Wales allow Ciaran Frawley ease gently into Ireland's vacant full-back berth

STEPPING UP: Ireland's Ciaran Frawley celebrates his try. Photo credit: Niall Carson/PA Wire.

You wonder how much weight Warren Gatland invested in his own words during the week.

“We can look to put pressure on Ciaran Frawley at full-back,” said the Wales boss.

Not if you don’t have the ball, you can’t.

Football commentators can’t help themselves when there’s a new goalkeeper between the sticks. The cliché goes that an early touch – an uncontested cross or a dribbling shot – can help steady any nerves and ‘get them into the game’.

Wales obliged in much the same way here, Tomas Williams landing a gift of a clearing kick in to Frawley’s breadbasket within 34 seconds. The game wasn’t a minute old when the Ireland full-back joined the line for a brief attack, shovelling the ball on to Bundee Aki.

Perfect. Hands dirty, first act over.

Frawley is no babe in the woods. He’s 26 years old and talented but this was just his third Test cap and a first start, and it came in a No.15 jersey that he has worn not much more than a handful of times with Leinster.

Eight times, in case you were wondering. Six of those this season.

There were few fears that he wouldn’t do okay here but you can’t underestimate what nerves might do to a man or a woman. Remember Rory McIlroy butchering his opening tee shot at Royal Portrush in the first round of The Open in 2019? And signing for a 79?

Ireland's Ciaran Frawley scores his side's third try during the Guinness Six Nations match at the Aviva. Photo credit: Niall Carson/PA Wire.

McIlroy was 30 at the time, world number three and a four-time Major winner. And he melted. A quadruple bogey after finding the out-of-bounds at that initial hole and a weekend off for his troubles at his ‘home’ Open. So, yeah, this stuff can happen.

Gatland tried to play with Frawley’s mind before kick-off but his team couldn’t follow through with the threat. They had roughly a quarter of the possession and a quarter of the territory through most of the first-half. This was an armchair ride for the new guy.

Frawley did everything asked of him well and without fuss. He threw one long, looped pass and made ground when carrying into the line. He caught another high clearance in acres of space and he used his big frame to protect the ball carrier at the odd ruck.

Ireland weren’t at their silky smooth best. The lineout was lost or botched at least five times in the first-half, reverting to the type of problems that assailed them in the World Cup having succeeded with all 26 in the first two games of this Six Nations.

It didn’t matter. Wales defended decently but had to cross the line onto the naughty step too often and incurring if not the wrath of the referee Andrea Piardi then more of a gentle chiding after conceding an eighth penalty with just half-an-hour played.

Two minutes later and Ireland were 17-0 up and cruising but a difficult third quarter did at least offer the Skerries man the opportunity to display some of the wares that had earned him the promotion in the first place.

Wales never did manage to make him go airborne with a red shirt breathing fire down his neck but there were at least a few catches made in the general vicinity of an opponent and he showed himself to be perfectly adept in keeping the house safe.

There was a nicely-executed chip kick in midfield that almost unlocked the defence, a pair of crosskicks, one of which came off, and he was deep in the thick of the attacking line in the lead-up to Bundee Aki’s disallowed try.

Eight minutes later and he was diving over unopposed for his own.

It wasn’t a try that required anything flash or difficult, just a case of identifying the right place to be at the right time when Jamison Gibson-Park looked up from another ruck, but what a moment for the man.

“He was solid enough,” said Farrell with what was, as these things go, a fairly measured appraisal. “Obviously a big day for him and Gats was saying all week they were going to test him. He’s always solid.

“His skillset is sound and he is always going to be good under the high ball, and he has an excellent pair of hands, and he communicates pretty well as well. I suppose he will be glad that that’s done and underway and he will learn a lot from that.” He didn’t put a foot wrong as auditions go, but Twickenham in two weeks’ time would surely make for a more advanced dance in the event that Hugo Keenan, absent here because of an injury suffered against Italy, is still short of fitness.

Keenan has been stitched into the No.15 shirt ever since his first start for Ireland in the back field, against Wales in November of 2020, and the inability to identify a readymade understudy for him in all that time has always been a source of discomfort.

This isn’t enough to say that Frawley is the answer, but it’s a very decent start.

It’s nearly two years since he stated his preference to make a go of it at out-half after years being played mostly at 12 but, as he said this week, it looks his versatility for club and country is finally coming up trumps.

If only while Keenan is in sick bay.