Do you agree with our best uncapped Leinster XV?
The eastern province has given Ireland some of its greatest stars over the past 30 years but there were others unlucky to miss out
THERE was a big response to the Munster Uncapped XV of the past 30 years that we ran a few weeks ago and many thanks to all of you who sent in your alternative selections (a fair amount of support out there for Dan Larkin of Garryowen in the backline).
On the basis of that reaction, we thought it only fair to do equivalent selections for the other provinces, starting with Leinster today.
It was a hard team to assemble, given the number of Leinster players who have gone on to play internationally and we have omitted youngsters like Will Connors, Scott Penny, and Ed and Bryan Byrne on the basis that they are current squad members and may well be capped down the line.
In some positions, options were thin on the ground whereas others were overflowing with candidates, but, for better or worse, this is our team – feel free to send in your selections if you feel there are players unfairly omitted.
15 DAVID BEGGY (Blackrock)
‘JINXSY’ is more renowned for his exploits on the Gaelic football fields, picking up two All-Ireland medals with Meath in 1987 and 1988, but the Navan man was a hell of a rugby player for Blackrock and Leinster in the early 1990s.
The skills that served Beggy so well in GAA – blinding pace, a natural swerving ability, superb fielding skills and an excellent kicking game – were made for the fullback position in rugby and he was lethal in the Rock side that threatened to break the Munster club monopoly on the All-Ireland League in the early years of the competition. There was considerable support for Ireland to take a punt on the electric Beggy during a particularly drab time for the national team but, although he was around the fringes for a few years, the call-up never came.
14 MARCUS DILLON (Lansdowne)
THE one that got away – extremely rapidly – following a harrowing experience on the infamous 1997 Ireland Development tour to New Zealand.
Dillon had come to national attention as an out-and-out speedster on the wing for Lansdowne, his sprinter’s pace augmented by the ability to change direction at full tilt, and he was seen as a raw talent capable of making the step up with the right tutelage and application.
Unfortunately, the youngster was ‘Ashtoned’ in New Zealand – ruthlessly cut adrift by head coach Brian Ashton during the Englishman’s short, ill-fated tenure and Dillon was lost to the game on the back of it.
13 EOIN O’MALLEY (Old Belvedere)
A GIFTED, natural 13 possessed with an eye for a gap and the speed to make it count, ‘Chubbo’ is considered a certainty to have won a cap had injury not cut short his career at the age of 25.
An underage star who helped Belvedere to the Leinster Schools Cup in 2005 and shone for representative teams at various grades, O’Malley made 54 appearances for his province and would have made many more had it not been for the presence of Brian O’Driscoll – his standout performance coming in the European Cup away to Clermont when O’Driscoll was unavailable.
Seen as the natural heir to his revered clubmate, for province and country, O’Malley featured in national squads and for the Wolfhounds (Ireland A) but a knee injury in 2013 prevented him stepping up to the top level after O’Driscoll’s retirement the same year.
12 MARTIN RIDGE (Blackrock)
POWERFULLY built and ferociously competitive, ‘Trigger’ was not the quickest centre on the circuit during his heyday but could claim to be the fiercest and most effective tackler.
Ridge was the bludgeon alongside Brendan Mullin’s rapier for Blackrock and Leinster in the early-to-mid 1990s but, although he made the Ireland tours to New Zealand (1992) and Australia (1994) and played regularly for
Ireland A, the cap never came, his case not helped by injury. When the game turned pro in 1995, Ridge took up a deal with Moseley in England and when the club went into administration, the centre returned on a part-time basis with Leinster while studying to become a chartered surveyor.
11 FIONN CARR (Naas, UCD, Blackrock)
ONE of the most electric, try-scoring wingers of the professional era, the Kildare man had two stints with Leinster, either side of a prolific period with Connacht. Carr’s game was centred around his remarkable acceleration and finishing ability but, although he represented Ireland at many levels including Sevens, competition for the Irish wing berths was always too fierce.
Rounded off his pro career with another spell at Connacht before returning to his roots with Naas in the All-Ireland League.
10 ANDY DUNNE (Old Belvedere)
THERE was some stiff competition for this jersey, including Terenure’s Paul Hennebry from the early 1990s and the talented late ’90s duo of Emmet Farrell and Fergal Campion. However Dunne, whose career took him from his native Leinster to Harlequins and Bath in England as well as Connacht, gets the nod for his memorable running ability.
Compactly built, his speed off the mark was explosive and his trademark move was wrong-footing defenders to scythe through subsequent openings. It was a skillset more suited to the southern hemisphere than the traditional requirements of Ireland selectors, ensuring Ireland A and Sevens was as high as Dunne went, not helped by various injury complications.
9 DEREK HEGARTY (Terenure)
HONOURABLE mention to Ben Willis, the accomplished Kiwi No 9 (with an Irish grandfather) whose displays for Blackrock and Leinster in the early 2000s were good enough to earn an Ireland A game.
However, Hegarty, the diminutive but relentlessly energetic Terenure and Leinster scrum-half of the late 1990s, was desperately unlucky not to wear the green senior jersey in the post-Michael Bradley, prePeter Stringer period when the position was auditioned widely.
