A huge roar greeted Dan Sheehan’s return to the Test match arena after a six-month absence on the 50-minute mark of Ireland’s win over England in their Six Nations opener last week.
He had teed up the crowd with his two-try, man-of-the-match display on his return for Leinster in the same ground a week previously. Cue a three-try salvo for Ireland in the final half-hour against England and an even more thunderous ovation when Sheehan’s virtuoso slam dunk sealed the win and the bonus point. He’s not only world-class, he’s also box office.
It revived memories of Sheehan’s two-try display when Ireland completed the Grand Slam in the Aviva Stadium two years ago against England. Sheehan now has nine tries in the Six Nations, already equalling the all-time championship try-scoring record for a forward.
Sheehan has drawn level with Imanol Harinordoquy, the French triple Grand Slam winner, who scored his nine tries in 39 Six Nations games, and Jamie Heaslip, who scored nine tries in 45 games. Sheehan has done so in 15, four of them off the bench.
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They are all in advance of Lawrence Dallaglio, CJ Stander and Charles Ollivon on eight, with David Wallace, Martyn Williams and Sergio Parisse, who played in 69 championship games, on seven tries. That’s a stellar list of number eights and Sheehan is now on the verge of going in advance of them all.
Okay, strike rates for hookers have increased exponentially in latter years due to the greater number of tries off catch-and-drives. Even so, Sheehan’s achievement is faintly ridiculous. Besides which, a pacy, powerful finish out wide like the one last week is more Sheehan’s trademark.
Rónan Kelleher could be forgiven if, privately, he felt a little peeved at the reception afforded Sheehan and the manner he stole the limelight. But no less than when the Munster supporters in the crowd roar their approval for the arrival of, say, Craig Casey (even when he replaces Conor Murray), or Jack Crowley, it is nothing personal about the players replaced.
The more pertinent point is that hooker has become a specialist position for two players over 80 minutes, not one man, witness Bongi Mbonambi and Malcom Marx, the Springboks’ dual World Cup pairing. And in Sheehan and Kelleher, Ireland (and Leinster of course) might have their best double act in the role ever.
Shane Byrne, the 41-times capped former Irish hooker who also played two Tests for the British & Irish Lions, believes that Sheehan and Kelleher can rival Mbonambi and Marx, and the current Toulouse/France pair of Peato Mauvaka and Julien Marchand.
“For me, these two have changed the role of a hooker and it looks like they’re going to be back at it again. When the two of them were going head-to-head before the injuries started to get in the way, they were the most in-form one-two in the northern hemisphere,” says Byrne, while placing the French pair in that bracket now.
Describing the Irish pair as “a breath of fresh air”, Byrne says of Sheehan: “He is an out-and-out footballer. If there’s an injury anywhere on the park, he’d be able to slot in and give it a damn good show. He certainly wouldn’t let you down.
“He has superb athleticism and seems to have the rugby brain. He’s able to be in the right place at the right time, he has the skill set and following up for the try, you’ve just got to have a nose for that, and he has it in spades.”
Nor does Byrne have any issues with Sheehan’s scrummaging or throwing. “When he’s in there, there’s no depowering of the scrum. It’s going to take a while for his throwing to settle back in, but as we’ve seen he has the repertoire,” says Byrne, who agrees that Sheehan’s height – 6ft 3in compared to Kelleher’s 6ft 0in or indeed Byrne’s 5ft 10in – is an advantage.
“Kelleher comes across as more of an abrasive player, and none of these things take away from the other. He still has the nose for the try but normally through the thick of it, not out on the wings. That’s just his style.
“To me, when the lineout is functioning, Kelleher’s throwing his fine,” maintains Byrne, who believes a bigger problem is often the calling, which he used to do that role as well. Kelleher was 12 from 12 last week, and Ireland 21 from 21, admittedly with Tadhg Beirne content to call throws to the front which went unchallenged. England only once put a defensive jumper into the air, despite kicking the ball off the field a dozen times themselves in what were curious tactics.
Byrne notes the Irish pair’s closeness in age – Kelleher (27) is eight months older that Sheehan (26) – and how one can now push the other again.
Hitherto, injuries have regularly prevented one or both being fit simultaneously. Ireland have played 39 Tests since Sheehan’s debut against Japan in November 2021 and last Saturday was only the 13th time they’ve been in the same matchday 23. Rob Herring has filled in the blanks more than ably on 20 occasions, notably when an impact replacement in all three Tests in New Zealand in 2022, while Byrne admires the skill set and impact made by Gus McCarthy.
“Talk about a kid taking his opportunity when it arose!”
But Sheehan and Kelleher should, touch wood, be coming into their peak years and, of course, as the Springboks and French pairings have demonstrated, every team needs at least two now.
“The way the modern game is, no hooker should play 80 minutes,” stresses Byrne, “because it is such an attritional position. Everything you do is maxed out physicality, whether it’s the scrums, around the park, constantly moving, tackling; particularly the way these two play.
“Rotating them from game to game is absolutely essential and with the competition between them, the better one of them plays in the first 50 or 60 minutes, you can be guaranteed the other one will come on like a wildfire wanting to usurp the other guy. That’s the key to it, getting the absolute best out of them.”
The South African pair have undoubtedly achieved the most but encouragingly for Ireland (and Leinster), Kelleher and Sheehan have the lowest age profile, with Mauvaka (28) and Marchand (29) while Mbonambi is 34 and Marx 30.
Byrne admires Marx’s physicality and skill set, and Mbonambi’s abrasiveness. “You run at him at our peril.” As the latter supplanted the former, similarly Mauvaka (“the more powerful” in Byrne’s eyes) has also usurped Marchand since the World Cup.
As for Ireland’s choice? “It depends what you’re looking for,” said Byrne. “Are you looking for a more physical game? Well, then it’s Kelleher. Are you looking for that final touch, that bit of spectacular play? Well, then it’s Sheehan if it’s going to be a looser game and it’s the exact same with the French and the South Africans.”
By round four it could be that Sheehan will start against France, but for the time being Byrne sees no need to change last week’s choice.
“I would take these first two games as chapter one of the Six Nations and I don’t think changes are needed here. You’re certainly not lacking anything, leaving all as it is, and I would go with that with the other positions. For this section of the Six Nations leave it alone.
“It is remarkable what Sheehan has done, to be as powerful and dynamic as he was in the last two weeks. I’ve known so many players who’ve done ACLs and they’ve lost that little bit of something. It took a little from the dynamics they had previously. It doesn’t seem to have done any harm to him whatsoever and that’s a compliment to everybody, the surgeon, the S&C coaches, the physios. But Kelleher will know that, and this will spur Kelleher on when he’s on the pitch.”
Is this potentially the best pair of hookers Ireland has ever had at the same time. “Absolutely,” says Byrne. The primary beneficiaries will be Ireland, but the double act mightn’t stop there, for the possibilities are boundless.
“Particularly with what’s coming up in the summer, they’re as good as what’s out there,” said Byrne, meaning the pair can both make the Lions squad.
“They would be immense for any team and to have two Irish hookers travelling on the same Lions tour ... but it would be deserved, because if either one was injured the other one would definitely be going on the Lions. So, why wouldn’t the two of them go?
“The two of them do the basics very, very well, and then you’re just talking about the extra stuff they’re going to add to the game. Right now, we’re in rude health when it comes to the hooking position.”
Never been in ruder health.
