Donal Lenihan: Leinster's brave McNamara appointment has echoes of Joe Schmidt
Bordeaux-Begles attack coach Noel McNamara has been confirmed as the successor to Leo Cullen as Leinster head coach. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
The clock is ticking. At best, including the Nations Championship finals weekend in Twickenham at the end of the month, Ireland have 12 Tests between now and their opening World Cup pool game against Portugal in Sydney next October.
Given Ireland third’s selection scored 106 points away to the Portuguese last year, that hardly represents a tournament opener carrying any semblance of jeopardy. Problem is, next up comes familiar World Cup foes Scotland.
While in his recent autobiography Peter O'Mahony doubled down on his assertion that our Celtic cousins have a habit of overhyping themselves, especially when they haven’t beaten Ireland in their last 12 internationals, it’s inevitable the Scots will turn the tables at some stage.
With another minnow in Uruguay in their third and final pool outing, whoever wins that Scottish game in Perth is guaranteed a much easier passage to a World Cup semi-final with South Africa, New Zealand and France, all rated higher than Ireland at present, on the other side of a lopsided draw.
Heading into this autumn series, a number of question marks hang over Andy Farrell’s squad with the game against the Springboks in a few weeks likely to be the most enlightening of the entire series. That said, he will be keeping a close eye on how Scotland play against New Zealand, who they’ve never beaten, Australia and Japan over the coming weeks.
If club form is anything to go by, the fact Glasgow Warriors occupy the top slot in the URC and Edinburgh have won four of their five URC outings is something Farrell will most certainly have noted.
Running parallel with that and despite naming a squad of 36 players for the autumn series, he would also have been tracking the form of several emerging players representing their province last weekend.
Just as Scotland have failed to beat Ireland since February 2017, Leo Cullen will have been conscious of the fact his Leinster charges travelled to Galway on Friday night on the back of a 13-game winning streak against Connacht.
Given the westerners' recent form, and even allowing for the fact they had eight players involved with Ireland, the fact Leinster had 17 in Farrell’s squad along with another four internationals out injured, it appeared that Stuart Lancaster’s men were in the perfect position to finally turn the tables on the boys in blue. In the circumstances, Leinster’s sensational 50-5 win was the standout performance of the weekend.
If Munster had good reason to be pleased with an exciting crop of young players who put their hands up recently against Racing 92 and Leinster, Cullen must be ecstatic with the performance of so many of his unheralded crew, many of whom may become household names by the time the 2031 World Cup rolls around.
As if Leinster didn’t have enough depth in their propping charts already, the scrummaging platform laid by a pair of 21-year-olds in loosehead Alex Usanov and tighthead Niall Smyth against the vastly experienced South African Francois van Wyk and multi-capped Irish international Finlay Bealham was mightily impressive.
In their early season outings, Leinster have given game time to some new, eye-catching talent behind the scrum, many of whom grasped their opportunity in really challenging conditions at the Dexcom Stadium on Friday night.
Full-back Todd Lawlor looks like a younger version of Hugo Keenan. Rock solid under the high ball, despite a swirling wind and lashing rain, he also has pace to burn. Others to impress included Charlie Tector in midfield whose ability to double up at out-half will stand to him down the line along with his centre partner Connor Fahy on debut.
A word too for Joey Carbery on the other end of the spectrum. Friday game was his second start in several months after a protracted knee injury. Leinster needed an experienced head at half-back.
On the evidence of what we saw, Carbery looks a more composed and mature figure on his return from Bordeaux Begles. Training every day and playing alongside the likes of Maxime Lucu, Matthieu Jalibert, Yoram Moefana, Louis Bielle Biarrey and Damien Penaud appears to have broadened his vision.
A timely word too for the coach who’s managed to weave that individual UBB talent into a brilliantly cohesive attacking force. Confirmation on Tuesday that former Ireland U20 coach Noel McNamara is set to succeed Cullen as Leinster head coach is highly significant.
The former Leinster academy manager has an impressive CV having coached in New Zealand, South Africa and France. When you consider the reported list of contenders in Felipe Contepomi, Scott Robertson and Jacques Nienaber, along with other potential appointees in Ronan O'Gara and Stuart Lancaster, this amounts to a brave call given McNamara’s only experience as a head coach was with the Irish U20s.
Leinster have been down this road before. Joe Schmidt was in a similar position when he was plucked from relative obscurity, operating as an assistant coach with Clermont Auvergne. That didn’t work out too badly. Overall then, it’s been a pretty good week for Leinster.
For Munster, not so much. Since his arrival, Clayton McMillan has craved a consistency of performance from his Munster side. Unfortunately, after a hard fought win over Racing 92 in Cork and a highly encouraging showing, albeit in defeat, against a fully stacked Leinster side in Dublin, Munster’s inability to sustain that level against the Sharks on Saturday night was disappointing.
In terms of delivering the basics at the set piece, their kicking and overall game management in conditions that should have been to their advantage, that performance in Thomond Park left a bit of a sour taste as Munster enter an early season hiatus.
In addition to those shortcomings, gifting the Sharks two soft tries was always going to prove fatal. McMillan has a way with words as his injury ravaged side is badly in need of the break. “We're operating on the smell of an oily rag at the moment.” Beautifully put.
Quite where Farrell’s Ireland side is operating at the moment will become apparent over the next four weeks. As series openers go, Friday night's game against old foes Argentina offers a serious challenge despite a poor run of defeats for the visitors coming into this game.
Contepomi is tasked with reuniting a squad that operates in a variety of professional leagues all over the world. At least they were able to assemble in Dublin last Thursday. Given their close bonds and pride in playing for Los Pumas, they will prove formidable opposition.
Unlike almost every other international side these days, they have never had an overseas player represent them on the basis of residency. They thrive in their identity. Players who sometimes appear ordinary when playing in the URC, Gallagher Prem or Top 14 look a completely different beast once they don that cherished blue and white hooped jersey.
Farrell needs no reminding of that. Argentina have never beaten Ireland in Dublin but they rocked up at the Aviva Stadium in what appeared a similarly disorganised fashion against the British and Irish Lions in the opening game of their 2025 tour to Australia last June.
Argentina won 28-24. With so many of the Irish coaching ticket involved in a similar capacity with the Lions that night, they know exactly what’s coming down the track.
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