I want to prove Schmidt wrong, insists O’Donoghue
GIVEN his form this season and not to mention the plethora of back-row options available to Joe Schmidt, it was always going to be a tough ask for Jack O’Donoghue to force his way into the reckoning for the November internationals.
The Waterford native hasn’t yet hit the same heights as last season that ultimately saw him make his international debut last November and later be capped for a second time on the summer tour in Japan.
Vying for a place in Munster’s starting XV with two Lions in CJ Stander and skipper Peter O’Mahony naturally makes it even more difficult to make an impression but with Johann van Graan taking over, O’Donoghue is very much looking at the coming weeks as a fresh start.
“There was that bit of frustration not being involved with Ireland in the November series,” the 23-yearold (right) admitted.
“But that frustration leads to motivation in this upcoming block of games to try and prove to Joe and the Ireland selectors that they maybe made a wrong decision and you should have been involved.
“But there was the chance to get some game-time which I probably lacked in the last month. I have put nearly two 80 minutes under my belt now and if I could get another one this weekend then I would really be in a good place, heading into Europe.”
It helps too that Andy Farrell has been in Limerick this week, assisting with training.
The Ireland defence coach is helping fill the gap while Van Graan seeks a new assistant and you can be sure that he is keeping a close eye on the Irish players who are currently on the fringes of selection.
“That should be an added bit of experience to get to chat to him and to get to see his mindset,” O’Donoghue maintained.
“I know from past experience that he and Jacques (Nienaber) had a very similar mindset. Nothing should be too different to us but it is obviously great for Felix (Jones) and Jerry (Flannery) as well to be able to cross paths with him.”
Van Graan arrived in Limerick last week but only took full control of proceedings on Monday.
He began by calling a team meeting to lay out his plans but, according to O’Donoghue, it will very much be slow and steady progress, primarily because of the timing of the South African’s arrival.
“We had a great meeting, the squad, all contracted players, the management,” O’Donoghue added. “Him and Rassie (Erasmus), they would have known each other and the game-plan is going to stay very much the same and he is not going to come in and change everything. “There might be one or two slight changes, but going forward, for the remainder of this season, he is very happy with the way things are going.
“It is a fresh start for us and Johann made that point that we all start on zero. No one is up on a pedestal or anything like that. Everyone is on a level playing field and some players need that in order to get their season off and running again.” A big performance from O’Donoghue against the Ospreys at Irish Independent Park on Saturday, could do just that.