Following on from our tribute to Andrew Conway on our wrap pod and 80+ column, and also looking ahead to Saturday night’s visit to the RDS of the Scarlets, this week’s Throwback Thursday features our Harpin writeup from 2010 when the Llanelli region came to D4, a night which included the Conway’s first Leinster cap.
How many times does a player have to prove he can handle pressure?
Jonny Sexton did it coming on for Felipe at Croker. He did it again at Murrayfield. He did it at the RDS in his first Ireland start. He even did it whilst beating the 2009 Team of the Year.
And in many ways, with the taste of the first competitive defeat of the Kidney era still fresh on the palates of Irish fans, Saturday night’s Magners League contest against the Scarlets represented the 24-year-old’s biggest pressure outing of all.
With Ronan O’Gara shooting himself in both feet by whinging about a journalist, the stage was set to show he was worthy of stepping in at Twickenham next weekend.
So let’s see…how did he handle it?
22 of his side’s 27 points, including a try and 2 kicks from the touchline. Several crunching tackles. Tremendous versatility with the ball in hand. What the hell more do we want?
Let’s face it – we all know that O’Gara is a quality international out-half, but that’s just the point. WE ALL KNOW IT. And so do the other five nations. There’s a playbook on how to go up against him, and there’s no other country in this competition more likely to go by a playbook than Martin Johnson’s England.
So as well as another four Magners League points, Leinster fans were celebrating a display from their super Number 10 that surely has earned him the starting jumper.
We’ll see.
As for the rest of the team, well, to be honest they played like a unit that hasn’t been together in a long time, and guess what, that’s exactly what they were. Had it not been for McCusker’s blooper moment (see YouTube clip below) the outcome could have been very different, but I’m satisfied we did just enough over the 80 minutes to come out on top.
Despite putting in a strong performance himself on the night, it looks as though Girvan Dempsey’s hopes of making the 22 for the weekend are non-existent with the call up of Geordan Murphy to the squad. It looks like it’s between the Leicester Tiger and Keith Earls for the vacant 15 jersey.
And spare a thought for poor Sean O’Brien. He probably wouldn’t have started against England, but what an impact sub to have off the bench. It has been a great season for the Carlow man and it would be a shame if it were over for him already with so many big matches in the coming weeks.
Last, and certainly not least, even though it was only for a couple of minutes, what a debut from young Rock boy Andrew Conway. I blogged about a feature on him in Rugby World magazine last May and with a try-producing offload at one end and a try-saving tackle at the other in his brief appearance, he is surely one to watch.
Overall it was an entertaining Saturday evening at the RDS, even if it was kind of like Something Happens coming on to play one song halfway through a U2 gig.
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 