ADD PRESENTING TO Josh van der Flier’s list of skills. The Ireland openside guided his fellow forwards through a presentation in recent days. It was focused on ball-carrying.
Caelan Doris was among those who found it useful. He’s already operating at a world-class level and looks like he could be one of the stars of the World Cup, but Doris feels that he can improve everything about his game. So he took in van der Flier’s presentation with great interest.
“Josh has obviously developed his carry a lot over the last couple of years and he actually presented to us about some of the kind of things he has been working on,” said Doris yesterday in Tours.
“Sometimes for him, he’s obviously not the biggest man, so momentum and the speed you carry at… with footwork, I’m obviously often thinking of getting in between defenders, footwork to not go directly at them, whereas he sometimes thinks, ‘Just challenge someone in a one-v-one.’
“So, I’m trying to bring a little bit more of that into my game, just to have the variation.”
Doris himself has no problem with going route one. His massive carry through two Samoan defenders in the build-up to Jimmy O’Brien’s try in Ireland’s final warm-up game was the latest example. There was no subtlety about it.
“Sometimes the direct route is the best option, definitely,” said Doris. “Especially in those conditions.”
And yet, Doris is a player who has the full array of skills. His footwork is excellent, he passes and offloads skillfully, his tackling and jackling are strong, and he has great physical power.
He self-deprecatingly jokes that he’s going to present to his Ireland team-mates on the chip-and-chase next, having unsuccessfully attempted one against Samoa.
This is Doris’ first World Cup but he has gained plenty of experience since debuting in Andy Farrell’s first game in charge in 2020. Doris has 31 caps at this stage and believes he has become more consistent with that experience, but he doesn’t see himself as the complete article. Far from it.
Indeed, Doris says he feels he hasn’t played his best when it comes to finals, particularly with Leinster. So there’s more to come in this World Cup.
“Paul O’Connell has been throwing a quote at us for a while now, I think it’s from a Crossfit guy, something like, ‘When you master the basics, you go over them and look at them even more closely’.
“So a lot of that for me is being more consistent with my footwork, with my carry, picking the right option in terms of tips or minuses [passes], getting as many involvements in games as possible and breakdown decision-making. I had a few sloppy ones against Samoa, tidying those bits up, just trying to get it as complete as possible.
“Even simple things… we’ve got a few moves where a forward might pass the ball from a lineout or from a maul, accuracy on those passes. Just everything across the board.
“I think the last time I was speaking to you guys, the forwards had just done an exercise where the forwards, with Paul O’Connell, looking at where we can improve and setting out a plan for that.
“So all the guys have a pretty good plan and are on top of improving and maintaining strengths.”
It helps Doris that he has now played across the back row for Ireland. He’s a number eight by trade, has played plenty of rugby at blindside, and had his first Test start at openside against Italy in Ireland’s first World Cup warm-up game. Typically enough, he was player of the match.
While he might not spend a huge amount of time playing at number seven, Doris wants to have traditional openside traits in his game.
“Whether I have 8 or 6 on my back, I still want to have some elements of what an openside can do in terms of being a poach threat, in terms of causing chaos at defensive breakdowns, trying to make it messy for the attack, trying to slow the ball down by a second or two.
“Maybe not playing the nine’s arm anymore! I’m not getting away with that as much anymore.
“We know that when our attack is at its best, it’s probably quick ball and things are flowing from there, so on the other side, trying to not have other teams doing that in attack when we are in defence. I enjoy doing that.”
Doris has been getting plenty of public plaudits in recent years but he said he has become better at tuning out that kind of noise.
“I remember hearing Jamie Heaslip saying something like, ‘If you get inflated, you get deflated.’
“Probably my first year or two, I didn’t seek stuff out but I did see more than I do now. I try not to look at anything. I try not to have anything like that in my head or any other people’s expectations. I think my own are enough.”
Doris also keeps his ego in check by playing golf. He’s in esteemed company in the Ireland squad in that regard, with his 26 handicap meaning he’s left in others’ wake.
“I am a terrible, terrible golfer,” said Doris. “It’s not my sport. Whatever little amount of mobility I had a year ago is now gone as well. I’ll stick to the rugby I think.”
In terms of his day job, it also helps Doris that he’s part of an Ireland team who believe they have another level to go up at this World Cup.
They’ve had major success in the last two years, but Doris outlines how they know there’s more to come, even if it’s a case of going back to the future when it comes to their attack.
“We actually spoke about our period in November 2021 because a lot of our new attacking shape had come in at that period and it was at the forefront of our minds and we were trying to figure it out together,” said Doris.
“There were a lot of conversations happening and people taking each other up and asking how they were doing and whatnot.
“It was conducive to being right at the forefront and we were seeing lots of positive examples, lots of not so good examples, and so it was constantly on our minds. I think back then we were delivering on some of it potentially better than we are now.
“So that Japan game, some of the tries we scored in November back then were top class and there’s excitement now, we’ve spoken about it this week, we’re excited about delivering on that throughout this tournament.
“I think it was Andrew Conway who scored a try in the top right corner. We had very nice passages of play and then Jamo [Gibson-Park] puts a little grubber kick in but the attack and the lead up to that is what we’re striving to get.”
