It was easy to believe, at the Irish training base, that it was the Six Nations team being discussed, not a Wolfhounds side. With just one player in Jack Conan, who has never played with the senior national team, it marks the team as possibly the strongest shadow side in many years, or even since these matches began.
Ian Madigan at outhalf should offer the player what he has been looking for. His selection with Gordon D’Arcy outside him may mark another change of thinking. A player Leinster won’t pick at pivot, Madigan, to partner a seasoned performer who Leinster won’t pick at all, D’Arcy.
Dan McFarland, the Wolfhounds coach, and Joe Schmidt the principal puller of strings are in a bind. They have asked themselves what if? What if, because of injuries, it’s Kieran Marmion at scrumhalf and Madigan or Ian Keatley, who is not included in the Wolfhounds squad, at outhalf and Robbie Henshaw at outside centre.
In that potential halfback-centre axis for Rome next week, where is the experience and how priceless would D’Arcy be with his 81 Irish caps?
Madigan has thought it wise to polish his organisational play.
Order of plays
“He hasn’t looked rusty in training,” said McFarland of Madigan.
“He’s looked good and he’s been extremely proactive in organising the team, the plays, the order of plays with myself and Richie [Murphy]. So he hasn’t been rusty at all in terms of preparation this week.
“In terms of going on to the pitch, it’s a chance for him to get some time on the pitch at number 10 to show what he can do when he’s wearing the green jersey.”
D’Arcy, never a player to step back from the physical demands, faces Sam Burgess, the 6’5’’ rugby league convert, who has been playing union for just 60 days with Bath and who England hope can become their Sonny Bill Williams.
“It’s a fact that Gordon has a database, has built up a credibility at playing at centre. Part of that is definitely that he’s experienced. It goes no further than Gordon going out on to the pitch and showing what he can do,” said McFarland, who reminded the room that D’Arcy was one of the best players in the Six Nations last year.
It’s a match Schmidt is using as an important trial. Every player so far has said so. Some, like D’Arcy, need game time, as does prop Jack McGrath following his three-week ban for stamping, and Mike Ross after a spell on the Leinster bench.
Others such as Madigan need to play the position and players like the returning Keith Earls, at outside centre, need minutes in their legs. Openside flanker Sean O’Brien is similarly rebuilding his game, as is left wing Luke Fitzgerald, although, to a lesser degree.
Earls, once a regular figure in the Irish back line, hasn’t partnered D’Arcy in the centre since 2012, when Ireland played against Argentina in the November series.
“Joe said to us that it’s an opportunity for fellas and it’s game time for fellas,” says Earls. “He hasn’t picked his squad yet. I think he’ll be cutting his squad down to 36 or 34 next week, so some fellas are going to lose out. But he said go out and play well at the weekend and give me a headache. You could end up starting this game this week and then playing against Italy next week.”
Sick bay
Keatley, Jared Payne and Tommy O’Donnell are all fit and in camp but not included. Figure that one. McFarland wasn’t saying much other than that they weren’t in sick bay. Others, such as Eoin McKeon, probably can’t believe their luck. Not in the original squad picked by Schmidt, the Connacht backrow finds himself on the bench tonight.
Iain Henderson is also back involved and is another who needs game time after a lengthy absence with a hip injury. The Ulster forward is in at secondrow but can play in the backrow and is surely, with Henshaw, McGrath and Marmion, part of Ireland’s future.
“Iain’s done a really good job this week, he’s a terrific physical specimen and athlete,” says McFarland. “He’s a great ball carrier which makes him available as a backrower, but he’s also got good height and size.
“His set-piece work is good, he’s still young and developing but it’s good. In terms of selection for the Wolfhounds, he’s an ideal partner for Mike McCarthy.”
As McFarland says, it’s a game to be won but also a platform that should allow a number of players to launch into the Six Nations and show they are in condition to face the Italians, who – captain Sergio Parisse said this week with impeccable timing – would lose 98 times to Ireland if they played 100 games.
“I love to see players who are ambitious and who are on the edge of doing something great being given a chance that’s just a very small step away from where they want to be and being given a chance to put their hands up,” says McFarland. “I love that.”
Tonight he’s getting it.
