Osborne's versatility the key to Easterby's approach to French crunch

Leinster utility man comes in for injured Mack Hansen but also offers Ireland interim coach room for a 6-2 bench split for potential decider

CENTRE OF ATTENTION: Ireland interim head coach Simon Easterby speaks to the media during an Ireland Rugby media conference at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Pic: Tyler Miller/Sportsfile

Ireland boss Simon Easterby has backed Jamie Osborne to prove his versatility against France in this Saturday’s crunch Guinness Six Nations showdown with France at Aviva Stadium.

Osborne was one of two positional changes from the round-three victory in Wales last time out, with Robbie Henshaw switching from inside centre to outside. Ireland have recalled a fit-again Caelan Doris to captain the side from No.8, restored Bundee Aki to midfield in place of the suspended Garry Ringrose, Finlay Bealham replacing Thomas Clarkson at tighthead prop and Hugo Keenan moving to full-back with right wing Mack Hansen ruled out through injury, to where Osborne moves from 15.

It will be a landmark occasion for Doris, Bealham and replacement back-rower Jack Conan, all of whom are set to earn their 50th caps while Saturday’s game will mark the final international appearances on home soil for Test centurions Peter O’Mahony, who continues at blindside flanker, replacement scrum-half Conor Murray and back-up loosehead prop Cian Healy all having announced their intentions to call time on their Ireland careers at the end of the current championship.

Osborne’s ability to play across the backline was a key factor in the 23-year-old’s inclusion with regular incumbent Hansen set to miss the potential title decider with a quad injury. In his six Ireland appearances to date, the Naas native has started four times at full-back, including last time out with a try-scoring turn in the victory over Wales in Cardiff, while he was deployed off the bench at outside centre in the November Tests against both New Zealand and Argentina. This will be Osborne’s first outing on the right wing, while he has represented Leinster on both the left wing and in his preferred position at inside centre.

Interim head coach Easterby admitted his decision to go with a replacements combination of six forwards and just two backs was enabled with Osborne’s versatility in mind.

“It's not a huge, significant injury,” Easterby said of Hansen’s fitness, “but we felt it was important this week to get as much time and reps for the guys who were starting, and with Jamie being on the wing, then it meant he could come in and out of that position.

“It felt right to give him the minutes on the right wing, and he gives us that coverage across the backline, in terms of the flexibility to go a 6:2 split. It was probably an earlier call, we felt it was the right thing to do to allow us build that continuity.

“Mack was comfortable with that. He realised it might be one that was touch and go and we felt it was the right thing to do to make that early decision.” 

Easterby denied he had plumped for the 6:2 split in response to France head coach Fabien Galthie going with a 7:1 split of forwards and a lone back, scrum-half Maxime Lucu, but Ireland had covered Hansen’s previous absence during this campaign, due to a tight hamstring on the eve of the Scotland game in round two, by selecting Calvin Nash on the right wing. 

Yet he admitted Osborne’s ability to play multiple positions was an important factor is handing him the number 14 jersey. "Certainly, you're always looking for... sometimes there's really tight calls and it's just the gut, but in this case there's a couple of reasons for that and one of those is that Jamie offers us more flexibility in the positions he can play."

Another factor for having two back-row forwards on the bench, Ryan Baird and Jack Conan, is extra insurance for Doris, who missed the Wales game due to a knee injury sustained in the bonus-point win over Scotland a fortnight earlier.

“We felt with Caelan, who's done incredibly well to get back to full fitness and done a brilliant job with the medical staff, has been able to get himself right from an injury which other players might not have been able to do that in a short space of time," added Easterby.

"We needed to make sure we had good coverage in the back-row, the guys we had starting in Wales in Jack Conan was very good, he's come off the bench well and obviously Ryan Baird came off the bench in Cardiff and James Ryan did as well.

"We felt the dynamics of that pack and how France might play the game, meant we felt that it was a nice chunky back five of our scrum to come on and make an impact. As well as having someone like Jamie from the start and can cover a number of positions."

On the replacements bench, Rob Herring is in line for his first appearance of the Championship as cover at hooker for starter Dan Sheehan in the absence of Ronan Kelleher who has a neck injury. Healy, Thomas Clarkson, James Ryan, Conan and Baird are the other forward reinforcements, while backs Murray and Jack Crowley are the backline replacements.

Saturday’s match has come too soon for first-choice tighthead Tadhg Furlong who continues to progress in his rehabilitation from calf and hamstring issues which have restricted him to just three appearances for Leinster this season.

Easterby said he was confident Furlong would be in contention for selection for the following week’s final-round clash with Italy in Rome but said: "He trained with Leinster last week, did a bit with them. Did a bit more with us and it's been a continual progression in terms of getting as many training minutes under his belt.

“He's hit scrums this week so he wasn't massively far away from it but I guess it's just making sure that there was a confidence he could get through. Training is one thing, getting through 40, 50, 60 minutes of an international game is different. We were building up towards this and we still feel like he's in a really good place and he feels confident that he has hit the steps he needed to but it was just probably a few days too early."

IRELAND: H Keenan (Leinster); J Osborne (Leinster), R Henshaw (Leinster), B Aki (Connacht), J Lowe (Leinster); S Prendergast (Leinster), J Gibson-Park (Leinster); A Porter (Leinster), D Sheehan (Leinster), F Bealham (Connacht); J McCarthy (Leinster), T Beirne (Munster); P O’Mahony (Munster), J van der Flier (Leinster), C Doris (Leinster) - captain.

Replacements: R Herring Ulster), C Healy (Leinster), T Clarkson (Leinster), J Ryan (Leinster), J Conan (Leinster), R Baird (Leinster), C Murray (Munster), J Crowley (Munster).

FRANCE: T Ramos (Toulouse); D Penaud (Bordeaux-Begles), P-L Barassi (Toulouse), Y Moefana (Bordeaux-Begles), L Bielle-Biarrey (Bordeaux-Begles); R Ntamack (Toulouse), A Dupont (Toulouse); J-B Gros (Toulon), P Mauvaka (Toulouse), U Atonio (La Rochelle); T Flament (Toulouse), M Guillard (Lyon); F Cros (Toulouse), P Boudehent (La Rochelle), G Alldritt (La Rochelle).

Replacements: J Marchand (Toulouse), C Baille (Toulouse), D Aldegheri (Toulouse), E Meafou (Toulouse), H Auradou (Pau), O Jegou (La Rochelle), A Jelonch (Toulouse), M Lucu (Bordeaux-Begles).