Irish Daily Star - Inside Sport
21st CENTURY BOYS AMD GIRLS
Ireland has plenty of young talent waiting in the wings
The race to be the first Ireland men’s senior international rugby player born at the turn of the century is hotting up and, really, the surprise is we haven’t had one yet...
It is used to be getting old was measured by how young the doctors nurses and rookie policemen were starting to look.
But sports fans are in for the biggest shock for a hundred years as Generation 2000 come of age...
Cue, as Marlon Brando’s Kurtz says in Apocalypse Now, ‘the horr-rror’ of everybody of a certain age saying, ‘Oh…My…God, look at that guy’s date of birth!’
The women’s team have, they played 16-year-old Beibhinn Parsons as a 16-year-old in 2018 before she had even played a senior club game.
Leinster second-row Ryan Baird deserved the accolade for coming closest to but, born the previous July, he is five months short.
Contrast
By contrast England have eight millennials in their 36man Six Nations squad; Wales have three among 36, including 12-times capped Luis ReesZammit who was with the Lions in South Africa; Scotland have three in their 39.
Italy have six in their 33 strong squad including 15-times capped out-half Paolo Garbisi, 11-times capped scrumhalf Stephen Varney who is a 2001 baby and, try-scorer against England, Tomaso Menoncello who was born in, whisper it… 2002.
France have four in their 42-strong panel but their age profile is misleading when read this way — 1999 babies Romain Ntamack, Jean Baptiste Gros and Melvyn Jaminet have more than 40 caps between them.
Just why we are waiting on the first Irish player to become a Six Nations club member is hard to fathom, although a ‘settled’ team at Leinster who back-bone the national side may be partly responsible.
Connacht back-row Cian Prendergast is closest to a breakthrough, having been called up as an ‘extra’ player in the initial 37-strong Ireland training squad.
Should Andy Farrell decide on some rotation for Italy (he did last season starting Dave Kilcoyne, Will Connors and having Ryan Baird, Craig Casey on the bench) there could be a notable first.
If not, there could be quite a delay. Ireland’s post-Six Nation’s schedule is three All Blacks tests in New Zealand— although the possibility of adding the NZ Maoris and one other game has been floated.
The question as to whether Prendergast is ready has been answered by Farrell’s checking him out.
Moreover his body shape and style of play was evident last week in Paris — the Irishman is a ringer for an all-action Cameron Woki/Sebastien Gros type.
Rangy
“The comparison is relevant as Cian is certainly tall and rangy, he’s athletic with it and he’s got the ability to carry weight as well,” says Connacht assistant coach Pete Wilkins.
“So I think as he matures and fills out physically, he’s not a player who’s going to slow down or lose some of that dynamism because of it.
“He certainly has the physical attributes, he is big enough to go into second-row for us if we needed to, but you know, his dynamism is such that he probably is a No.6 at the minute.
“The key for Cian is that he’s tough and abrasive and even as a young bloke coming to train with us for the first time he was somebody who didn’t shirk collisions or contact elements of the game.
“It is very hard to instil in players but he’s got that innately and that’s a large part of his success.”
Of course, the notion Ireland would play a 20-year-old or a 21-year-old is not so outlandish — take Joey Carbery against the All Blacks in 2016.
“My 21st birthday was actually the Thursday before the game and we actually went out to a steak house in Chicago,” he remembers of the buildup to an historic victory.
“That turned out to be a brilliant sort of postponement because we were celebrating my 21st birthday that Saturday night on the back of Ireland having beaten the All Blacks for the first time ever.”
Athlete
The Ireland women’s side is far, far further down the road of pitching youngsters in. Stacey Flood is pointing to a different type of athlete arriving, with extra-curricular skills, to highlevel rugby.
“Being a girl and a woman in sport can actually be an advantage,” says the current international Sevens star and Ireland’s
15-a-side out-half.
“Because you are getting a range of sports in there and skills from all other sports that we can bring to rugby.
“So I think if you have the opportunity to play multi-sports because it adds to your game of rugby.
“For me, it was kind of just follow whatever was put in front of me and Sevens was put in front of me. I played soccer for Cambridge, GAA with Clanna Gael Fontenoy GAA and rugby for Railway Union.”
Parsons, who qualifies as a 21st Century baby, is the biggest single star in the Ireland set-up.
Her 2018 Ireland debut as a 16-year-old was her first ever game of senior rugby as IRFU domestic rules did not permit her play at adult level.
Parsons will be playing in her fifth Six Nations his season and Flood, putting the case for fasttracking young talent, says: “Being in there from a young age will just develop her so much quicker as a player because as a playmaker she is already amazing.
“Every time she touches that ball she’s electric and that’s exactly what you want to see from a winger. She can switch to defender seamlessly just as she can switch from 15s to Sevens.
“Going from the wing to Sevens is only going to increase her max speed, her ball skills, her contact skills, playing both is really beneficial.”
Meanwhile, Ireland’s men, lagging behind, wait on the first millennial and there are those starting to get their head above the parapet.
Leinster will start Jamie Osbourne in the iconic No.13 shirt against Ospreys this evening while prop Thomas Clarkson is on the bench.
While considering what happened when Munster’s babies won at Wasps, some very young Reds players have gained attention.
Hooker Scoot Buckley was Man of the Match in the Wasps game for instance. Out-half Jack Crowley, who Ronan O’Gara wanted to take to La Rochelle, wasn’t in Coventry but is a great prospect.
Pitch
Then there is crossover full-back Patrick Campbell, born 2002, who was a noted Cork GAA minor star and who lights up the Red jersey every time he takes the pitch.
Simon Zebo confesses he is a fan of a player some reckon he could call ‘mini-me’!
“Patrick is a good bit smaller than me and he’s an extremely talented young lad, he’s mad knee to learn.
“He’s got a super amount of talent as we saw in the Wasps game. He’s a really bright future ahead and if he keeps going at the same way he’s going, he’ll be a great player for Munster rugby going forward.”
Ulster scrum-half Nathan Doak, born in 2001, has been particularly impressive too this season.
Meanwhile Farrell says he will be bring assembling the usual number to training camp, circa 36/37 players, ahead of the game with Italy.
The first name we should be out for is Cian Prendergast, if he is there it could be a precursor to the biggest story of the week.