Hegarty had the speed of a winger and was dangerous around the ruck, making the squad for the uber-physical South Africa tour in 1998 behind Conor McGuinness, after which the selectors opted for the greater bulk of Ciaran Scally and Tom Tierney.
1 JACK O’CONNELL (Lansdowne)
THE hardest position to pick on this side, for the simple reason that Leinster have been so well served internationally here, from Nick Popplewell and Reggie Corrigan through to Cian Healy and Jack McGrath, incorporating a handful of caps for the likes of Henry Hurley and Paul Flavin along the way.
Clongowes graduate O’Connell, powerfully built at 6ft 2in and over 18 stone, slots in as a ‘what might have been’ tale on the basis of a stellar Under 20 career that landed the Six Nations title. The loosehead had all the raw materials to move up but faced world-class obstacles in the form of Healy and McGrath during his 2011-14, 15-appearance stint with Leinster, forcing him to relocate to England for stints with Bristol and Ealing before he retired last year.
2 MARK McDERMOTT (Lansdowne)
McDERMOTT emerged from Blackrock College around the same time as another talented hooker, Shane Byrne, and largely served as understudy for his Wicklow rival with Leinster while playing for Lansdowne in the All-Ireland League. However, his ability was obvious and Shannon came in for McDermott, who became a key figure for their great All-Ireland League side of the mid-to-late 1990s, nailing down the Munster No2 slot before Frankie Sheahan emerged and Keith Wood repatriated. After retiring, McDermott forged a successful coaching career, bringing him success with the Ireland Under 21s and taking him all the way to Russia’s senior side.
3 DEREK DOWLING (St Mary’s)
AT a time when Leinster were perceived as lightweight up front, Dowling provided security and obduracy at the scrum. A St Mary’s stalwart in the No3 jersey, he was a go-to selection for Leinster in the late 1980s and early 1990s until Paul Wallace relocated from Cork. He went on to become a highly regarded scrum coach after retiring.
4 STEVE JAMESON (St Mary’s)
ARGUABLY the hardest done by in this team, Jameson’s consistent excellence as a second row enforcer for St Mary’s, Leinster (and a spell with Connacht) was worthy of higher honours – especially at a time when there was a revolving door In Ireland’s second row, with Neil Francis the only consistent selection as Mick Galwey, Richard Costello, Brian Rigney, Davy Tweed and Gabriel Fulcher were all trialled in the engine room.
Jameson, who was loved by front rows for his scrum power, was a source of secure possession in the lineout and gave a hard edge to every pack he played for.
5 BRIAN CUSACK (Bective Rangers, Lansdowne)
WHEN Malcolm O’Kelly came on the scene in the mid-1990s, he set the bar incredibly high for Leinster second rows but the 6ft7in Cusack was a supreme ball winner out of touch – especially in the pre-lifting days. After rugby turned professional in 1995, he earned a two-year stint with elite English side Bath. Cusack had a run of games for Ireland A but although he made the Development tour to New Zealand in 1997, senior honours never followed.
6 CHRIS PIM (Old Wesley)
A HERO in Old Wesley where he forged a reputation as one of the most formidable backrows on the Irish scene in the late 1980s and 1990s, Pim – like Jameson – is regarded as deeply unlucky not to have been capped.
He made his Leinster debut in 1988 and up to his retirement in the mid-1990s, flankers Don Whittle, Phil Lawlor, Paul Hogan and Ken O’Connell were all given a go, but never Pim.
Fiercely competitive, he relished making his physical presence felt for club and province, his workrate and commitment hugely valued at Leinster where he featured regularly as captain (leading the side in their first European Cup outing against Milan in 1995).
7 LIAM TOLAND (Lansdowne)
THE Limerick man played for Munster all the way up to senior level but the peak of his career coincided with a move to Lansdowne and Leinster in the late 1990s.
The competition for the Ireland No7 jersey was intense but Toland undoubtedly had the ability for international rugby, the Army man’s supreme fitness and natural footballing intelligence nailing down the openside position and captaincy with Leinster while garnering a string of Ireland A appearances.
At a time when there was a misguided preference for players based overseas, Toland has every reason to question why he was never capped while the honour was dubiously awarded to the likes of Englishmen Dylan O’Grady and David Erskine, journeymen who never played club rugby on this island.
8 DEAN OSWALD (Blackrock)
FORMER Ireland second row Jim Glennon, who coached Oswald at Leinster, put it best. ‘He was outstanding, simply outstanding. If the naturalisation laws now were in place in those days, Oswald would have been an Irish international, no question.’
Oswald had arrived over to Blackrock from New Zealand, via Pontypool, in 1993 and quickly made his presence felt on Eddie O’Sullivan’s side that lost the 1994 title to Garryowen. Viewed as one of the hardest players to have played AIL, he is one of the few Leinster forwards to have earned the admiration of the Limerick clubs dominant at the time (Jameson and Pim were two others). He returned home in 1997 to work as a policeman and made headlines when rescuing a man and two boys from drowning in the Bay of Plenty in 2013.