HE HAS FOUR international caps to his name already, but there’s little doubt that tomorrow will be the biggest occasion yet for John Cooney in an Ireland shirt if he gets off the bench.
With Luke McGrath and Kieran Marmion out injured, the Ulster scrum-half provides back-up to the returning Conor Murray for the Six Nations opener against England [KO 4.45pm, Virgin Media One].
Not that Cooney is only in this position because of the injuries to his rivals in Ireland’s scrum-half pecking order. The 28-year-old has been superb for Ulster over the last two seasons, having shifted north from Connacht in 2017, and deserves his shot.
Even recently, the halfback returned from a back issue to shine for his province in their Heineken Champions Cup win over Leicester, coming off to bench as Ulster made a stirring comeback to secure a quarter-final place.
His Test career so far amounts to 83 minutes across four appearances against Japan, Australia, USA and Italy, with his first and only start having arrived against the US last November.
Although it seems likely that Murray will play the majority of tomorrow’s game, Cooney is well primed to make his Six Nations debut if called upon.
His provincial and international captain, Rory Best, says Cooney has shown an ability to step up for his team in tough circumstances.
“I think he’s been really good for us,” says Best. “I think John has carried a few niggles into big games for us when we needed him to play.
“He came back in that Leicester game and gave us that injection, while I think we were a lot better at the breakdown when he came on, to be fair to Dave Shanahan.
“But little moments like that touchline conversion to take it from 13-5 to 13-7; they’re massive moments because that automatically gets us to a point that if we score again we have a conversion to go ahead.
“They’re the little moments that John has been really big in. Look, he’s a big game player and he’s going to need that.
“Like anything, you need a little bit of luck and he’s got that little bit of luck with the two boys who have been brilliant every time something has been asked of them – Luke and Kieran Marmion, they have really stepped up. They’re both injured now.
“It’s unfortunate for them but it’s a massive opportunity for Coons and I have no doubt that if and when he’s called upon he will step up and he will be big in the game.”
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Might meet again in the final dont think we all can go through that again beat scotland first then new zealand who still scare me
@Sèan: NZ are always capable of bearing anyone. I agree, I don’t want to play SA again but I think they might struggle against France. France are more than a match for them up front and better behind the scrum. I fancy France to win that one, even without Dupont.
@rayridge….if there was an award for bellend of the weekend you would undoubtedly have it on your mantlepiece
The IRFU are writing a letter asking can’t we be the 33rd team, oh sorry that was the FAI. The IRFU are writing a letter can’t New Zealander Ben O’ Keefe be the referee if we get to play New Zealand in the quarter finals. #benyoubeauty
@Ray Ridge: Good man Ray
@Ray Ridge: he was a great ref for SA , gave them a lot of soft penalties in that second half
@Ray Ridge: what do you get from this BS.
@chris mcdonnell: if he called if for SA he gets an excuse?
@Owen ODonoghue: and as the over head camera showed a few times, they were the first to engage..
Delighted rassie was on the losing side,with his ridiculous shining lights at his team.he almost ruined a good Munster team when he was in charge of them…s.a rugby is terrible to watch with bash bosh up the middle ,dreadful stuff altogether. I hope France wind up meeting them and send them home ! And I hope the stamp on jvdf’s hand is being looked at and consequences dished out.nasty stuff
Can see us getting close to a final with that lineout.
@tom o neill: The lineout will be fixed. Remember Kelleher has only a small amount of game time this season and Sheenan looked good when he came on.
@tom o neill: we just beat the world champions with that lineout, we won a grand slam with the same lineout. We have some of the URC champions and the champions cup finalist in that lineout. We don’t seem to have lost too many games so far with that lineout.
@chris mcdonnell: I’d say we beat them in spite of that lineout might be more constructive?
Whatever happened to jamrag?