to get me out on the field.”