HALF BAKED
FORM, AGE AND INJURY ENSURE HALF-BACKS WILL BE THE AREA OF GREATEST SCRUTINY FOR FARRELL AS RUGBY RESUMES
CONOR MURRAY was the story when Decl a n Kidney announced his squad for the World Cup in 2011. A memory remains vivid of a quiet 22-year-old at the announcement at the Ireland team hotel on a Monday morning in August that year. Murray had, to that point, played twice for Ireland, coming on as a replacement in World Cup warm-up matches for a total of 38 minutes.
He had started his first match for Munster only the previous March. Tomás O’Leary was, along with Luke Fitzgerald, one of two star names left out of the travelling party. O’Leary had been the starting scrum half for the 2009 Grand Slam, and had been due to tour with the Lions that year before suffering a serious ankle injury.
Kidney went for the promise of Murray over the established name, and by the end of a tournament that ended in familiar misery, Murray was Ireland’s first choice, a status he has enjoyed for a decade since.
Over the course of 10 seasons, Murray has become the best scrum half to play for Ireland, given his chance by Kidney, becoming an established leader under Joe Schmidt, and then trusted by Andy Farrell last season.
His status as one of the best No9s in the world was reflected in the selection for the 2013 Lions tour. Four years later, he was the starting scrum half on the tour of New Zealand.
But over the past two seasons, his form has slipped. A serious neck injury was a big complication, but once he had got his f i t ness back, his best f orm remained elusive.
Murray’s place was considered the main point of contention for Farrell when he took over from Schmidt, as the excellent form of John Cooney at Ulster presented the new head coach with a viable alternative.
In the three Tests Farrell has overseen so f ar, Murray has remained his man, but if that status endures through to the resumption of Test activity in three weeks, it will be due to the form of others as much as Murray’s own game.
He is not fit to play for Munster away to the Scarlets tomorrow, but Johann van Graan says the thigh injury he suffered against Leinster in the Pro14 semi-final will not prevent him being part of the Ireland squad.
Whether he is part of the team, though, could be as much about how Cooney fares on Ulster’s return.
Farrell will want to see as many of his players play in the opening two rounds of the league as possible, and f ew players will have as much reason to impress as Cooney. He and Murray are well proven as the two leading No9s in the national squad, but it is t heir order that needs to be decided. Cooney’s poor form for Ulster has been well ventilated, but Murray was not a great deal better for Munster.
One difference, perhaps, was that the latter was not as exposed given Munster’s highly conservative game-plans, especially in the two matches against Leinster.
Farrell’s selection in the Six Nations suggest that Murray will be given the start against Italy three weeks tomorrow. The disruption of the past six months will not convince a coach who has been cautious so far to take notable risks.
His desire to build on the remains of the Schmidt era, rather than bulldoze out the old in favour of the new, was most apparent i n picking Johnny Sexton to be his captain.
The veteran’s f orm was as patchy as Murray’s for Ireland last season, and he was under particular pressure at Twickenham in February as England ruthlessly squashed Irish plans.
Ireland’s failure to adapt to a blitz defence was replicated in Leinster’s loss to Saracens, with Sexton again left marginalised and frustrated.
Unlike with the scrum- half discussion, Sexton r emains clearly the best No10 in Irish rugby, but almost as important is the leadership he brings on the field. He is the most vocal player in the Irish squad, and this matters more in the time of empty stadia.
It was an unmistakable feature of Leinster’s abject defeat against Saracens. Whereas the English team was full of loud voices, Leinster, Sexton the exception, were quiet.
Even in a time when preparations and tactics are highly sophisticated, talkers are still important, and this Irish group isn’t coming down with them.
Before that Saracens match, Leinster head coach Stuart Lancaster talked about the tendency he has found in Irish players towards quietness.
‘A lot of Irish players are introverted’
‘A lot of Irish players are quite introverted; quiet, very detail- orientated, and supportive team players,’ he said.
‘There will be players like t hat I have coached in England. Equally, there will be one or two more extroverts in the England squad, which can be a strength because they will be the real drivers of energy; drivers of emotion.’
Sexton brings that more than any other player Farrell can call upon, and if it’s not reason on its own to keep him in the team, it is part of the case for keeping him in the side.
The out-half subject is, of course, complicated by the remarkable secrecy around the fitness of Joey Carbery. He is Sexton’s presumed successor, but if anyone knows when he’ll be fit to play again, they won’t say it publicly.
Whether this is indicative of the seriousness of Carbery’s injury, or another manifestation of Irish rugby’s determination t o keep as much from the public as it can, isn’t even known.
In a briefing with reporters this week, Johann van Graan brought no enlightenment, either. ‘Joey will be the same for a number of weeks and months. He’s doing very well but no update on the injury,’ he said.
That should mean Ross Byrne deputising for Sexton as he did in the spring – and as he does tonight.
Waiting game: Joey Carbery has injury issues
In the absence of Carbery or compelling cases for selection from elsewhere, Byrne is the next man standing.
More than that, though, he is the most persuasive candidate based on form.
His difficulty is that he has Sexton obscuring the path ahead at provincial and Test level.
The old guard will not be easily moved, but Ireland need inspiring autumns from both Murray and Sexton.