A PENNY FOR the thoughts of the tourists who will head home without having had a chance to play in South Africa.
This is the reality of any campaign for any national team. Some people just don’t get to play and several of this Ireland squad would have known their chances were slim even before leaving Irish soil.
Unless there are any late changes ahead of tomorrow’s second Test, there will be nine players from the original 35-man squad who didn’t get game time in South Africa.
Oli Jager, Tom O’Toole, Cormac Izuchukwu, Cian Prendergast, Nick Timoney, Sam Prendergast, Jordan Larmour, Jimmy O’Brien, and Jacob Stockdale have plenty of talent between them but have proven surplus to matchday 23 requirements this time around.
Dave Hefferan and Nathan Doak arrived this week as reinforcements and will also be watching from the stands at Kings Park Stadium tomorrow in Durban.
You can imagine that many of these players are looking forward to a holiday, as with the starters and the subs, but they will all be hoping next season brings more progress with Ireland. Getting into a national squad is an achievement in its own right but these are ambitious men.
Jamie Osborne will head home with two Test starts at fullback on his CV, another big leap in his impressive rise, but the other two uncapped players from the travelling squad – Izuchukwu and Prendergast – will have to wait for their first taste of Test rugby.
21-year-old Prendergast is someone Ireland are excited about. They think he has the potential to compete with Jack Crowley for the number 10 jersey in the future but now it’s up to the Kildare man to transform from a prospect into a performer.
Prendergast turned down the chance to move to Connacht on loan next season not because he’s happy to be third or fourth-choice out-half in Leinster but because he is backing himself to take over in the number 10 shirt with his native province.
Farrell and his Ireland coaches will be watching closely after Prendergast did well on tour in South Africa.
“I think he has been great,” says Ireland defence coach Simon Easterby. “Lots of things come really naturally to him, more than a lot of players, so he has that advantage over a lot of people.
“Some of his passing, his kicking skills, but I think this period has been great for him but also great for us getting to know him, working with him and understanding him as a person and how he works. I think the more time he can have in the 10 jersey at club level will allow him to build.
“He’s clearly a special player, isn’t he? But like all good players, they’ve got to be rounded and they’ve got to be prepared to work hard and we believe that him coming on this trip will give him something to aspire to and there’s an opportunity in the early part of the season for him to really go hard at his position in Leinster.
“Then anything’s possible but he’s certainly a bright kid who has a huge amount to offer.”
24-year-old Izuchukwu has also made an impression in Ireland camp. There have been repeated mentions of his athleticism and to be fair, the Tullamore man is quite the sight in the flesh.
6ft 7ins tall, close to 120kg in lean weight, Ulster lock/blindside Izuchukwu is all fast-twitch fibres.
Again, Ireland will be tracking his progress with his province early next season with a view to the November Tests and a possible first cap.
“We had him on the Emerging Ireland tour [in 2022] and he’s a real good specimen, really eager young fella, hungry to learn,” says Ireland forwards coach Paul O’Connell.
“In fairness to Richie [Murphy] and Ulster, they just backed him towards the end of the season.
“He’s a fantastic specimen, he’s a big, heavy man but he moves really quickly, accelerates really well. I think it’s so important for an international forward to be able to move well and accelerate, whether it’s a breakdown, a kick chase, whether it’s a little half-gap you get on a small little pass and it gets you through a hole, it really can make the difference.
“Any time you have an athlete like that, who is then on top of it a great trainer, a good guy, willing to learn, eager, it’s a great opportunity for us. For him to come along here, train with us, try and force his way into the side, see how some of the older guys prepare, it’s brilliant for him.
“He has it. He has the football and he has the work ethic to be able to look at what they’re doing, copy, paste and edit it, and add it to his game.”
For now, Farrell hasn’t felt that Prendergast and Izuchukwu are ready for Test rugby but they’re firmly in his plans for the future.
The Ireland boss has a clear message: hit the ground running in 2024/25.
“In my opinion, you should only put them in when they’re good and ready,” says Farrell.
“The experience that they’ve had coming out here and the chats that they’ve had from the coaches and the feedback from training sessions, how we do things, how you plan to move on with them in the future, has been absolutely priceless.
“It’s now up to them. Hopefully their appetite is where it should be for the pre-season, for the start of the season.
“Like I always say to you and like I say to the players constantly, especially those guys you talk about, selection is up to them, not up to me.”
