LAST YEAR, CJ Stander joked that Caelan Doris was going to take the Ireland number eight jersey he had been occupying.
The joke was actually shared between Stander and Doris’ dad.
And so it is that Munster man Stander has shifted to blindside flanker for tomorrow’s Six Nations opener against Scotland in Dublin, with head coach Andy Farrell handing Doris his Test debut in the eight shirt.
Stander is content to move back into the familiar number six jersey he wore for the first chapter of his Ireland career, and he smiled when recounting how he and Mr. Doris had spoken about the rise of the 21-year-old Leinster man last year.
“I actually just met his dad around seven months ago and he told me his son was coming through,” said Stander after Ireland’s captain’s run at the Aviva Stadium today.
“We were joking… I was joking about it that he’s going to take my spot. I said to him then just to make sure that he enjoys it and trains hard, like anyone else.
“Caelan is a great ballplayer, he’s got a good work-rate and he’s still young so there’s a lot more to come from him, I’d say.
“[Blindside] is a place I’m familiar with in this squad, it’s not really a big switch for me, it’s just a number change. I think my job there is to just make sure I get into space a little bit and work with the boys around me, give them an easier job.”
Stander’s move to six means that his Munster captain, Peter O’Mahony, drops out of Ireland’s starting XV for tomorrow and instead takes a spot on the bench.
Even with Josh van der Flier remaining at openside flanker, it means a very different-looking Irish back row to face the Scots, although assistant coach Simon Easterby is content that the starting trio can cover all bases.
“I think guys have to be pretty flexible,” said Easterby, a former back row for Ireland. “In the World Cup, we saw guys moving around a bit, Pete moved to seven, and we have to have that flexibility in that starting pack and guys coming off the bench.
“Caelan comes in for a well-deserved start and we’ve reshuffled a little bit but we have the added advantage of having the experience of Pete on the bench to cover across the back row. Every team has to be adaptable, particularly in the back row, so it doesn’t change things much.”
O’Mahony is regarded as one of the best lineout forwards in the game, meaning Ireland lose that specific skillset, but Easterby is confident the starting pack can adapt to the rejig.
“Pete has a world-class ability in the air and there’s not many better but we have to be able to adapt to the guys we’re using,” said Easterby. “We have the ability to challenge, we’re good on the floor, and making sure we’re not giving them the opportunity to challenge us. I think that’s something our groups have been working really well with.
“The new hookers coming in, it’s been a good challenge for them working with different guys, the callers and guys who are being lifted.
“We’re going to come up against a side who will try to put a lot of pressure on us, they’ve got some good guys in the air. We have to be able to manage that and take the ball where we can but we also have the advantage of experience off the bench in Dev [Toner] and Pete.”
Easterby insisted Ireland’s lineout calling duties will be shared tomorrow. Iain Henderson carried out this job at the World Cup, but James Ryan has been growing in the role with Leinster and has done it for Ireland on a handful of occasions too.
“Tomorrow will be a bit mixed, so we’ll have a bit of a moving feast. It won’t just be one person, we’re going to make sure we try to share the load,” said Easterby.
“To be fair, the guys have been interchanging since we’ve come together and hopefully tomorrow you’ll see the return on some of the good work we’ve been doing.”
Shameful stuff today from guys who backed themselves into a corner with their “a shag the league it’s all about may 22nd” talk. No touch no pride and no balls. Yet again Kingston is silent post match. I wish tipp well but they beat nothing.
Is it not just a case of cork not having the hurlers
It’s a very worrying time to be a cork fan. We use to be a period dual county challenging for final and hurling honours every year. Now we will be lucky to get one day out in croke park a year. Before we know it we will be like Offaly reliving part glories
Problems stem from county board
Excuse me Offaly are on a winning streak!
County teams thrive when town teams go well. When the town clubs struggle the county struggles… Bar Dublin that’s the fact of the matter that the gaa needs to tackle
Cork reaping what they sow. They neglected underage structures, assuming that they would just find hurlers, like they have always done in the past. Have sorted it out underage now though, won a clean sweep of underage titles last year, u14,u15,u16 so the sleeping giant is waking up, might take 20 years to come through but then watch out.
