WITH TWO CHAMPIONS Cup starts now under his belt, the prospect of 21-year-old Leinster hooker Rónan Kelleher being involved in Ireland’s 2020 Six Nations is growing.
The youngster is clearly still learning the ropes in what is his first full season with the Leinster senior squad, but his potential is obvious.
A superb athlete who stands 6ft tall and weighs in at around 105kg, Kelleher’s acceleration and power have shone for Leinster early on this season as he has claimed the number two shirt in Sean Cronin’s injury-enforced absence.
Perhaps as impressively, Kelleher is skillful on the ball, with his intuitive passing and offloading skills hinting at the hooker’s days as a centre and wing earlier in his youth. Having moved through the back row, the former St Michael’s College student became a hooker full-time when he was 16.
Impressive performances for the Ireland U20s in 2017 and 2018 underlined that Leinster had a real prospect on their hands, though Kelleher has had to deal with injury frustrations in recent seasons.
Fully fit and more durable after an extended pre-season this year, Kelleher is now starting to fulfill his rich potential. He has not been error-free in his seven starts for Leo Cullen’s side, but his dynamism, skill, and energy have been impressive.
He has the Leinster maul to thank for some of his seven tries, but Kelleher offers plenty around the pitch. That the hooker has now stood up to a fiercely physical challenge away to Lyon in the Champions Cup last weekend, having made his European debut versus Benetton in Dublin a week earlier, suggests the 21-year-old could be ready for another step up in 2020.
The likes of Cronin, Niall Scannell, and Rob Herring will all be eyeing up Ireland’s number two shirt with Rory Best now retired, but new head coach Andy Farrell has surely been impressed with Kelleher’s emergence.
“He was very good,” said Leinster boss Cullen of Kelleher’s first two Champions Cup starts. “Rónan is going well, hence he has continued in the team.
“It’s a challenge for young guys coming through because you’re trying to add little things each week and not over-complicate things for him.
“He’s got some good experienced heads around him and he’s got some decent confidence. He got some exposure last year to the team and, again, that’s important.
“You see a couple of guys even this year who have had a little bit of exposure. For Rónan that last two weeks, making his debut against Treviso in Europe off the back of some good performances in the PRO14.
“Last week was actually Ports’ [Andrew Porter] first start in Europe in that Treviso game which is one that slipped under the radar. Josh Murphy came off the bench for his European debut against Lyon and that was Max [Deegan]‘s first start. So a couple of guys are picking up those bits of experience at the next level, which will serve us well later in the year.”
Cullen said it’s a matter for Farrell when asked if Kelleher would be ready to step up to Test rugby during the Six Nations, but stressed his happiness that Leinster’s hooking stocks are in good nick even without the injured Cronin.
“It’s the national coaches who make that decision and there’s still plenty of things to take place before the Six Nations,” said Cullen.
“I’d say they’re watching with great interest all the time but he’s definitely someone who’s pushing through under the radar… well he’s not under the radar, he’s very much centre at the moment.
“Sean Cronin has been out injured with that neck since the World Cup, he’s not a million miles away. James Tracy has gone really well for us this year, Bryan Byrne has been a little bit unlucky he hasn’t had as many opportunities. We’re lucky in that position that we’ve got some decent depth there.”
Kelleher is not the only young player to seize an opportunity in Leinster early on this season, with a raft of academy products beginning to break through.
The past two European weekends have been big ones for back row Max Deegan, who came off the bench early against Benetton before making his first European start at number eight away to Lyon.
The 23-year-old is another player who could be of national interest.
“Especially when you’re away in France, I think it’s a good test,” said Cullen of Deegan, who was World Rugby U20s Player of the Tournament.
“It was a bit of a dogfight over there, we had to dig in and Max played his part in that. He’s getting better all the time. In Galway, it was a good physical game down there and I thought he was good.
“The game against Treviso, Caelan [Doris] is a little bit unlucky, he gets a bang in the head early but he’s hopefully good to go this week so we’ll see how he comes back in. Max does well off the back of that.
“The competition is good for all of those guys, Josh Murphy has been excellent as well. Guys coming back from the World Cup too, Rhys [Ruddock] and Josh [van der Flier]. Obviously, Jack [Conan] came back injured, Dan Leavy is injured and it is an attritional position, the back row.”
Irelands problem the past few years has been down to not playing form players and playing players based on name. If there was an ireland game Saturday, Kelleher and Cooney should start.
@#JUSTICE4NOEL: I was saying that for about two years before the World Cup and got plenty of abuse for saying it too. Form players like Conway, cooney, Ruddock, Beirne, killer, Farrell, Haley never got a proper look in under schmidt. The 9 jersey is probably the one that highlights it the most. In the end everybody was scratching their head and wondering what went wrong when irelands best players were sitting watching from the stands. It’s all good though because now we can read about it in Schmidt’s new book.
