RUGBY Nash in line for Scotland finale
WINGER HAS PASSED THE SINCE TWICKERS KNOCK PROTOCOLS
ASTONISHINGLY, given how bad the tackle looked and how poleaxed Calvin Nash seemed at the time on Saturday, the Munster winger is in line to start against Scotland this Saturday.
Nash’s match contribution against England was ended by a fifth-minute collision in a tackle that left him on the ground for two minutes before he was substituted.
However, Ireland forwards coach Simon Easterby has revealed Nash has passed all tests since and is in contention for the No 14 jersey — to play directly opposite Six Nations’ top-scorer Duhan van der Merwe.
“Calvin Nash is definitely not out, he is still going through his return-to-play protocols,”said Easterby yesterday.
Easterby has confirmed Jordan Larmour is the back-up for Nash.
Position
“Certainly, we’d prefer to play out-and-out players in their (usual) position, which would be right-wingers like Jordan and obviously ‘Nashy’ if he’s fit, and then with Jacob (Stockdale) or James Lowe on the left wing.
“Garry (Ringrose) trained there (right wing) last week and has had time there with us, and that’s not an issue either.
“But in a perfect world you’d want to start most players in their (usual) position and after that the dynamics of the bench, whether it’s five-three or sixtwo, means that you’ve got to be flexible.”
There was praise for Leinster man Larmour, who has previously started 11 Six Nations games and been a sub for another five.
“Jordan is a brilliant fellow who works his socks off for the team and he’s been unlucky, he’s probably had periods out of the game when other players have come in and taken their chance and then he’s come back and impressed with Leinster.
“He’s been in a couple of these campaigns where he hasn’t had a huge amount of game time.
“But he is, like the rest of them who don’t get picked as often as they’d like, unbelievably important to this group, a big part of this group in the preparation for the game and the work that they put in.
“It’s probably the mark of this Irish team under Faz (Andy Farrell), the quality of the guys who aren’t involved and the quality of their work and Jordan is right up there with that.”
There was also praise for
Peter O’Mahony despite the criticism the skipper received from certain quarters (such as Rob Kearney in yesterday’s Star) for his second yellow card of the tournament.
“Pete’s been excellent so far, I don’t see any issue, to be honest — the penalty, the yellow card, it’s him trying to do something for the team.
“We know it’s a bad decision, but it could be anyone in that situation trying to make up for a line break.
“He’ll be disappointed, like a lot of players, with how it went against England.
“He’s a big game player and I don’t think there’s anyone who has a bad game and doesn’t feel like they haven’t played to the expectations of themselves and their team-mates.
Solid
“So, he’s been great. He always is. He’s always solid around his emotion and the way he deals with the players and how he tries to pitch the week as a captain.”
Besides, the yellow cards are part and parcel of Ireland’s latter-game discipline problems as they have watched the penalty count start to rise.
“Certainly, we dipped into it a bit too much at the weekend, we conceded a few too many penalties without the ball and part of that is momentum.
“They had momentum and sometimes that creates the illusion that you’re illegal and sometimes you are.
“We keep going hard at good decision-making, what’s a bad decision, and try and get players to understand how that affects the team.