Damaged imports the wrong kind of ‘project’ for provinces

FINGERS on the buzzers folks, a starter for 10 – the Revel Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey! Anyone?

This is the hotel where Ray Rice, the Baltimore Ravens Super Bowlwinning running back, punched his girlfriend in the face in the lift on the way to their bedroom. Rice hit Janay Palmer so hard that he knocked her clean out. It was a disgusting act of violence.

This sort of footage is a bit like the Kennedy assassination – it just never ceases to shock the senses no matter how many times you see it. Well, Rice’s actions fall into that category. His subsequent actions of dragging her unconscious body out of the lift and just leaving her in the lobby aren’t far behind.

Equally reprehensible was Palmer’s decision to marry Rice six weeks later. The punch, from a powerhouse athlete, if it was an inch to the left or an inch to the right, could have killed her. There were I suppose 20 million reasons to just hang on in there.

Rooting

Janay too was rooting for her man when he sued the Ravens for $4m in back pay. The term sordid doesn’t do justice to the whole episode. In a league where all sorts of horrible people have done all sorts of horrible things and get to play every week. Rice paid the price and was shut out. No one signed him afterwards. No jail either. However, if his running averages had been just a little higher . . .

The IRFU and the Connacht branch are expected to rescind the option that they had on Sevu Reece. Reece, as we all saw during the week, beat up his girlfriend after a drunken night out in Auckland. Reece’s girlfriend forgave him but how much forgiveness was weighed on the promise of a new life in Europe and a six-figure Euro salary? One of the things said in mitigation was that he “had stayed sober for three months”. Wow! How difficult was that? Was it a really big effort?

Not the first player with drink problems to be signed by one of the provinces. At 21, Reece was young enough to do the five-year residency. No such thing as a project player anymore but send him to the AA, hope the rehab works and then go on and wear the green.

At the end of last season, Jake Heenan, who had played five seasons for Connacht, decided that the Bristol Bears were too good to resist and he upped sticks and left. Heenan was a project player and he was Irish-qualified by residency. However, he had three shoulder surgeries which limited his time to 50 odd appearances. Opensides with dodgy shoulders – junk bond rating! Heenan was a decent player and didn’t lack ambition.

“I’ve every intention of playing international rugby. For me, it’s about coming back in good shape, having a good pre-season and putting the performances in, hopefully put my hand up (for selection). I have every belief that I’m good enough and that I’m able to put in the performances needed to play for Ireland.”

Heenan had a very troubled background in New Zealand and ran into trouble with the authorities too many times to mention. Multiple arrests, sleeping rough. Never mind, jump on a plane and go to the Betty Ford Clinic in the West of Ireland. After five seasons with Connacht, Heenan’s ambitions are somewhat deflected. It comes down to what was the ‘best move for me’ type of explanation.

Is Heenan still a project player? What a waste of time, energy and money. Whatever else about the mad money that Bristol are splashing out, Heenan knew that he wasn’t even in the top 20 back-row players in the country. Dozens of Irish-born back-row players who have done everything by the book and they get waylaid by these oddments who didn’t get past quality control on the factory floor in New Zealand. Talented players – but damaged and for export.

Heenan knew that he wasn’t good enough and if he watched the Connacht-Leinster game last week he would have seen the standard required – a new standard. One that he was a million miles away from.

We forget that Josh van der Flier got the starting nod in Paris for Ireland’s first game in the championship. Highly frustrating not to continue in the other four games but happy to be back on the field.

Van der Flier made 23 tackles during the Connacht game. That’s what the stats say – the stats won’t tell you how effective they were. Quite a number of his tackles stopped opponents in their tracks but some didn’t – but it didn’t seem to make a difference. More than any other player in blue, Van der Flier led the line up from Pillar. The speed, consistent speed, was bewildering.

Even in the last 10 minutes Leinster’s openside came up to close down space and cut down Connacht runners. Even if they managed to run a metre or two past the tackler, it didn’t make any difference. Leinster’s line speed was so disciplined they did not give away a penalty for offside all day.

It was tellingly demonstrated when Connacht had three 20-phase plays in the second half and succeeded in conceding nearly 20 metres in all of them before they eventually made a mistake. Possession turned into a liability. It was relentless stuff.

Connacht played with intent but got no oxygen and no room. It was the perfect way to play Connacht in the Sportsground – squeeze them with a cold-blooded determination and drain any enthusiasm out of them and they would run out of ideas and lose their shape. They were far from perfect but if Leinster had minded the ball and been a little more intelligent with passes that shouldn’t have been seen as final passes, well they could have got that 47-10 scoreline back.

Enterprising

I have a feeling Leinster might be far less enterprising this season and will ramp up their defence to try and dispirit sides. Teams will not be able to run through Leinster this season; maybe go around them or kick over but not through. No guarantees that Van der Flier (below) will start or even bench. Dan Leavy and James Ryan should be back so Scott Fardy, so impressive in the Sportsground, may end up on the flank.

Peter O’Mahony, CJ Stander and Tommy O’Donnell did all the damage in and around the ruck for Munster but they know what is coming and space will be too tight. Do they try and play football against Leinster on Saturday or do they pick and jam use their lineout maul to suck Leinster in?

Leinster will be in the mood and if they press and squeeze Munster I it will be a frustrating night for the men in red. That said, I don’t think Leinster’s passing is as crisp and fluent as it needs to be to trouble or exploit Munster. I don’t think Joey Carbery will be able to help with that much insider knowledge.

Leinster are defending a little bit wider than last season – so even some of those cross-kicks could get picked off. A big match for Munster’s 10. An even bigger one for his coach who desperately needs a convincing win against credible opposition to launch their season.

PS: The game against the All Blacks is only six weeks away. I have never seen such a push for tickets. The Kiwis got the job done against a compliant Argentina side last Saturday. Amazing to see what the New Zealanders are prepared to do to defend their line. At one play in the second half with Argentina pressing, the Kiwis gave away about six penalties in a row, none of which were awarded. Have we mentioned how cynical they are before? They say you need to score four tries in a game to beat New Zealand – they just don’t like giving up those seven-pointers!