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Leinster backing 20-year-old prospect Clarkson to step up at tighthead prop

Meanwhile, there is excitement about 21-year-old hooker Dan Sheehan’s potential.

IN TADHG FURLONG and Andrew Porter, Leinster have the two top tighthead props in the country.

It’s a fantastic reality for the province but it also means that those key players are absent during international windows, as is the case in so many areas of the pitch for a Leinster squad that is the bulk supplier for Ireland.

Leinster pride themselves on their squad depth too, however, and the coming months will see them challenged at tighthead. 

tadhg-furlong-tackled-by-hamza-kaabeche-and-felix-lambey Tadhg Furlong is now part of Ireland's leadership group. Gary Carr / INPHO Gary Carr / INPHO / INPHO

34-year-old Michael Bent and 24-year-old Vakh Abdaladze are both part of the tighthead depth chart in the senior squad, but the latter is now struggling with a recurrence of the back injury he suffered with last season.

Abdaladze has had back issues before that too and speaking yesterday, Leinster head coach Leo Cullen said there is “huge amount of uncertainty” for the young tighthead as he seeks further medical opinion on the issue.

“I’m being very vague here because I don’t honestly know what the answer is but we’re doing everything for Vakh and we’ll try and get him fixed up but it’s very uncertain at the moment,” said Cullen.

Leinster had expected to have 22-year-old Hawaiian native Roman Salanoa in their tighthead stocks into next season too, but a late move to Munster scuppered that. Salanoa’s inter-provincial switch came after Year 3 academy prop Jack Aungier had already agreed a move to Connacht.

The worry in all of this is that when Furlong and Porter head off to Ireland camp in late October for a run of six Tests in seven weeks that lasts into December, the experienced Bent could be left with a huge workload on his hands in the new 2020/21 Pro14 season.

Obviously, Leinster and Abdaladze hope they can find a solution for his back issue, but they’re also confident that 20-year-old tighthead Thomas Clarkson, who is now into Year 2 of the academy, can bridge the gap this autumn if, and likely when, pressed into senior action.

Clarkson has been a key man for the Ireland U20s over the last two seasons, helping them to a Grand Slam last year and then three wins from three in the 2020 campaign that was confirmed as cancelled yesterday.

So while it might be a challenge for Leinster, they’re excited about the potential Trinity man Clarkson – who is training with them in pre-season – has shown, according to assistant coach and scrum specialist Robin McBryde.

thomas-clarkson Thomas Clarkson is set to feature for Leinster's senior team this season. Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO

“Obviously we’re going to lose Andrew and Tadhg [in the autumn] but then it’s going to be an interesting mix,” said McBryde. “You’ve got the experience of Michael Bent and then you’ve got the young prospect of Thomas Clarkson, who has pretty much played every single minute of each Ireland U20 match over the last couple of seasons.

“His integration into the group has been fantastic really and we were just commenting earlier as coaches, looking back on the footage of today’s training, how well he has fitted in and adapted to the different demands, the step-up into this environment.

“He’s a really exciting player, so there’s a couple of ways we could play with that. You could start with experience and bring on some youth. Or you can start with the youngster, let him make a couple of mistakes maybe, and then bring the experienced head off the bench and finish the game off.

“It’s an interesting combination but between the four of them, it’s a great mix to have.”

Leinster bringing through exciting young players is nothing new, to be fair, and there are several others hoping to make their mark this season. 

Academy graduates Tommy O’Brien, Jack Dunne, Harry Byrne, and Ryan Baird have already featured in the senior team, while the last two of those four have trained with Andy Farrell’s Ireland, but hooker Dan Sheehan has yet to get his debut.

21-year-old Sheehan has been impressive for Trinity and Lansdowne in the AIL in recent seasons and is a big athlete at 6ft 3ins and over 110kg. 

He has stiff competition at hooker in Ronan Kelleher, Sean Cronin, and James Tracy – all Ireland internationals – but Leinster are similarly excited about Sheehan’s potential.

dan-sheehan Lansdowne man Dan Sheehan is highly-rated. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO

“You look at the growth that’s left in players and he’s definitely one who has got so much growth left in him,” said McBryde.

“He’s got a great arm, he just needs to be able to control it a little bit but I think he’s got the quickest arm here among the hookers currently. He can really zip that ball quite a distance.

“It will be interesting and again he has fitted in well with the group, stepped up to the level, the intensity. He’s great with ball in hand, defensively he’s pretty solid, so he’s another one that you know is going to be around for years. It’s not a question of if he’s going to get an opportunity, it’s when the opportunity is going to present itself to him.

