Belfast schoolboy Frank Hewitt was 17 years and 157 days old when he steered Ireland to victory over Wales at Cardiff Arms Park in March 1924, thereby becoming the youngest player ever to be capped at senior level for Ireland, a milestone that’s unlikely to be emulated.
It proved to be a proud family occasion as the team also contained his elder brother Tom (18, 362 days), also on debut and playing on the wing; a memorable day capped as both Hewitt brothers crossed for tries.
It’s an anecdote to illustrate that Irish rugby has been producing accomplished teenage rugby players, a lineage, that dates to the 19th century, and in providing a smidgeon of context in filtering the hyperbole that invariably envelops rugby’s latest young meteor.
Tony O’Reilly (18), Gordon D’Arcy (19) and Luke Fitzgerald (19) had barely seen the back of the school gates for a final time before being propelled into the cut and thrust of Test match rugby; examples from an exhaustive list.
Every generation produces a tyro or two, the latest Jordan Larmour, James Ryan, Jacob Stockdale, who were 20, 20 and 21 respectively when handed a senior green jersey for the first time by Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt.
All three shared a similar pathway in terms of progression through national age-grade representative teams with Ryan captaining Ireland to the U-20 World Championship final in 2016, a team in which Stockdale was fullback. Larmour was last year’s vintage, captaining the Irish U-20s in the Six Nations but missing the global tournament because of injury.
Eight of Ireland’s 2018 Grand Slam-winning squad, Dan Leavy, Robbie Henshaw, Garry Ringrose, Joey Carbery, Andrew Porter, Stockdale, Ryan and Larmour graduated from the Ireland U-20 team set-up within the last five years, a remarkable strike-rate and one which many other countries would envy.
It’s not an aberration either. From the time that World Rugby decided to change the age bracket from U-21 to U-20 at the start of the 2006-2007 season, Irish rugby has produced 52 players that have gone on to be capped at senior test level for the national side and in Tommy Seymour (Scotland), Kieran Brookes (England), Paddy Ryan (USA) and Ian McKinley (Italy) an additional four players who switched allegiance to pursue elite international interests.
An Ireland team under the then head coach Eric Elwood, won a Grand Slam in the 2007 U-20 Six Nations and from that squad, eight players went on to play for the senior Irish team, and three, Keith Earls, Sean O’Brien and Cian Healy became Lions. Luke Fitzgerald, who had already been capped at senior level, was named in the U-20 squad in 2007 but missed the tournament through injury.
Strong candidates
It would have given the class of 2007 four Irish Lions, but without him, they’ll have to be content with sharing the benchmark of three; the 2009 cadre which included Lions, Conor Murray, Jack McGrath and Peter O’Mahony also saw eight players graduate to the senior Irish international ranks.
The year with the single biggest progression from the Irish U-20 to senior squad was 2011 with 11 players and two Lions in Iain Henderson and Tadhg Furlong, albeit acknowledging that if could be eclipsed given that there are several strong candidates who may yet be capped from the U-20 sides of the last four years.
In silverware terms, aside from the Grand Slam (2007), Ireland lost the 2009 Six Nations title to France on points’ difference – they had each won four matches – but 12 months later they edged past England in a similar manner to claim the championship title.
In 2014, a Mike Ruddock-coached Irish 20s recorded their highest ever finish, fourth, in the age-grade World Championship, that is until Nigel Carolan’s charges reached the 2016 U-20 World Championship final in the AJ Bell stadium in Manchester where they lost to hosts, England.
En route they became the first Irish male national side to beat New Zealand while Leinster number eight Max Deegan was voted player of the tournament. If that progression continues then Noel McNamara’s Ireland U-20 squad would be delighted.
They departed for France on Saturday morning ahead of their first match against the host country – former Irish international Trevor Brennan’s son Daniel, a tighthead prop is part of the French squad – next Wednesday at Perpignan’s atmospheric Stade Aime-Giral. All of Ireland’s games are live on Eir Sport.
The French won the recent Six Nations, including beating Ireland 34-24 in Bordeaux, while Ireland will also face South Africa and Georgia. McNamara’s charges played some brilliant attacking rugby during the tournament but injuries this week to a couple of outstanding prospects in number eight Jack O’Sullivan and tighthead prop, Tom O’Toole, deprive them of key personnel.
There are seven uncapped players in a squad of 28 which will be led by number eight Caelan Doris, fit again after missing the Six Nations through injury. He takes over the captaincy from Tommy O’Brien, two players of rich promise. It is Doris’s second year at this level and he recently made his senior Leinster debut against Connacht in the Sportsground, an apt location for the Ballina native.
He recalled: “It was class. Leo [Cullen, Leinster head coach] actually said to me before the game that he made his debut in the Sportsground when he was 20; 20 years ago, the year I was born. I actually played on that pitch with the Ballina minis.
A boarder
“I was a boarder in Blackrock College; my Dad was in Blackrock as well. Both my parents are from Dublin so I never really was a Connacht supporter. I used to stay in my granny’s quite a bit in Donnybrook and hear the crowd there, the Leinster matches going on, so I was always kind of Mayo for GAA, Leinster for rugby.”
He shaved the rehabilitation period from a badly torn hamstring by a month, getting back in 15 weeks, and while on the sidelines watched his erstwhile U-20 team-mates during the Six Nations.
“I think there was definitely a lot of positive stuff. Our attack was really good. We got good width on the ball. There were some super individual performances as well. But I think there were some inconsistencies as well. I think an 80-minute performance is what we are going to be looking for throughout the World Cup.
“Playing France in one of the first games of the World Cup in France, it’s going to be unbelievable. I mean the whole tournament hangs on that game so it’s going to be the focus now for the next week or so and one I’m really looking forward to.
“South Africa played England U-20s two weeks back. They beat them by about 10 or 15 points. That will be a big challenge as well. Big packs, France, South African and Georgia as well; physically, it’s going to be pretty big.”
Injuries have already taken their toll from an Irish perspective this season and this week and, given the short turnaround between matches, McNamara will hope for a change in fortune. They’ll play some cracking rugby and score tries but will need to shore up defensive glitches that cost them dearly in the Six Nations.
In the 11 years under scrutiny the average number of players that graduate from U-20s to senior international rugby is 4.75, a figure that will rise if Tadhg Beirne and Ross Byrne are capped this summer. Doris, O’Brien and Jack O’Sullivan present strong credentials, Jack Aungier too, but there are half a dozen others who possess the talent. The journey resumes in Perpignan.
