Dan Sheehan No 8 experiment ‘a live option’ for Ireland

Leinster had too much for Munster on Saturday night. 

PORTRAIT MODE: Leinster's Dan Sheehan takes a selfie with fans after the game. Pic: INPHO/Ben Brady

Leinster fielded a starting XV full of Ireland Test players against Munster on Saturday night at the Aviva Stadium. Eleven of those, including all their pack bar Ryan Baird, are British and Irish Lions.

Of all the club teams in the world, they look least in need of extra options, but there they were starting a world-class hooker in Dan Sheehan at No 8 for this URC derby what with Caelan Doris and Jack Conan out injured.

Most teams would be robbing Peter to pay Paul in that scenario. Leinster? They just started Ronan Kelleher and then backed him up in the front row with Gus McCarthy – yet another of their Ireland internationals.

If you’ve got it, flaunt it.

“I thought he was very, very good,” said Leinster head coach Leo Cullen of Sheehan. “In terms of carrying the fight in the game, which is, you know, getting his hands on the ball in attack and being hungry to make hits defensively as well.

“Because when he's playing eight, he's in the middle of the field a lot more. Quite often the hookers end up on the edge quite a bit. I thought Dan was excellent there. And two of the hookers, Rónan and Gus, when he came on, Gus had a great 20 minutes as well.

“So, yeah, positive day for hookers.” 

The absences of Doris and Conan leave Andy Farrell with some interesting decisions to make when it comes to the base of his scrum for the Nations Cup games against Argentina, Fiji and South Africa next month.

Connacht’s Sean Jansen has built up a serious head of steam and would be a straightforward fit for the role. Cian Prendergast, Nick Timoney and the uncapped James McNabney all feature there for their provinces at times.

Is it something Sheehan could do at the highest level, Cullen was asked.

“It’s definitely a live option for them, whether that is in-game maybe or what because you have your bench. You want to get Ronan off the bench potentially, or if Ronan is starting and Dan … whatever way that plays out. But it is good. I don’t think there’s any negative there.” 

Rugby’s evolution is constant, but there are times in that process where it veers off in unexpected directions. The use of players in all sorts of previously unexpected positions is one such example of it.

Rassie Erasmus has been to the forefront here, the Springbok mastermind templating the concept of hybrid players and weird bench splits. It’s probably not a coincidence that Leinster have been throwing similar shapes what with Rassie’s old lieutenant Jacques Nienaber on board.

This is the way the game is going.

“Exactly,” said Cullen. “Getting dynamic players on the field is the big thing, isn’t it? In terms of the profile, a bit of versatility is good for the team. It’s the players as well: they like a challenge. We have seen a bit of that this season already.

“We had Andrew [Porter] move back across to tighthead in round one, Robbie [Henshaw covering the back row] for round two in South Africa, which we had prepped for that week because we had a 4-4 split on the bench because we were lighter on numbers for that second game.

“And then with Dan this week as well. It’s good. It gives us options for when we come to knockout games. They are live options. There are certain blocs of the season where they can be pretty attritional and this is game five of six. We’ll see what plays out. We remain open-minded.” 

Cullen will be faced with a more familiar juggling act next week given 17 of his squad was named in that Ireland squad by Farrell last week. Jimmy O’Brien and Tommy O’Brien picked up knocks at the weekend but all 17 are out of bounds to the club for now.

That leaves the province dipping deep again when it comes to the wider squad and academy as they face into a trip to the Dexcom Stadium where the familiar face of Stuart Lancaster, and others besides, await in more URC action.

Connacht have won three of their last four games, including a Champions Cup epic against Saracens as the former Leinster senior coach continues to fashion a team in his own image.

“It’s a completely different challenge next Friday to [Saturday]. Those [Ireland] lads finish off that sequence of games and go off into camp and it creates amazing opportunity, which are some of the best weeks to be involved coaching at Leinster.

“Connacht are riding high, particularly when they’re playing at home,” said Cullen. “They score a lot of tries. Listen, we know in terms of Stuart and his coaching. It will be a great challenge for our guys.”