@Jim Demps: You only mentioned the Munster players that should have been starting Jim, that’s why you were getting abuse!
Haley was nowhere near an Ireland team last year and rightly so, playing much better now though.
Really looking forward to a fresh look at things under Farrell, not to take away from Schmidt, still our most successful coach and has left quite a legacy but it’s hard not to be excited about something new.
@Jim Demps: the Munster players you said alright, but you never said you’d drop POM or Murray pre world cup even when their form was off
@Jim Demps: As a Munster fan myself, I can admit that Haley shouldn’t have been anywhere near the world cup squad!
@Jim Demps: about 2 years?? Up until 12 months ago the majority of the world cup team were the form players. They went from a grand slam, a winning summer series, an autumn series success, Leinster winning the league and Europe, only really since the turn of the year in all reality has the form dropped.
@Jim Demps: One eyed Jim doesn’t have a clue about Rugby.
@Declan Snow: I think that was the problem though wasn’t it? That Schmidt never showed that he picked on form. He had good players playing well but wouldn’t drop them when they weren’t. Beirne is a great example, only 4 starts at lock despite being one of the best second rows in Europe for the last 3 years.
@#JUSTICE4NOEL: Kelliher had 2 good games vs a depleted connacht and treviso. Vs Lyonshall he was average. But typical leinstrr crap ye have him down as a future lions captain! Rhys Marshall is shortly to be Irish qualified and is streets ahead of anyone else in Ireland!
@Kevin O’brien: wouldn’t agree with that sentiment, Kelleher is flying it, throw him into the Irish set up and see how he goes. I’d also have Marshall there but it doesn’t have to be one or the other.
@Jim Demps: don’t mind Kevin Jimbo, but the state of that post he has obviously has a few early drinks! It’s hard to even make sense of it.
Sober up Kevin!
@Tom McGirr: *by the state
@Jim Demps: Kelleher is the form hooker. He has been immense since breaking into the 1st team at Leinster. Will be 1at choice for Ireland for 6 nations in my opinion
@Jim Demps: there’s more to rugby then what your one eye sees…
@Kevin O’brien: Fantastic! Kelleher can now join the other Leinster players you’ve slated in the past (Sexton, Furlong, Ringrose, oh and Carbery until he moved). Your condemnation is a clear indicator of quality.
Maybe you should start slagging off some of your own players? Might turn out well.
@Jim Demps: Wait. What? One Eyed Jim turning another Leinster article into a Munster propaganda discussion? Can people not see past his juvenile games. Too much time on his hands.
@Kevin O’brien: kellaher is 10 times better than rhys marshall. Hes like sean cronin with a solid throw
Kelleher was quiet enough against Lyon last week. There is no doubt the potential is there but there is still room for improvement.
@John Maguire: he’s hooker and playing away in a tough European game, what exactly are you expecting him to do?
I have been very impressed with Kelleher since his Irish u20 days. He must be near an full Ireland squad call up at least. I believe Herring will probably be first choice at the moment and he too has been superb. His lineout throwing both long and short has been spot on recently allied to great work rate.
The future looks excellent for these guys. It remains to be seen how Farrel is going to operate now. For now we can only speculate which should be interesting.
Would love to see Kelleher in the Irish squad but he’s not the finished article by any means and still has a bit of work to do on his throwing and scrummaging compared to the other options.
Rob Herring has been the standout Irish hooker for me over the last two European weekends, particularly with his throwing and defence.
@EK: Herring has been the best hooker in Ireland for the past few seasons and has performed well on the rare occasions Schmidt selected him, it’s real mystery why he was never considered as a starting option.
@Rochelle: Wouldn’t go that far; there were a few questions over Herring’s scrummaging over the last two seasons and his throwing was of a similar standard to everyone else’s.
He’s always been very good in the loose though and looks to have tightened up his throwing this season. Here’s hoping he keeps up the good form in the run-up to next Spring.
Kelleher is certainly not finished getting better but he is good enough for the Irish team. I think Leinster are more than happy with him. Good enough for Leinster will most likely get him a spot and I sure hope so.
He’s not great in the scrum.
@Neil Murray: Speaking from experience? Whatever about judging a LH or TH from your armchair, you’re hard pushed to get a full idea of a hooker in there.
@Neil Murray: but he is though.
I think the next 6 nations should be revolved around players like Kelleher. Throw in Cooney, Eric O Sullivan, Deegan, T Farrell (if he can get fit in time) and Scott Penny also. Give them the challenge. I would prefer to see a young team hungry for it and learn lessons in defeat on year 1 of this new world cup cycle. You’ll know when a player is international standard by playing them at an international standard. A lot of these lads have overcome a lot of the challenges against strong teams in Europe! If anything it will cause the established guys to up the ante too.