Easterby defends hookers after lineout flop
IRELAND assistant coach Simon Easterby has defended his hookers after the lineout malfunctioned against England in the Autumn Nations Cup. Ireland’s set-piece problems cost them dearly after 20 minutes in Twickenham last weekend when Ronan Kelleher’s throw went beyond the grasp of Peter O’Mahony and found its way to Jonny May. The England wing punished the error with a remarkable solo try at the other end of the field. Ireland sacrificed possession from the set-piece deep in the English 22 again just moments later and Kelleher has come in for criticism for his accuracy throughout the contest. However, forwards coach Easterby yesterday highlighted the problem of Ireland’s movement when anticipating the ball from the Irish hooker at the lineout. ‘There has to be a line, I guess, where you can’t keep making errors, but I would say in defence of the hookers that there has to be a consistency in our movement, in our jumps, in preparation during the week and then the delivering of that at the weekend. ‘There was certainly an example of us not performing those drills that we did in the week and
taking them into the game. ‘What can look like an overthrow to the naked eye can actually be avoided by making sure the guys are consistent in their movement and their jumps. It looks like it’s slightly off because someone has created that change.’ James Ryan led the Irish pack as captain in Twickenham and Easterby says it is important that there is one man making the calls at the lineout as Ryan did last weekend. ‘I think it’s important you have probably more of a specific caller. ‘We would probably give responsibility to one guy on the attack side of the ball and then one of the others would look to focus on the defence side.’ Ireland have called up Ulster prop Eric O’Sullivan ahead of Sunday’s clash with Georgia in Dublin following injury to Ed Byrne but there have been no further additions despite calls for in-form youngsters like Craig Casey and Harry Byrne to be elevated. ‘There are players that are going well in their provinces and putting their hands up, but there are also players who have trained really well over the last couple of weeks that haven’t had opportunities with us,’ said Easterby. ‘We don’t want to just be handing out caps, we want to make sure that guys earn the right to get selected.’ Meanwhile, French rugby star Christophe Dominici has died at the age of 48. The news was announced by Stade Francais, where he played for 11 years, while he was capped 65 times by France between 1998 and 2007. Dominici was one of the big stars of the 1999 Rugby World Cup, particularly in France’s shock semi-final victory over New Zealand. Former Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll tweeted his condolences, saying: ‘Very sad to hear of the sudden passing of Christophe Dominici. A French player full of flair with huge success throughout his career. May he RIP.’