Upon his retirement in 2016, Denis Fogarty would have been forgiven for thinking he had packed down in his last scrum.
Nearly a decade on, the day job still requires the 42-year-old Tipperary native to show his frontrow expertise.
[ Rugby World Cup preview: Irish women’s rugby has battled ferociously to reach the top level ]
Plenty of coaches are described as “hands-on”. Former Munster hooker Fogarty could well deserve the moniker more than most. He regularly takes part in live set-pieces in his role as Ireland’s scrum coach.
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There are a few potential reactions to hearing this information.
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One thought focuses on the wisdom of someone nigh on 10 years out of the game putting himself in harm’s way against current professionals.
The flip side points to an unfair power imbalance between the male ex-pro and the current female internationals.
The goldilocks reading would label this astute coaching; why not utilise in-house experience to replicate powerful opposition scrums?
Those packing down against Fogarty believe this move is just right.
“It does seem bonkers, but it’s actually not,” prop Niamh O’Dowd says.
“He’ll go in as a hooker or a tighthead depending on the situation. He can feel any mistakes we’re making or create scenarios an opposition might [look for], create an angle, put weight through – and he can put a bit more weight through than the girls can.”
As a loosehead, O’Dowd finds herself lining up directly against Fogarty when he’s at tighthead.
“You can’t let him beat you. It’s a fun challenge, I don’t know if he goes easy on us sometimes or if we get it right against him, but he doesn’t always win. It’s not too dissimilar to some of the tightheads you come against on the pitch,” she says.
“He can give you feedback immediately. He can tell you, ‘Yeah that was great’ or ‘No, you weren’t low enough there’, whatever it is. I love it when he goes in.”
That Fogarty opts to play tighthead tallies with the numbers in Ireland’s squad. There are five props in the group, three looseheads alongside a pair of tightheads.
Once Christy Haney injured her hamstring in the weeks leading up to this World Cup, Ireland were down a right-sided scrummager.
Ellena Perry, the former England international, was called up from Gloucester. She has covered both sides in her career, but is now predominantly a loosehead.
That she was chosen to replace Haney ahead of a younger, uncapped tighthead suggests a short-termism which befits a late injury before a World Cup. Ireland understandably want the best player available.
“She’s an excellent scrummager,” O’Dowd says. “She’s been a brilliant addition to the frontrow club.”
Perry is merely the latest example of a long-running trend in Irish rugby. The island does not have the most orthodox method of developing props. O’Dowd herself was a relatively recent convert from the backrow. Ditto plenty of other props in the Irish system. Siobhán McCarthy was a secondrow. Linda Djougang lined out at number eight.
Prop is such a technical position requiring specialist coaching, something which is not always available down the pathway. Senior coaches instead turn to athletes in different positions in the hope of teaching them the mechanics.
“We all started in the backrow, it’s more common for our generation. But if you look now at Munster and Leinster, all the provinces, there are some really good props coming through,” O’Dowd says.
“It’s not just backrow converts now. I was maybe 21, 22, 23 and my technical skill in the scrum was quite poor. Hopefully you’ll see this next crop come through, they’ll have the technical stuff nailed down and then you’ll get them at international level.”
For now, Ireland deal with the late bloomers at their disposal. The scrum has been a battle in recent years. Bouts of stability can give way to days where the scrum marches backwards, depending on personnel and the opposition. Haney’s injury hardly helps.
“Like anything, it’s never going to be linear, it’s never going to be plain sailing,” O’Dowd says.
“A big thing for us has been no matter what the opposition are doing, focus on our process.
“For us in this campaign, if we can get our process right every time, we’ll be absolutely fine. It’s when we come away from what we know we’re good at, that’s when we start to get inconsistencies.”
Consistent inconsistency. It can be the story of Irish scrummaging. Memories of Japan doing a job on the Irish scrum at the 2017 World Cup are too old to be relevant, but they are there.
Given Ireland’s improved lineout and backline threats in recent years, parity at the scrum is all that’s really required.
