The Offload: Nick Timoney proves himself an apt deputy for world-class van der Flier

No pressure then for Nick Timoney as he inherited the number seven jersey of THE in-form player in Irish rugby when Andy Farrell’s team took on Fiji at the Aviva Stadium.

It’s not easy deputising for Josh van der Flier, the Ireland Players’ Player of the Year, Rugby Writers of Ireland Player of the Year, the European Player of the Year, and on Monday morning the Leinster flanker will be announced on the shortlist for World Player of the Year; he’s also a serial winner of the match of the match awards, the most recent coming against the Springboks.

Fellow Irish internationals hooker Dan Sheehan and wing Mack Hansen are expected to be on the shortlist for the World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year. The awards take place in Monaco next Sunday.

The 27-year-old Dublin born, Ulster flanker Timoney though can be very pleased with his contribution, which included a brace of tries, in the 35-17 victory over Fiji. He offered a much better representation of his talent than he did while playing for Ireland A in defeat the to All Blacks Development XV last Friday week at the RDS.

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Timoney, the man of the match, was at his athletic, marauding best, while also showing power in contact when it came to scoring his tries, bringing his tally to three in three caps. Having expressed himself reasonably happy with his contribution, he demonstrated the mindset that appeals to all coaches.

He explained: “For me, where I see my involvement, I don’t want to be happy just coming and getting starts against the non-tier one nations. I want to be involved in the test team properly, and contributing in the big games. I would love to be part of that.

“I would hate the idea of ever being happy about playing just in three tests because there are knocks to others or whatever. I don’t know what will happen [for the Australia match]; there are world-class backrowers ahead of me.”

TMO returns to familiar shores

Chris Hart, the television match official in Ireland’s victory over Fiji, might be a familiar face and name to people of a certain vintage down Kilbogget way, the home of Leinster Senior League Division 1A club Seapoint.

The New Zealander, the former chairman of the Otago association of referees, played rugby for Buller and Canterbury B back in his homeland but he also spent the 1989-1990 season playing in the centre for Seapoint. There are unsubstantiated reports that he might have liked a pint or two in Finnegans in Dalkey, purely for relaxation purposes.

He threatened to make himself a little less popular with former teammates, clubmates and the greater Irish population when he asked referee Mathieu Raynal to have a look at the actions of Irish fullback Jimmy O’Brien in the build-up to a try for Robert Baloucoune.

Hart suggested to the French official that O’Brien might have crawled on his knees but Raynal, after viewing the incident, said it was 50/50, and stuck with his on-field decision to award a try. One person who didn’t agree with the decision was Fiji coach Vern Cotter.

He said: “We get a call, 50/50 of a guy [Ireland fullback Jimmy O’Brien] who is using his knees on the ground. It is either 50 right or 50 wrong. It is not 50/50. He didn’t or he did. There is a bit of frustration around that.”

Rassie strikes again

Rassie Erasmus, South Africa’s Director of Rugby, does love a good video grab on Twitter and there was no way that World Rugby would be able to permanently dissuade him, suspension or otherwise, from what has really become a vocation in posting post-match footage that this column would like to label ‘decisions on the laws of rugby, an interpretation.’

Having offered some footage of a couple of incidents in the defeat to Ireland, he was back to splice and dice a couple of clips from the Springboks’ 30-26 defeat to France in Marseilles. The first shows French fullback Thomas Ramos leading with a forearm into the face of Cheslin Kolbe, the second highlights that fullback Willie Le Roux’s pass was not forward, as called by the match officials.

His tweet reads: “I know guys and accept it, we really only have ourselves to blame as the French were awesome both on the field (players) and off the field (Supporters)!! We just have to fix these fundamental errors like tackle technique and simply passing.” A finger points down to the video footage included in the Tweet before concluding: “Sorry, we know.”

This is just one of several tweets with a similar tone, and given his dedication to and love of same, he won’t be stopping any time soon.

Quote

“Probably every emotion you could think of in the last couple of days. There’s been nerves, there’s been excitement, there’s been fear, there’s nearly been crying, laughing; it’s been incredible. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind. I can’t really describe how I felt.” One of Ireland’s three new caps against Fiji, Cian Prendergast.

Number

65: The number of points scored in a hugely entertaining Women’s Rugby World Cup final full of brilliant rugby with a surfeit of drama and tension that made for a breathtaking finale and represented a wonderful advertisement for the women’s game. New Zealand beat favourites England 34-31.