FOLLOWING ON FROM yesterday’s look at Ireland’s front-row options for the Six Nations, we turn our attention to the second row today.
Andy Farrell has just four locks in the 36-man group that travelled to Portugal today for a week-long training camp, with World Cup starters Iain Henderson and James Ryan on board again, while Devin Toner and Ultan Dillane return to the squad after missing out on the trip to Japan.
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Second row
Ultan Dillane [Connacht, 14 caps]
Iain Henderson [Ulster, 53]
James Ryan [Leinster, 23]
Devin Toner [Leinster, 67]
The return of Leinster man Toner has been well-received after the towering Meath man was a shock omission from Joe Schmidt’s World Cup squad.
Toner was as surprised as anyone at Schmidt’s decision to include Munster man Jean Kleyn instead, but he has responded to the disappointment in impressive fashion with Leinster, racking up 830 minutes of action and performing very solidly. Toner’s work-rate, restarts, lineout, tackling, and rucking have all been of high quality.
The 33-year-old is now tasked with breaking up the World Cup starting second row pairing of Henderson and Ryan. It seems certain it won’t be the latter making way if Farrell does fancy a change.
Explosive 23-year-old Ryan is one of Ireland’s key players and already an ultra-consistent performer at Test level. His average of two metres per carry this season is second only to Leinster hooker Rónan Kelleher in terms of the tight-five forwards in Ireland’s squad.
Ryan is a seriously effective chop tackler, with a 98% success rate this season so far, while he has also become an elite defensive lineout jumper, making a position-leading seven steals in the current campaign. That defensive quality, usually at the front of the lineout, will be of particular interest to Farrell if he opts to go without Peter O’Mahony in his back row.
In terms of Ireland’s own lineout, it will be interesting to see who runs it. Henderson was the primary lineout caller during the World Cup but Ryan’s understanding of this area is continuing to grow and he may well be ready to assume the calling role, particularly if Henderson and Toner are vying closely for the other lock slot.
Ryan’s work-rate is exceptional, allowing him to get through huge amounts of ruck work along with his usual high numbers of carries and tackles. Ryan also scrummages on the tighthead side of the scrum and is powerful in that department.
The most exciting thing about Ryan is that he has so much scope to improve as a player. The hope is that Farrell and co. will push Ryan to continue improving his passing, offloading, footwork, decision-making, vision, choke tackling, stripping in tackles, and much more. Ryan has the potential to be a truly complete second row.
Ulster lock Henderson wasn’t at his best during last year’s World Cup, his second visit to the tournament, but is an experienced Test second row with lots of qualities. At his best, the Ulster captain’s ball-carrying is excellent, featuring good footwork and leg drive. He has beaten 11 defenders this season – easily the best in this position.
Henderson is by some distance the biggest turnover threat around the pitch among Ireland’s second row options, with four jackal turnovers at the breakdown this season, and a further four in tackles. It’s a skillset the other locks simply don’t have.
As mentioned above, Henderson can run the lineout but he is not as intuitive a defensive lineout jumper as Ryan and has yet to pick off an opposition throw this season. Toner has also been more successful in this area, with five lineout steals in the current campaign.
Of course, Toner didn’t feature at the World Cup and so Henderson has had the more recent Test rugby but Farrell knows all about what the Leinster totem can offer thanks to his 67 caps.
Toner’s level-headed demeanour has worked well in tandem with Ryan in the past, although it would make some sense for Farrell to back 27-year-old Henderson and 23-year-old Ryan to continue a locking partnership that only properly launched last season.
If Farrell can get Henderson to deliver the destructiveness he is capable of on a consistent basis alongside Ryan, he would have an aggressive, potentially dominant second row pairing.
Of course, Connacht man Dillane is also in the mix with Ireland, even if he is less experienced than the other three options available to Farrell.
When Dillane burst through England’s defence at Twickenham on his debut as a replacement at Twickenham in 2016, he looked destined to become a real feature in Ireland’s squad. It hasn’t quite worked out that way and Schmidt often preferred bulkier locks like Quinn Roux and Jean Kleyn in his squad.
Dillane is an outstanding athlete, built of fast-twitch fibres, but he has had to work hard to round out his second-row skills in terms of the maul, ruck, work-rate, restarts, and those less glamorous areas of the job. The 26-year-old has shown improvement in all of them.
