SO HERE HE comes, the latest candidate for Number Ten.
He may not have to go through the rigmarole of a leadership election but there is still an electorate he has to impress, a select group of two people, Andy Farrell and Mike Catt.
Tomorrow is his chance. Heavy rain and wind is forecast here in New Zealand’s capital; the rugby world keen to find out about Ciaran Frawley’s Wellington boot.
At 24, he’s hardly a kid and yet he remains untested, certainly at outhalf, a position he started just one game for Leinster this season. Beyond that he was certainly used, clocking up 1044 minutes over the course of the season, predominantly as an inside centre, although he can also play at 13 and 15.
“You don’t want to be that Jack of all trades,” he says.
In a sense, he’s right. In sporting parlance, a utility player is often code for someone who is not top drawer, the kind you trust for a wet February in Newport but not a sunny Saturday in Marseille.
Yet while he may not know it, Ciaran Frawley is in a privileged position. A year from now Farrell will only be able to bring 33 players to France, so having someone capable of doing a job in four different positions is the kind of CV that stays on a selector’s desk.
“I suppose being versatile is good for getting you into a match-day 23,” says Frawley. “But I was naturally a ten the whole way up so hopefully everything will organically work out for me.”
It’s all in his control. Tomorrow in Wellington he takes on the Maori All Blacks for a second time and what was really impressive about Frawley in his interview earlier today was the bluntness of his honesty. “The last game against the Maoris in Hamilton (which Ireland lost 32-17) wasn’t the best performance from myself but I am looking to accelerate on from that,” he said.
There’s a dual purpose for doing so. For starters, there’s guilt about losing that match in Hamilton. Tours like this are meant to build bonds to the extent that if someone gets cut, everyone bleeds. Flip that the other way, Saturday’s Test win in Dunedin boosted morale so the last thing the midweek team wants is to fail to build on that momentum.
“The three things we got wrong against the Maoris a couple of weeks ago were our kick chase, our defence and our discipline,” said Frawley. “We have had nearly two weeks to reflect on that and there are a lot of lads chomping at the bit now to get going. The coaches too are excited about seeing (whether) this group (can) grow up. We have learned a lot about what we got wrong.”
Now it is about putting it right.
“Look, it would be great for the whole group if we followed up on what happened in Dunedin because we are leading into a World Cup year and we don’t want to be just a Test team, we need to be a squad. We need to have depth. So, yes, there is that pressure, that responsibility. We just have to believe in ourselves.”
Self-confidence is not something Frawley is shy of – nor should he be. At 6”3 he is the biggest outhalf in Ireland, as good a tackler as Sexton, a decent ball striker, a slick enough handler.
The problem is he barely plays outhalf for Leinster who have the Byrne brothers when Sexton isn’t around. Still, they picked him 21 times this season. It’s not as if he was unemployed.
More to the point, we also should remind ourselves that Leinster weren’t always picking Jamison Gibson-Park to start their biggest games until Farrell did so. Things change quickly in rugby; this really is a pivotal night for Frawley.
“As you get that bit older, you want to be starting (big games) and if that is as a 10 or a 12, I don’t really mind. It helped me then when I moved to 12, to understand the game, to know that it is not really just crash ball anymore, it is having the two brains on the pitch to work it out.”
Tonight is about finding out which players can remember their lines at audition time and which ones are unsuitable for the part. It’s an unforgiving environment, international rugby. And one he’s desperate to stay in.
Imagine if Paisley has managed.. and of course lived a bit longer. At least same or better success – and a more attractive way of doing it.
Big Jack wasn’t bad though! God be with the days… those halcyon days.
Would Paisley have gone after Aldridge and Houghton? Then Townsend later. We will never know but those 2 made a big difference
Jesus make me feel old!
I’m surprised you know how to use a computer.
Do you remember it?? I wonder what style of play they would have adopted if paisley was the manager. Thing is if you study the squad back then and the clubs they played for and the position of the clubs at the time it’s not hard to see how anyone with a bit of managerial noise could make something from them. A lot of quality throughout and some of it was world class. Brady for example (although he was on the slide), bonner was also arguably world class, McGrath was world class and one of europes finest defenders, Sheedy, Laurensen, beglin, Whelan etc etc. A great time for sure.
And then likes of Aldridge and Houghton who were with Oxford I think. Way down the divisions. Playing for Ireland opened opportunities in those days.
Charlton in hindsight you might say could have done better, But he started out with a group without belief. Great days generally.
Oxford were in the old first division in the 1985-86 season
Yes and they won the league (milk) cup that year
Paisley is the most underrated manager of all time. 3 European Cups in 5 years. When you think that the Brit’s knighted Ferguson despite he not being able to achieve that in nearly 30 years. Bizarre.
Jack would never walk away like Keane did. How things and values have changed in all the years, now the Irish promote and appoint a person who abandoned his team and his country. Jack would have done what Mick Mc Carthy did and let Keane piss off.
Jack did an incredible job and gave us many great day’s and memories. Can’t help but wonder how Bob Paisley would’ve done. One of the all time greats.
Bob would have had a great team to work with. Not knocking the lads we have now but it’s hard to think of any of them being in the same class. Maybe younger Irish lads now don’t get the same chances they once did to develop with big clubs across the sea.
He had us playing shyte football but what memories..
Two polar opposites as managers , Paisley was a very very astute football manager who learned from Shankly and then proceeded to take Liverpool to the Pinnacle of football . His famous quote after buying Kenny Dalglish from Celtic for 440 thousand pounds was , ” Lets get out of here before they realise what they have done ” , But Charlton was a better fit for that Irish team
Shankly wanted Jack to replace him at Anfield so his stock must have been fairly high even in the 70s.
Very good read
Very good article but Paisley didn’t win 6 titles in 7 years was 6 in 8 which is great considering the amount of different sides who won it in the years previous. Paisley won titles in 76,77,79,80,82,83. Forest and Villa broke their sequence in 78 and 81 respectively. They won it then under Fagan in 84 then Dalglish in 86,88 and 90. Thankfully they haven’t won it since
Time to get over this shite!win something for a change!!
matt you do know that would be impossible don’t you.
John Giles had his time as manager
Any truth in the long running story that Johnny Giles was in a hotel around the corner while the vote was taking place, all the time under the impression he was about to be announced as the next manager? Jack’s appointment was always believed to be another FAI calamity with Giles as the undeserving casualty at the time.
Should’a, would’a, could’a…… Bill$hit….
Yeah right….
Ok