There could not be a better time for Tom Stewart to nail his role
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS: Tom Stewart during Ireland's captain's run in Bayonne. Pic: INPHO/Dan Sheridan
Ireland cap number six and a third Test start for the Munster fly-half presents an excellent opportunity for the 23-year-old to press his claims for the back-up role to captain Johnny Sexton at the World Cup. Sexton misses his third and final Ireland game through suspension with Crowley also having played the first half against Italy on August 5 at number 10 and the second half at full back. Against England last Saturday he came off the bench to cover inside centre Bundee Aki’s absence for a Head Injury Assessment before finally getting the last 11 minutes in his preferred position at fly-half.
This time around Crowley has had the chance to run the week for Ireland and dominate the room, a faculty of the West Cork man’s which Farrell has been so impressed with in the past. Now he has to prove that can translate to some high-level execution against a hungry and physical Samoan defence.
With just 49 minutes of Test rugby under his belt thanks to his Ireland debut off the bench against Italy earlier this month, Stewart gets his first start for his country Saturday night at the end of a week when the hooker position has been front and centre. First-choice Dan Sheehan was left at home to nurse a sprained foot ligament while second-choice Ronan Kelleher has taken a limited part in training since the squad arrived in France last Sunday having missed the previous day’s 29-10 win over England with a hamstring issue.
A malfunctioning lineout against the English was one of the main takeaways from that Aviva Stadium win, so as one of the two fit hookers in the squad and World Cup squad selection to be decided within hours if not minutes of the full-time whistle, there could not be a better time for Stewart to nail his role and perhaps barge his way into Andy Farrell and forwards coach Paul O’Connell’s thoughts.
This is not as patronising as it may first appear. The Samoans have been starved of quality opposition having only faced one Tier One nation in the last four years since Ireland, Japan, and Scotland hammered them in the pool stages on Japanese soil in 2019.
That only Italy of the Tier One teams has met them since, beating the Pacific islanders 49-17 in Padua last November, highlights the struggles of Second and Third tier teams in finding the sort of opponents who can give them the type of challenge that allows them to measure meaningful progress in the world game.
The loss to Tier-One Italy is one of only two defeats in the 10 Test matches Samoa have managed to play since the 2019 World Cup, a number of games distorted by the global covid pandemic of 2020-21. By contrast, however, Saturday night’s match at Stade Jean Dauger will be Ireland’s 40th since their 2019 quarter-final defeat to New Zealand in Japan, and just their fifth in that same timeframe against Tier-Two opposition.
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