IT HAD BEEN more than two years since Max Deegan’s last time in an Ireland camp so this week’s return to the IRFU’s high performance centre has been welcome.
The Leinster back row obviously would have liked to be in the senior Ireland squad for today’s Six Nations clash with Wales, but captaining Ireland A in tomorrow’s game against England A [KO 1pm, Rugbypass TV] feels like a big opportunity to him.
Competition for back row places is as ferocious as ever for Ireland so Deegan won’t get a chance to add to his two Test caps at this stage. Yet he and his Ireland A team-mates believe that a good day tomorrow could tee them up for an even bigger chance on the senior tour to Georgia and Portugal in July when many frontliners will be on Lions duty.
“It’s a huge opportunity,” said 28-year-old Deegan.
“That was the first thing we spoke about when we came in here. People are at different levels and different stages of their careers but, all the same, it’s a massive opportunity for everyone and we’re unbelievably excited to rip into it.
“I feel like everyone wants to leave an impression in the coaches’ heads so when they’re looking at the squads and the team at the end of the season, it will be, ‘Jeez, he had a great week the last time he was in here.’”
Deegan made his Ireland debut against Wales in Andy Farrell’s second game in charge back in 2020 but didn’t feature again until his second cap against Fiji in November 2022, which came after the Leinster man had captained Emerging Ireland on their tour to South Africa.
He hasn’t been able to force his way into the senior side’s plans since but has been in good form this season, starting 10 of Leinster’s 15 games and making another two appearances off the bench.
But given the back row quality available to Ireland interim head coach Simon Easterby, it’s the A squad that has offered Deegan a way back into the building.
“I guess that’s just the nature of Irish rugby,” said Deegan. “I feel like you can either let it break you and you can give up, or you can just keep working hard and keep digging in when selection doesn’t go your way.
“Eventually, hopefully you’ll come through it as a better person, a stronger character, and get your opportunities and take them.
“Because that’s the thing, with so much competition, you’re not going to get opportunities all the time, so when you do get them, you need to grab them with both hands. So that’s my focus this week and I’m sure other players are doing the same thing.”
Easterby and the senior coaches will be in Bristol tomorrow to watch Ireland A following their game in Cardiff today, but the A team have their own coaching staff headed by Mike Prendergast.
The senior coaches will be expecting to see some familiar sights in Ireland’s approach.
“I’m sure Mike will put his own little spin on it but it is very similar to the main set-up,” said Deegan.
“There are a few little tweaks, we’re not going to play the exact same way. It’s not like we have a massive amount of time to learn how the seniors play. We’ll get their structures in place and most of us have been in that set-up whether with Emerging Ireland or the senior team and we kind of know how they play anyway.
“You can’t put too much emphasis on it because there are so many other parts of the game that you need to work on through the week.”
And the message to Ireland A has been that they need to focus on the collective systems rather than trying to pull a rabbit out of the hat by themselves.
“It’s something [defence coach] Seán O’Brien spoke about,” said Deegan.
“We’re there to make each other look better. If everyone has the same idea about how to do that then we will all look better out there on the pitch. If people go out doing individual things no one is going to look good and we’ll all struggle in the game.
“It’s all about making the guy beside you look good.”
great to see the Marist putting a huge effort in to sport they won the Connacht senior cup in rugby last year and young henshaw looks a future international. They obviously have a good football team too with some big gaa clubs like st brigids and garrycastle in the catchment area. They had a wonderful team about 20 years ago but were beaten in Leinster final replay by a packed st pats naval team