“His physical stature, he’s a big man, one of the modern-day hookers, and that alone sets him apart from a lot of other hookers, so I’m looking forward to working with Dan as well.”

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    Mute Jim Demps
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    Aug 6th 2020, 6:30 PM

    Hopefully Abdaladze can get over his injury problems. The back is a horrible one to have for a young guy and notoriously difficult to get to the root of and I guess it’s made even worse by his position of choice. I’d have thought the extended down time would have helped him but it must be pretty serious if that didn’t help it clear up. Hopefully it gets sorted and he can be back playing by the time the internationals are away or else Leinster will be pretty lean there.

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    Mute Chris Mc
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    Aug 6th 2020, 9:30 PM

    @Jim Demps: again that’s Roman was mad to move. He’s 3rd or 4th at munster and unless there’s injuries the munster tightheads won’t realistically be away with Ireland.

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    Mute Jim Demps
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    Aug 6th 2020, 9:45 PM

    @Chris Mc: if ye get caught short we can always loan ye a player for a few weeks. No hassle and glad to help.

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    Mute Will
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    Aug 6th 2020, 10:22 PM

    @Jim Demps: Sorry Jim, shop is now closed. You can keep your compliments haha

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    Mute Chris Mc
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    Aug 6th 2020, 10:54 PM

    @Jim Demps: it’s OK Jim we scrap through but thanks for the offer.

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    Mute Gareth Ward
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    Aug 7th 2020, 10:57 AM

    @Chris Mc: Well he could find himself first choice for munster very soon if things go well for him. Ryan and Archer are not up to much, so there’s an opportunity there for him or Knox to step up to the starting position.

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    Mute Kevin Ryan
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    Aug 6th 2020, 8:21 PM

    After his performances in the U20’s in 2019 I’ve been optimistic about Thomas Clarkson as the next big thing as an Irish TH. I did hear some criticism of him last year about his lack of size – stats seem to say 113kg. Any views? Switch to LH as he seems pretty mobile?

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    Mute Éamann Ó Duinn
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    Aug 6th 2020, 11:43 PM

    @Kevin Ryan: Was thinking the same although Ireland at youth level are always a bit undersized, not in height but in bulk, you could see that the likes of France, England always have players carrying at least 5-12kg more in weight in the forwards, easily noticeable when you compare the Locks.

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    Mute Harry O'Callaghan
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    Aug 7th 2020, 12:54 AM

    @Kevin Ryan: He’s definitely too light for tight head, especially when you compare him to the top props Tadhg Furlong 122kg Tendai Mtawarira 120kg Frans Malherbe 125kg Dan Cole 123kg Nepo Laulala 122kg Allan Alaalatoa 125kg Rhys Carre 138kg Demba Bamba 123kg He’d even be a pretty average sized loose head. Im sure he’s put on a few lbs over the last few months though.

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    Mute Dan Finlay
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    Aug 7th 2020, 1:25 AM

    @Kevin Ryan: we seem obsessed with size and weight in Ireland. The lad is only 20years old, he’s a baby. As someone has mentioned in the comments already, our lads are always on the small size at that age. As Greg Feek said, good technique beats size. If the stories throughout the provinces are anything to go by I’m sure many of the young lads have beefed up, but that in itself is a fine balancing act as seen in props such as Healy and Porter in the past.

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    Mute Harry O'Callaghan
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    Aug 7th 2020, 3:45 AM

    @Dan Finlay: we’re certainly not obsessed with size. We are up to standards with every other country in terms of the size of players. I agree, technique is important but the game has definitely moved on. Players are much much bigger now. Clarkson is big but he’s not incredibly skillful, like a lot of the big tight heads nowadays eg. Furlong or Ofa Tu’ungafasi for NZ who’s 6ft 4 and 21 stone. These players are big and can off load, Rick, run. They’re so dynamic. We need to bring in size and power combined with great skill and footballing ability if we are to win anything major internationally

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    Mute Chris Mc
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    Aug 7th 2020, 10:27 AM

    @Harry O’Callaghan: hes only a baby, he will get bigger no question. The way the game is going scrums will be less and less of weapon and playing ability will be more important

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    Mute DeWitt
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    Aug 6th 2020, 8:28 PM

    Big responsibility on the young man

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    Mute Harry O'Callaghan
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    Aug 7th 2020, 12:32 AM

    Jesus that Dan Sheehan lad looks like he could do a job at number 8 or at lock haha

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