The sporting narrative rarely pauses from one season to the next, new characters, new chapters to be written against a backdrop that moves forward relentlessly regardless of what happens to an individual or an organisation.
Rugby offers some salutary tales in that respect, the demise of London Irish, Wasps and Worcester Warriors will quickly fade with each passing year unless they can be financially rejuvenated. A whole new generation of supporters headed for the RDS, Musgrave Park and the Sportsground last weekend in search of heroes.
Older supporters have more memories to cling to, famous players and matches, but young fans have eyes only for the here and now, eagerly lapping up the exploits of Jack Crowley, Calvin Nash and Cathal Forde, while in Leinster perhaps fixating on the identity of Johnny Sexton’s successor.
I remember a friend pointing out to me that the moment I stepped away from rugby, the next match where a young fan watched Robbie Henshaw in the 12 jersey, whatever my legacy, it would start to fade from that point. These days it’s easier to tag me as a children’s book writer than it is for anything I did on a rugby pitch.
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Three points separate the top eight teams in the United Rugby Championship table, the Irish provinces sitting pretty in the top half with Connacht proudly at the summit. The opening three-game block of matches has facilitated players in creating a body of work that challenges coaches to reorder the depth chart in the absence of the Ireland World Cup contingent.
Games at the start of the season carry the same points value as those on the run-in, so it’s been important for the provinces to harvest as many as possible, while fielding ‘weaker’ teams. Leinster and Munster, the bulk suppliers to the Ireland squad, face a trickier challenge, not just in having to drill down a little more in the roster but also in the way they reintroduce the international players.
Gregory Alldritt stands apart in the northern hemisphere as a player whose club, La Rochelle, has decided to give him an extended period of recuperation as he is not due back until January. For me, an obvious Irish candidate would be Peter O’Mahony, 34 in September, who got through a huge volume of work at the World Cup and if handled well would be very valuable to Ireland and Munster in the second half of the season.
There is a leadership gap in an Irish context that I think O’Mahony could help bridge and in a perfect scenario provide him with a platform to bow out from the game in a befitting manner. James Ryan has deputised well when asked, however, it feels like he doesn’t need the extra responsibility of being made captain.
He has shouldered more than his fair share of responsibility. This is a golden chance to elevate a couple of players within the Irish squad to benefit from a different leadership style under O’Mahony while fine-tuning their own methods in the background.
O’Mahony comes from a Munster lineage that included Paul O’Connell, Ronan O’Gara, Anthony Foley and Mick Galwey to highlight some of their most recent Irish-born, not only captains but pivotal figures in leading the province on the pitch.
I have watched Scott Penny’s captaincy at Leinster with interest over the past few weeks. He’s just turned 24 with a modest 59 caps that feels a little low for a player of his quality. When you step back and look at the way he plays the game, voracious work-rate, it’s easy to appreciate why it would earn the respect of the hardest taskmaster.
The captaincy sat easy with him over the weekend where Leinster found it tough to navigate a physical Edinburgh team that in all honesty should have left with more than they did. Penny was calm and questioned South African referee Marius van der Westhuizen at key junctures in the game, enough to challenge without remonstrating with the referee, as well as backing up his own performance with another solid display in the openside jersey.
Penny, like a few of his team-mates in Leinster and their peers dotted around Ireland, have managed to shape this pocket of games for their own benefit. The difference between Leinster and Edinburgh was quality and application.
There is no doubting the quality of Duhan van der Merwe, but he wasn’t present enough at the RDS. Too often the six foot, four inch man mountain stood on the wing flapping his arms like a disgruntled adolescent rather than applying himself and looking for the ball.
That contrasted sharply with Leinster’s Jamie Osborne and Tommy O’Brien in particular, who combined to great effect and created moments to keep their team’s momentum trending in the right direction.
Osborne’s comfort in the 13 channel was palpable, the subtle changes of direction to keep defenders guessing allowed him time to choose the right option. O’Brien worked off his wing where he succeeded in positively influencing the game on both sides of the ball.
Connacht’s inside centre Forde is another player to catch the eye, the latest showing a robust and physical outing against Ulster. His ability to find a soft shoulder in heavy traffic was important as the home side fought back after gifting Ulster a hefty lead.
As a player, timing can sometimes be out of your control, Bundee Aki has hit the form of his life in the same position as the Coláiste Iognaid man. Forde, though, has done all he can and won’t be knocking on that door for too long.
Munster head coach Graham Rowntree continued where he left off last season, bringing young talent through. He used 10 academy players across the opening three rounds of the URC.
Ulster have been a little more reticent and it took a swathe of injuries for Aaron Sexton, Ethan McElroy, Stewart Moore and Ben Moxham to earn an opportunity. None have been able to find a regular starting spot in the Ulster team, a state of affairs that would have concerned me as a young player.
There comes a time in every career when difficult choices must be made. Talent alone does not suffice. We occasionally look at players who don’t make it and wonder why they didn’t deliver on their promise.
In my experience players that fall into that category were missing a key component to enable them to thrive in the elite sport environment.
Champions Cup rugby is fast approaching. Some young players across the four provinces will be cast in roles; for others, there will be no second audition in the short term.
