Change is cyclical, but it seems a little more volatile of late when examining the fluctuating fortunes in the halfback stocks across the provinces. Last weekend Harry Byrne, Jack Crowley, Matthew Devine, Ben O’Donovan and Luke McGrath got my attention for a variety of reasons.
It’s human nature to be drawn towards new, shiny things, something that struck me when I listened to some of the chat around Nathan Doak in the build-up to making his debut against Wales during the recent Six Nations.
The 24-year-old had served his time at provincial level, but when you make the breakthrough to Test rugby you get exposed to a wider audience who are less well versed with your qualities. You become more exotic for a brief period, until someone else comes along. I enjoyed that status in and around my first cap.
The departure of John Cooney opened an opportunity for Doak to play as first-choice scrumhalf on a regular basis. In developmental terms that is gold dust. Form is nurtured by playing matches. If you get a run of seven or eight games in a row and you excel in four of them, people are less bothered by what you did in the other matches.
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Doak has enjoyed that continuity and it’s represented in the way that not only he’s played, but how well Ulster are doing. When a team flourishes it trains the spotlight on to individual contributions. Conversely when a team struggles, it’s difficult to escape unscathed.
Craig Casey is number two in the scrumhalf pecking order at Ireland, but he will have endured a little frustration during the Six Nations that he didn’t see more game time. Jamison Gibson-Park tends to play deep into matches, a reflection of his importance and quality of his contribution, so that leaves very few minutes to enhance your stock.
Munster’s exit from the Challenge Cup cuts off not only one of two routes to silverware but access to high profile games. The forum to impress shrinks. Craig will want as many matches as possible before heading off to the summer Nations Cup.
Ireland’s injury profile in the Six Nations emphasised a greater strength in depth than people might have appreciated, an important consideration to sit alongside the Triple Crown trophy. Looking outside of the Irish squad there are players in the provinces that can now see a route to Test rugby.
Billy Bohan’s (20) rise to prominence – meteoric seems a fair term – is an example, but he once again justified that faith at the weekend when along with Sam Illo (25) they acquitted themselves superbly against Springbok props Ox Nche and Vincent Koch as Connacht beat the Sharks. It’s only last November that Ireland endured scrum horrors against South Africa.
When you examine the scrumhalf situation in the provinces there is a fair bit of movement. Matthew Devine is off to Ulster where he will put pressure on Doak. Luke McGrath, a great servant to Leinster rugby, 250 appearances and counting, heads for Perpignan in the summer, offering a vacancy as Gibson-Park’s understudy, a role that Fintan Gunne and Cormac Foley will covet.
Connacht’s Ben Murphy got a taste of Test rugby last summer in Georgia and Portugal. I rate Ben, I think he is a fantastic player. I know he’s had a few injuries. Then there is Munster’s latest recruit, 21-year-old Ben O’Donovan, who joined in February from the Canterbury Crusaders.
I was impressed with his debut off the bench at Sandy Park. He concentrated on doing the basics very well, whipped his passes away, thereby providing time and space for others in the game management roles.
It reminded me of the advice I was given before my Munster debut by then scrumhalf and now backs’ coach Mike Prendergast. We were walking to a gym session and chatted about the excitement of what the following weekend held. He told me: “All you have to do for your first cap is pass the ball, get there as quick as you can, and fire the best pass you can deliver.”
As a blueprint it was spot on, it prevents you from seeking out non-existent gaps or taking too much out of the ball. I was a little bit guilty of that at times in those early days and it took a dressing down from Paul O’Connell to change my ways. I loved a ruck five metres in from the touchline, getting the winger to shift late back to the blindside to try to forge a break.
[ Rory McIlroy wanted to enjoy the Masters Dinner as well. Well la-di-da, Mr FancyOpens in new window ]
It didn’t come off often enough, so Paulie gave me a mouthful, pointing out that I was destroying the momentum that the team had built and that I needed to be more judicious. I was probably a bit too fond of getting involved in a ruck, and I recall Johnny Sexton making the point that the team was better served if the halfbacks were on their feet.
The main currency for a scrumhalf is his pass. You build all the other qualities on top of that skill, kicking, breaking, link play and making good choices in possession. Experience helps you straddle the fine line between taking responsibility or giving the decision to a team-mate who is better placed.
I saw a maturity in Jack Crowley’s display against Exeter that went way beyond the two tries. I think it’s a legacy from the Six Nations, where he excelled in the control aspect of games from Twickenham right through to the final match against Scotland. Each required a slightly different outlook or emphasis.
Looking back to the start of the season, so much has happened to shake up pecking orders, provincially and nationally, with the prospect of more to come, both for the business end of the season and through the early summer into the Nations Cup. On the evidence so far, it will be a fascinating watch.
