The New Zealander’s surname may spark the usual puns of “Jobs for the Boys” or my lame attempt at a title, but by all accounts we’re getting a tough grafter in Boys – an out-and-out openside flanker who does the dirty work when the ball is on the floor, something similar to what Chris Henry does for us when he’s available.
In other words, something that we’ve been desperately missing for the past few months.
Since Chris became ill – and we still wish him all the very best in his recovery – it’s been a bit of a chop and change act at 7 for Ulster, with four potential suitors all being given a crack at the shirt since October. But it’s at this point that you suddenly realise how crucial an openside flanker can be in the big games. Had Chris Henry started against Toulon then you could make an argument that the French side would not have received such quick service, and therefore not put 60 past us.
The role of the openside flanker is to get himself nearly everywhere on the pitch, make his tackles and to hit as many rucks as possible trying to slow the ball down or effect a turnover. Ulster can, to a certain extent, get away without an openside flanker with the outstanding work rate of Rory Best and the strength of Iain Henderson managing to operate as two more breakdown specialists, however there’s absolutely no harm in having one more.
The problem is that Ulster do not have one. I mentioned that four potential suitors had been given a chance at playing 7, which is fine out of context, but whenever you realise that all four are blindside flankers or number eights then you suddenly see the problem – Ulster are playing without a breakdown specialist at 7. In the big games it’s a problem that can be swept under the carpet because of Best and Henderson, but whenever those two are missing then there is a big void in the Ulster squad.
Which is why the arrival of Boys was essential. With no more European games to concern us, the Pro12 is now priority number one, and we are not winning that without a recognised openside flanker in our squad. Big teams will simply blow us away on the floor, much like Toulon did, and without the ball you don’t stand a chance at winning games. The best sides all have those breakdown specialists working away for them, managing to evade the referee’s glances in their direction and doing the dirty work for their side. We faced two of the best opensides in world rugby in Julian Salvi and Steffon Armitage when we came up against Leicester and Toulon and it showed, particularly on the road.
So it’s a great relief Boys is here, mullet and all.
However his arrival does throw up a few questions about the Academy and their productiveness. While Leinster are churning out flankers of all shapes and sizes like their lives depend on it, we haven’t seen a homegrown back rower come through our system for years and now it’s beginning to catch up on us with Boys required to come in and fill the gaping hole in our stretched squad. Meanwhile down in Dublin, Matt O’Connor can afford to lose three or four flankers and he’d still be able to fill his back row with players he trusted to get the job done. That is what we aspire to.
Boys will be a stop gap while Henry is recovering, he will not stay beyond the end of the season, instead returning to the sunnier climate of New Zealand for the ITM Cup (which is an enthralling watch while Ulster aren’t in action by the way). While he is here though he will provide plenty of good pointers for younger players and I can see him being a key member of our team for the remainder of this season – he may not be Richie McCaw or Chris Robshaw, but a man with 46 Super Rugby caps to his name is someone that has some talent to his name.
An appearance for the Ulster Ravens today will herald the start of Boys’ career in Northern Ireland and it will be intriguing to see how he gets on after only being here a week. I don’t think I can stress enough how essential it is that we get him up to speed as soon as possible and then get him on the pitch against Treviso next Friday. His presence will balance out the back row perfectly, assuming we also have Robbie Diack to do the lion’s share of tackling and Nick Williams to provide some ball carrying potential, and should set us up nicely heading into the Six Nations period – a crucial time in the Pro12 season.
Whether Boys should have been signed instead of giving some younger players a chance is up to each individual to discern to their own satisfactory conclusion, but the crux of the matter is that without Chris Henry, Ulster are in serious difficulties, and Boys slots perfectly into the gap left behind. Younger players will get their chance eventually, but we were desperately crying out for a groundhog openside flanker to join us and we got one.
Not a bad bit of business in my eyes.
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