The fall from grace, when it happens, can be sudden and unforgiving. Especially in this Ireland squad, under the stern gaze of this head coach Tommy O’Donnell knows this better than most.
A long and painful 20 months have passed since O’Donnell galloped clear of Canadian clutches for a try he replicated in Rome on Saturday.
Twice now Seán O'Brien injuries have elevated him to international rugby. O'Brien's first shoulder surgery got him onto the Six Nations bench last February but inexplicably, to the untrained eye anyway, he was excluded after what seemed a decent cameo off the bench against Wales.
Chris Henry had the seven jersey while Jordi Murphy provided cover when Ireland went to Twickenham and on to Paris.
Then, in the absence of Henry, O'Brien and Murphy, Rhys Ruddock powered past him last November. O'Donnell was off cleaning up local problems having lost his place in Munster's backrow to Seán Dougall at the business end of last season.
He readily admits who was to blame.
‘Previous form’
“I think Joe gave me the chance last year on previous form and I probably didn’t live up to the hype. In fairness I paid for that then but I went away and worked hard. I’ve been playing well for
Munster
, playing 80 minutes and trying to be an all-round number seven.”
It helped that Anthony Foley wondered aloud where his Tipperary flanker was hiding.
“I sat down with Axel and he said a couple of times ‘You’re not exactly the Tommy that was there last year’. But he’s starting to say, more and more, that he’s starting to see it, ‘you’re coming back, coming back’.”
Being left out of the recent Wolfhounds squad indicated one of two things: he was in consideration for Italy or facing further exile.
O'Brien did enough against the Saxons to be instantly recalled while Dominic Ryan's equally physical showing provided yet another threat to O'Donnell. But Schmidt and Simon Easterby were convinced by his European form for Munster to put him on their bench.
“Tommy’s stats all year have been incredible,” said Paul O’Connell. “Sometimes powerful guys find it hard to combine the power with the fitness. He’s one of those rare guys who has both of them. I’ve seen it for Munster for the last few months. It seems like every time I get off the ground or look up he is carrying the ball or tackling someone.”
O’Brien’s return was stymied in the warm-up by his hamstring.
“I would have liked to warm up with a bit more intensity as you don’t want to flay yourself then go sit on the bench,” said O’Donnell of the late promotion. “But I didn’t have the nerves. I wasn’t building up to the game for the last 48 hours. I knew my role, I knew to just get in there and make an impact.
‘Physical edge’
“But there are definitely things I need to improve on if I am to regularly play at this level.”
Like what? “Keep adding to my ball carrying, keep that physical edge at the breakdown and in the tackle.”
Be it O’Brien, Henry, Ruddock, Ryan or O’Donnell as Ireland’s openside wing forward, the Schmidt system ensures the same specific message constantly rings through.
“Joe has us so well drilled . . . I know what rucks I have to hit and I know I have to be in certain positions for certain plays. Splitting up the game, making it more miniscule and focussing on those finer details makes it easier to play the game. I just know I have to hit this, do it as well as I can, get up and do the next thing as well as I can and just keep rolling through the 80 minutes like that.”
And roll he did, beating Robbie Henshaw’s 11 bone-jarring hits by one (Schmidt believes his openside should always top the tackle count) before springing clear for a late try.
Decent shift all round.
“Well if I’ve given him a headache, fair enough but come Tuesday you never know what’s going to happen. I hope I put my hand up today.”
