GERRY THORNLEYnotes that Ireland's try ratio goes up when the doughty number nine is on the pitch
IN NEGATING the obvious threat of Will Genia, Tomás O’Leary had clearly been long earmarked for tomorrow’s game, then the management had a quick look at Conor Murray, before ultimately settling on Eoin Reddan. It appears to have been always thus for the 30-year-old Limerick man. Everywhere he’s gone and all along the way, it’s as if he’s had to continually prove himself.
A tad similarly, it was during the pool stages of the last World Cup campaign that Reddan was first thrust into the Irish limelight as a surprise replacement for Peter Stringer in the defeats to France and Argentina. Now after 33 caps, he’s been around the block and tomorrow night at Eden Park shouldn’t faze him.
In truth, Declan Kidney and co had to go with Reddan. It re-unites him with Jonny Sexton, curiously for the first time since the 24-8 win over England last March, and provides a Leinster platform for a back line comprising all bar the wingers from their province as well as two of the backrow.
If it ain’t broke, you wonder why the coaches tried to fix it.
That, of course, is due to Genia, whose lethal running game and playmaking in tandem with Quade Cooper provides so much of the spark for the Queensland Reds and Wallabies alike.
Reddan was a little under the weather when he sat down for an interview in the Irish squad’s hotel on the outskirts of Auckland – unnervingly, a la Bordeaux, it is also on a lake and offers the players little to do in the immediate vicinity – but a dose of antibiotics will have had him right by today.
In any event, it makes you more inclined to apologise for beginning with mention of Genia.
No need. Reddan acknowledges the threat. “Particularly the way they play. Even the runners that run off him are quite good too.
“They’re very good in that area, running good lines, and we’re going to have to be good; not just in the pillar defence, but maybe two and three men out, being able to get off the line and shut that down together as a unit.
“That is key against Australia, so it’s a fair enough question because of the way they play. They play off nine more than most Northern Hemisphere teams.”
It’s something of an Australian trademark, which extends back to the likes of Nick Farr-Jones and George Gregan. Not even French teams, Reddan says, play off their nines as much, besides which of course, Australia are also well able to go wide.
Indeed, Genia’s threat as a close-in sniper and playmaker helps create that space out wide, which Cooper’s range of long passes off both hands only enhances.
To be playing the Tri-Nations champions makes this one of the biggest games of Reddan’s career. His earliest World Cup memories are of watching the 19-18 quarter-final defeat at Lansdowne Road as a 10-year-old at home with his family, all of them screeching at the television.
“For me it’s massive. It’s great. It’s what you dream about. I can’t believe I was that young when I watched that game, but yeah, it’s incredible.
“You have good days and bad days, or you’re in the gym working hard or whatever, it doesn’t matter what it is over the last however number of years, this is one of those games you’re always aiming at. To represent Ireland in such a fixture is something you always train toward, and when you’re here you can’t wait to get out there.”
There’s comfort in playing with Sexton, as he generally knows where his outhalf will be instinctively and he describes him as a good communicator, though he’d probably go into the game with as much confidence with Ronan O’Gara, who he’s played with on and off since his two-year stint with Munster (2003-05).
Having previously decamped to Connacht in launching his pro career, his largely frustrating spell at Munster prompted him to move to Wasps, where he won two Premierships and a Heineken Cup (scoring in the final), before returning home with Leinster to win another Heineken Cup.
Save for the 2007-08 season (when starting eight successive Tests at the end of Eddie O’Sullivan’s reign), he’s never really had extended runs in the Irish team, but he’s kept his patience and his self-belief.
“I’m pretty confident in what I can bring. People are entitled to their opinions, as in coaches, and sometimes you’re in favour and sometimes you’re not. But I do believe if you’re not picked, and you believe that someone is wrong, the only way to show that is to you keep your form. And it might be for a week, and it might be for five years, but you have to keep performing and let that person slowly come to the realisation that maybe they haven’t gone the right way.
“You just have to keep believing and that’s the way I’ve always looked at it. I don’t know where it comes from, but I think it’s important in this day and age. Passing, kicking, tackling and running are important parts of the game, but that side is huge,” he says, tapping his head. “if he doesn’t pick you and your form suffers then it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy And you’re not going to get picked again.”
In all of this, he stresses that he’s never felt unfairly treated along the way. Laughing, he adds: “I think the key to the whole philosophy is that you don’t think you’ve been treated unfairly, because that would cause you to throw the toys out of the pram.”
And, aside from playing with three provinces and Wasps as well as Ireland, or whether it’s the long-time rivalry with Stringer, Tomás O’Leary and recently Isaac Boss, in a perverse way he’s enjoyed having to prove himself.
“You’re right, I do enjoy it. It’s kind of weird. You think it’s frustrating, but at the same time I do enjoy being in that kind of competitive environment. It’s just as well, but we’ve got lots of good scrumhalves, and it also gives you a bit of confidence when you are picked.”
At Wasps and Leinster especially, Reddan has played with teams who place a high emphasis on quick recycling and scoring tries, with scrumhalves who are quick to the breakdown, with rapid footwork and service, particularly when going for sides at home.
As well as doing their damndest to stop Genia and co, Ireland will invariably have to score tries as well, and the evidence suggests they are more likely to do so with Reddan on the pitch.
He has only started four of Ireland’s last 10 Tests, appearing as a substitute in another four, but of Ireland’s 16 tries in that time, 10 have been with Reddan on the pitch.
Furthermore, in Ireland’s last eight matches, Ireland have scored 10 tries in the near 340 minutes he has been at scrumhalf, but only two tries in the 300-plus minutes when he has been on the bench or not there. The way he quicken up the service was evident for Tommy Bowe’s second try last week.
“Maybe it’s not such a bad thing that everyone’s hyping them up. Obviously it makes us aware of their threat and we obviously have to play as well. Absolutely. As a nine I suppose you have to play what you see. I was only thinking this morning that you can’t go into this game with any preconceived ideas about what you’re going to do. Nines have to react to situations.
“Hopefully we can push and score tries if we get the fast ball. But if we don’t there’s other ways of doing things and to adjust, and win the game whatever way it takes. But I think we’ve got fire-power and maybe the less said about that the better. There’s no panic. After the game we’ll know where we’re at. We’ll either have beaten Australia and be looking ahead to the next challenge or we’ll have a bit of work for the next game.”
Eoin Reddan: The facts
Date of birth: November 20th, 1980
Birthplace: Limerick, Ireland.
Height: 1.75m (5ft 9in).
Weight: 86 kg (13 st 7 lb).
Honours: Two Heineken Cups (with Wasps and Leinster). Ireland (33 caps).