Kingston read the first half of the book on sweepers. Extra man back, mop up ball ala DeBurca, other defenders just hold off Tipp forwards. But once the sweeper actually got the ball he was clueless. No idea how to utilise the possession up front. No idea how to pick out an out numbered forward. Hitting balls to team mates in the middle of the park, that were in 50/50 positions at best. Painful stuff to watch, Tipp never had to break a sweat and just picked off the easy points
Spot on and it’s destroyed club hurling as well.
Black mark also against Cork juvenile “supporters” for persistant jeering of Tipp freetakers. Where did that example come from?
It was a hard day to hurl with the wind and rain but having watched the game I think Tipp can go a long way this year .
Tipp on a dry day will be better
Shambolic. And I bet .. To add insult to injury Frank Murphy told them that they were only getting ham sandwiches no butter and to make their own way home..
The sweeper system work in that the didn’t concede a goal but my god how brain dead were they using a sweeper for our own puck outs. I would be surprised if we won any of our own puck outs.
I’m sure cork people aren’t interested in the opinions of a Kilkenny man, but here goes. Certain teams ( not just Cork) are applying these new tactics in hurling , sweeper system , flood the break down areas etc…..but it doesn’t get away from the fact the two most successful teams in the last number of years Tipp and KK still stick to the standard positions in Hurling . When Cork were last successful playing more of a running/ short passing game , it was still 15 on 15 , with each player in a battle with his opposite man with the belief that if you won the majority of the battles you won the match … And I think it still stands true today.
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it .
As a Cork man I am more than happy to hear your opinion. In fact I agree with you 100%. We have a suspect defence, and a very good forward line – until new players come into our defence to improve it I would much rather we try outscore teams and leak scores than deprive our forwards and play a muck brand of hurling. Sweeper systems may suit Clare, WFord etc, but I know Cork fans are horrified at the thought of us having it. And as you said, KK and Tipp don’t use them. I just hope we stop using it and start playing our own brand again.
Something seriously wrong with Cork GAS.
With this sweeper abomination hurling is danger of turning into that awful snore fest lacking basic skills that is Gaelic football
Cork GAA.
The rot starts with Murphy, Cork’s President-for-life.
How bloody boring is gaa. Every day on rte news they go through all the boring divisions of minor this and that. Has a disproportionate coverage.
Shock horror biggest sport in the country gets lions share of the coverage. Don’t turn on sky news for fear your head will explode
am i the only one who thinks it was a good idea for Cork to continue with the sweeper. The cork backline needed to be shored up and the more time William Egan gets in that role the better he’ll get, Cork would’ve been destroyed had they not used a sweeper. it’ll take time for this Cork team to fully acclimatise to the sweeper system but they’ll be better for it.
There are an amount of that Cork team not good enough for inter county hurling. Cork will not contest for major honours again for a very long time irrespective of the system they play.
Hurling needs Cork to play the old game and consign this negative ‘sweeper’ system to history. It’s just an admission of inferiority in the traditional skills and when Cork go down that road it’s fair to say that Hurling is in serious trouble.
I’m hoping that the big two, Tipp and Kilkenny beat the daylights out of the ‘sweeper’ counties, who are having great, but boring, games against one another and at least we’ll see some serious Hurling this year.
Same conditions for both teams but in saying that Cork are very poor.
This ‘sweeper’ fad is destroying open hurling.. If you can pick off points and take your frees you’ll win. Goals win games and create excitement. Obviously winning is everything for inter county teams but sacrificing excitement for results is ruining the game for spectators.
The better team will win the majority of the time but the fans want open, exciting and if possible goal fest hurling.. If this trend continues I can see more armchair spectators …
Well done to Tipp senior and intermediate teams. Having witnessed majestic Cork teams down through the years it’s sad to now see a Cork senior hurling team that’s afraid to play hurling.