Jury out as Tomane gets to grips with Leinster way
Champions look much better placed to replace Nacewa the second time around
IT IS not often you are afforded another chance at a big strategic decision, but at the end of last season Leinster got to replace Isa Nacewa for the second time. This time, however, Nacewa won’t be coming back to bail them out.
First time around, the recruitment of Zane Kirchner was hardly a roaring success. The Springbok’s performance in the 2014 PRO12 final probably saves him from the dud category of Irish rugby’s overseas signings, but at the same time he rarely hit the heights one expects of a high-profile international brought in to set standards on and off the pitch.
In that regard, Nacewa is in elite company. There have been huge hits from abroad, but no player has had such a lasting effect on an organisation as the one-cap Fiji international who was back in Dublin for a well-attended testimonial dinner last week.
Only one of Leinster’s seven trophies since 2009 came without Nacewa on board and, even at 35 and on one leg, Leo Cullen saw fit to select his captain for the Champions Cup and Guinness PRO14 finals last season.
He set the standards.
They have made a good fist of ploughing on without their leading man so far, with Johnny Sexton taking over the captaincy and Wallaby Scott Fardy helping to fill the leadership void.
Overall, Leinster are in far better shape than they were when Nacewa first returned to Auckland as Matt O’Connor took over the ropes.
Sexton had just departed, Leo Cullen, Gordon D’Arcy and Brian O’Driscoll were all in the final throes of legendary playing careers and
‘Joe has learned really quickly. It took him a couple of games to get up to speed but he’s definitely there now’
Kirchner was never going to come over and start running the show.
In 2018, it is Joe Tomane’s job to replace Nacewa but the organisation Cullen and Stuart Lancaster have built is far stronger and the Australian can concentrate on the primary job of playing.
The jury is out on Tomane after his five outings in blue so far.
His debut in Cardiff was a disaster as he struggled to come to terms with his role in the Leinster defence and was stripped in contact several times, but since then there have been signs that he is bedding in and learning the ropes.
As a centre-cum-winger, he has been catching up on a lot of information.
It is difficult to imagine two more different sporting environments than the collection of big-name talent at Montpellier and the largely homegrown machine at Leinster but, when he knew he’d have to find a club at the end of last season as the French side had to trim down their number of foreigners, Tomane sought out Fardy to see if there might be an opening in Dublin.
The two clubs met four times in two seasons and the contrast in styles was marked. The big, bruising French team prized size over work-rate and brawn over creativity. Tomane’s size got him into the team, but his craft was often being wasted.
Leinster want a bit of both from their new signing who has largely been deployed in the centre.
So far, he has looked good when spreading the play but he has struggled to impose his physical gifts on proceedings.
Often, when a player is trying to fit into the structures and systems at a club with an advanced game-plan like Leinster’s, the processing of information can cause a second’s hesitation that can limit the power of a carry.
There is also the possibility that Leinster have looked for more athletic output from their new signing who has been playing in the Top 14 power-game for two seasons, in which case he may have to switch his techniques to win collisions through his footwork more than his raw power.
Leinster feel that it will come with time.
“He’s been good, he had a really strong game last week, I thought,” Robbie Henshaw said of the man who could line up alongside him at the Aviva Stadium against Munster this Saturday.
“It takes a while for any new player to come in from a different team and a different structure defensively, and even offensively.
“I think Joe has learned really quickly. He’s a really solid player. “It took him a couple of games to get up to speed but he’s definitely there now.
“He’s just looking to keep building but he’s a real addition to the squad, I think his physicality is exceptional and his offloading game is great as well.”
As it stands, it looks unlikely that Tomane makes it into the Leinster starting XV when everyone is fit and available. Kirchner found the going similarly tough with the competition in the Blues’ ranks and, when the internationals were away – Nacewa’s traditional time to shine – he barely raised a gallop.
If, as seems likely, the Australia international starts alongside Henshaw at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, he will have a real chance to announce his arrival in the biggest game of the season to date.
“You can never replace someone like Isa,” Tomane conceded. “What he’s been able to achieve and the way he’s done it is probably something that will never be done again.”
Nobody is expecting Nacewa Mark II, but Leinster will expect more from their new man as the campaign steps up a notch.