Dillane’s average carry of 1.69 metres this season has him ahead of Henderson and Toner, while the Connacht man has beaten five defenders. Four lineout steals show his value in that area too, and he has demonstrated defensive consistency with a tackle rate of 92.5%.
Dillane is a very tempting bench option for Farrell given his change-up power, and would even perhaps make more sense than the less dynamic Toner if Ireland opt for a starting pairing of Ryan and Henderson again. That said, Henderson could offer bench impact if Ryan and Toner start.
And so, Farrell has a big call to make in his starting second row and also on the bench. Back Henderson and Ryan to continue their partnership, or turn to Toner’s strong form and his understated form of leadership?
It’s eminently possible that Ryan will become Ireland’s primary lineout caller as well as tighthead lock in this campaign, with Henderson, Toner, and Dillane rotating in and out of the loosehead lock and bench slots.
Should Ryan suffer injury, Toner will almost certainly slot into the tighthead slot, which he occupied in the years after Paul O’Connell’s retirement and Ryan’s emergence.
Possible Ireland second row v Scotland: Iain Henderson, James Ryan
Possible Ireland bench lock: Devin Toner
Tomorrow on The42, we’ll take a closer look at Andy Farrell’s options in the back row.
Serious atmosphere here in Cavan. This is exactly where you want to be playing the All Ireland Champions. Whatever the result these games against the top 4 will stand to us in the summer months
It’s exactly the gate the county board needed as well
Mind blowing that people would actually travel to watch that rubbish sport.
@Ordinary lad: the much “hyped” Irish Rugby team lost yesterday. How much money do those lads earn?
Mind blowing that someone would take the time to open an article about a sport they consider to be ‘rubbish’ and then take the time to comment on it.
How can a team that receives €120k in funding compete against a team that receives €1.4million
Hahaha give over Al . Deep down you love the gaa
@Alan b..: Sure all the money we’ll be spending here we’ll double that funding for you pal ;)
a decent workout so far get rid of the Jamaican rum and redstripe against another nordie team who’s sole intention is to pull drag and hit off the ball.
Don’t know what game your watching. The hits off the ball have been 50:50.
Eh cavan is in the south of Ireland Einstein
fergal reilly should count himself lucky to share a pitch with these wonderful dublin footballers instead of going around like a drunk at a wedding looking for a fight.
That was stared by the Dublin man on the ground. You’re incredibly anti ulster football
And then mdma was the first man to get involved.
And who look for a figth at a wedding
ah lorcan stop it now.
fergal reilly would.
it’s north of me ya tit
@Alan b..: that explains why the dubs were late they looked at a map and headed north. When did this geographical transplant take place.
don’t be a tit like alan cavan play in ulster which is up north so they are nordies.
Cavan is not in Northern Ireland you don’t cross the border or use sterling
I didn’t say it was in Northern Ireland .
What do you mean by nordie then?if you are calling them that cos they’re north of you does that mean someone from cork would class Dublin as a nordie team
if they wanted to yes beacuse they would be northern to a Cork person now cavan is in ulster and part of the Republic of Ireland beacuse the brits didn’t want the kip so yes you are nordies which we where stuck with.
Stop you’re just embarrassing yourself
What part of Dublin are you from?
what difference does it make?
cavan play in the ulster champions with the other 8 nordie counties it’s no big deal just accept it is the way it is don’t be embarrassed alan.
All the complaints about dublins fans. Have any other county brought a few thousand fans with them today ?
@Gavin Byrne: In comparison Dublin have a fan base of about 10 times what other counties have. So of course they will bring large numbers with them.
Fair play today they really brought a fantastic atmosphere and plenty of money to Cavan town today
That a few time in the last three years the cavan has been delayed because of the fans.
If the dubs can’t make it to croke park on time how do you expect them to make it to cavan on time
@Lorcán Coyle: Should know by now that nothing in Cavan ever starts on time, nearest fifteen minutes, sure that’ll do.!!!
Ref jersey looks too like Dubs
We’ll save that excuse for later
Massive achievement if Roscommon can some how stay up in Division 1.
Lorcan are u watching the match