Doak ready to deliver as hype grows
THREE weeks into the campaign and, while the entertainment on show has been decent, the shiny new United Rugby Championship has more than a whiff of the old Pro14 about it.
It is not just the squad rotations, lack of relegation and convoluted structure, there is a familiarity too in the early trend of results, bar some eye-catching displays by the much-maligned but muchimproved Dragons.
The arrival of the ‘big four’ franchises from South Africa was the main URC selling point but it’s been a disappointingly slow start for this much vaunted quartet and, while we have been assured that the newbies will grow into the competition, there are definite echoes of the Southern Kings and Cheetahs (the previous African invitees in the old Pro14) in their initial struggles.
Not least the Lions, who face the daunting challenge of taking on Ulster before a raucous Ravenhill in Belfast tonight.
The Johannesburg outfit opened with a confidence-inspiring win over Zebre only to be easily dismissed by middling Scarlets and Glasgow sides over the last two weekends.
It could get worse this evening as their opponents have been flying, three thumping wins from their three outings while playing an expansive brand of rugby that has showcased the talents of a clutch of homegrown youngsters.
At the head of that posse is scrum-half Nathan Doak. While his father, former Ulster coach Neil, was a decent No9 who came close to an Ireland cap under Eddie O’Sullivan in the early 2000s, his young fella looks to be the complete package.
Standing a little over six feet, Doak is quite content to put himself about physically and, although still only 19, has shown a confidence and willingness to exert a French No9-style control — first grabbing attention with the Ireland
Under 20s and backing it up with his first appearances for Ulster, already racking up three tries.
Exciting stuff, especially when you factor in Doak’s superb place-kicking.
In style, he is very similar to team-mate John Cooney, Ulster’s most influential player over the past number three years, and it is the older man’s unavailability that has allowed him to flourish this season.
While Cooney has never been able to truly win over Ireland in spite of superb consistency for Ulster, there is already a clamour for Doak to be fast-tracked into the November internationals. And, with Conor Murray hitting veteran status and Jamison Gibson-Park unconvincing, there is a compelling case for Ireland to embrace the youth and vigour of Doak and Munster’s Craig Casey.
In the meantime, he needs to keep catching the eye and tonight is set up for him.
Ulster coach Dan McFarland has named a powerful side, with potency across the park — not least the back three where Will Addison, Craig Gilroy and Ethan McIlroy have the speed and evasion skills to wreak havoc.
A decent Lions display would be good for the competition but there is little chance of it. Ulster should win this one pulling up and then expect the noise around Nathan Doak to crank up another level.
ULSTER: W Addison; C Gilroy, J Hume, S Moore, E McIlroy; B Burns, N Doak; A Warwick, R Herring, T O’Toole;
A O’Connor, S Carter (capt.); M Rea, N Timoney, D McCann. Reps: B Roberts, E O’Sullivan, R Kane, K Treadwell, S Reidy, D Shanahan, M Lowry, B Moxham. LIONS: D Rossouw; S Pienaar, M Rass, B Odendaal (capt), R Maxwane; E Viljoen, A Warner; S Sithole, J Visagie, C Sadie; R Schoeman, R Nothnagel; S Sangweni, V Tshituka; R Straeuli. Reps: PJ Botha, R Dreyer, A Ntlabakanye, W van der Sluys, E Tshituka, M van den Berg, F Zeilinga, W Simelane. REFEREE: M Adamson (Scotland). VERDICT: Ulster.
TV: LIVE on RTÉ2, BBC2 NI, kick-off 7.35pm.