SCANNELL HAS INTERNATIONAL CLASS
WHEN it was revealed that Munster had tried and failed to sign Australian hooker Stephen Moore after the last World Cup, their supporters reacted with anger.
Moore, as a veteran with a prominent global profile, was seen as precisely the type of famous figure who would help to invigorate a listing team.
And when it emerged that concerns within the IRFU about Moore stymieing the development of talented young hookers at Munster played a part in preventing the deal, the complaints only increased. A player like Niall Scannell could only benefit from training alongside Moore went a popular argument.
The deal never happened. Moore stayed in Australia. And Niall Scannell was brilliant on his debut for his country in Rome yesterday.
He was the accidental hooker in the Stadio Olimpico, benefitting from illness to captain Rory Best. He was also the best hooker on show, entirely eclipsing his cranky and diminished opposite number, Italian mainstay Leonardo Ghiraldini.
Scannell played his first game for his country in a team bent out of shape in Murrayfield a week earlier, and one of his primary duties would come at lineout time, an area of the game Best and Ireland were mediocre in against Scotland.
There were no concerns there, Scannell accurate and confident in his throwing when that was called upon. He was sound in a powerful scrum but he was at times brilliant in the loose, carrying with accuracy and force, and especially effectively in the first quarter when he, Robbie Henshaw and CJ Stander, softened and then shattered Italian resistance.
For a man who had no highly paid Australian to mentor him, Scannell has done rather well for himself.
In the winter of 2015, Munster could have done with the PR generated by signing Moore but they had pragmatic reasons for trying to bring in a new No2, given the injury problems they had to deal with in that position.
But Scannell was good enough to become a home-made solution, thriving for his province over the past 12 months as injury derailed Mike Sherry and Duncan Casey.
He has been brilliant under Rassie Erasmus this season, and was so comfortable here that it was reasonable to wonder if the country had been introduced to the man who will wear the jersey come the 2019 World Cup.
Assessments of any Irish performer must be instantly qualified by the poverty of the Italian display. They were brutal, and it is as well for Conor O’Shea that his job is seen as a medium-to-long term one; in the short term, they offer very little.
Yet that should be balanced in Scannell’s case by the rushed conditions in which he had to get ready for the match. Best fell ill on Thursday night, giving his deputy no more than 36 hours to make peace with the pressure of making his debut in a Six Nations match.
He thrived before being substituted for James Tracy after 62 minutes. Tracy was ahead of Scannell in the hooking order last November, when the Leinster player made his debut against Canada, but Scannell has been magnificent for Munster in their resurgence under Erasmus.
The expectation will be that, as captain, Best will return for the match against a big, weatherbeaten French scrum in a fortnight. But in Irish rugby and sport generally it is too readily assumed that the status quo should be maintained.
In an elite environment, form must be a decisive factor. Best was underpowered in Murrayfield, but he has delivered often enough for his country and for Schmidt that it seems inevitable he will be recalled for the French match.
But Scannell should, at the least, have given the coach and his assistants something to think on. He did not put a foot wrong – and this after he defied those who believed Munster could only solve their issues with the hooker position by spending a fortune on an import. Scannell can also enjoy victory in the sibling struggle with his brother to see who would be capped by Ireland first. In the autumn, Rory looked closer given his ability to play at 10, 12 and 13, a versatility that saw him as the 24th man for the win against Australia last November.
But the bullish impression made by his older brother could not be ignored. Scannell’s time is coming, and Best will be feeling a pressure that other contenders for his shirt like Sean Cronin have only fitfully applied.
Italian wretchedness made correcting the Murrayfield mess frankly straightforward for Ireland, but that should not dilute the good news in this performance that spread beyond Scannell.
CJ Stander was of course tremendous, and when Peter O’Mahony is fit again it will be Sean O’Brien with the fight on to keep his spot in the back row.
Conor Murray was in serene control, Paddy Jackson looked sharp, and Garry Ringrose scored a try that could have been a tribute act to an ageless one in Paris almost two decades ago.
Ireland righted themselves, helped to an important degree by an outstanding first-timer.
‘SOUND AND POWERFUL, SCANNELL WAS AT TIMES BRILLIANT’