And that’s the point I want to make this
week. It’s all well and good celebrating BOD’s final game at Irish rugby
headquarters, but whenever it comes down to it, you have to realise that
Ireland don’t have a succession plan – although there are several contenders to
play 13, none of them have sufficient experience at international level due to
O’Driscoll’s dominance and it leaves Joe Schmidt caught between a rock and a
hard place.
Unless the New Zealander can do the
impossible and convince BOD to go for one more year again then he faces a lot
of work to do, starting over the summer. With just a year to go until the Rugby
World Cup, a successor (and a decent one) needs to be found as soon as
possible, and to be honest, with few games to go until said World Cup, there
isn’t much time to be mixing and matching and doing a bit of experimentation.
So while BOD may be God as far as Irish rugby
is concerned, his absence will be badly felt by both Ireland and Leinster, and
if Ireland are to be competitive at the World Cup next year then a new 13 has
to be found – and fast.
Two of the options are Ireland stalwarts
already – Leinster’s Fergus McFadden and Ulster’s Darren Cave. Although the
former has more caps to his name than the latter, Cave is an out-and-out 13
while McFadden’s versatility means he can play across the back three or at
outside centre, which makes him more of a bench option than a starter.
As many Ulster fans will tell you, Cave has
been overlooked too many times by Eddie O’Sullivan and then his successor
Declan Kidney, and he may have run out of time to get onto the Ireland team.
However, if he keeps playing the way he is for Ulster then Schmidt will have no
choice but to see what Cave can do in the green shirt of Ireland.
On the other hand, McFadden is already
established in an Ireland shirt, and having already found favour with Schmidt
(having him as coach at Leinster probably helped!) it wouldn’t be overly surprising
to see him make the step up from the bench to the starting line-up. However,
McFadden himself has said he thinks of himself as a winger, and that in itself
may prevent him from starting at outside centre.
Therefore, the bookies’ favourite is Connacht
youngster Robbie Henshaw, who is undoubtedly extremely talented and has a
bright future ahead of him. A considerable upside to Henshaw is that he will
get plenty of time at outside centre at Connacht, especially with Eoin Griffin
departing for London Irish over the summer. At such a young age, he could be
the next Irish 13 for a long time to come too, especially whenever he is
showcasing all the skills required to do so.
But his immediate issue is his considerable
lack of experience as he only has three caps to his name. With such a big
tournament coming up, is Ireland’s best option to go for an inexperienced
player who hasn’t really been tested at international level yet? There’s no
doubt with experience, Henshaw will play for Ireland, but right now do we want
him starting our biggest games with him at 13?
Arguably that’s the same argument for our own
Jared Payne. Although he has proven himself as a very classy operator on the
field, he obviously has never played international rugby, and again, while he
is older than Henshaw, there’s still a step up from provincial level to
international. Payne is also a better full-back than an outside centre, and
even though Rob Kearney has the 15 jersey nailed down, it’s probably true in
saying that Payne would be wasted at outside centre when he could be so much
more effective at 15.
That said, he’s the best option of the four.
Since his arrival on the island Payne has been a revelation for Ulster – and
don’t forget he was missing for a season! All Ulster fans will know that he
deserves to be playing for Ireland, and probably most rugby fans will realise
that as well, so he would be the obvious choice for the shirt, but it all
depends how Joe Schmidt sees it.
Forget trying to win a trophy, finding a
replacement for O’Driscoll may be Schmidt’s toughest test as Ireland head
coach.
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