IN TADHG FURLONG and Andrew Porter, Leinster have the two top tighthead props in the country.
It’s a fantastic reality for the province but it also means that those key players are absent during international windows, as is the case in so many areas of the pitch for a Leinster squad that is the bulk supplier for Ireland.
Leinster pride themselves on their squad depth too, however, and the coming months will see them challenged at tighthead.
34-year-old Michael Bent and 24-year-old Vakh Abdaladze are both part of the tighthead depth chart in the senior squad, but the latter is now struggling with a recurrence of the back injury he suffered with last season.
Abdaladze has had back issues before that too and speaking yesterday, Leinster head coach Leo Cullen said there is “huge amount of uncertainty” for the young tighthead as he seeks further medical opinion on the issue.
“I’m being very vague here because I don’t honestly know what the answer is but we’re doing everything for Vakh and we’ll try and get him fixed up but it’s very uncertain at the moment,” said Cullen.
Leinster had expected to have 22-year-old Hawaiian native Roman Salanoa in their tighthead stocks into next season too, but a late move to Munster scuppered that. Salanoa’s inter-provincial switch came after Year 3 academy prop Jack Aungier had already agreed a move to Connacht.
The worry in all of this is that when Furlong and Porter head off to Ireland camp in late October for a run of six Tests in seven weeks that lasts into December, the experienced Bent could be left with a huge workload on his hands in the new 2020/21 Pro14 season.
Obviously, Leinster and Abdaladze hope they can find a solution for his back issue, but they’re also confident that 20-year-old tighthead Thomas Clarkson, who is now into Year 2 of the academy, can bridge the gap this autumn if, and likely when, pressed into senior action.
Clarkson has been a key man for the Ireland U20s over the last two seasons, helping them to a Grand Slam last year and then three wins from three in the 2020 campaign that was confirmed as cancelled yesterday.
So while it might be a challenge for Leinster, they’re excited about the potential Trinity man Clarkson – who is training with them in pre-season – has shown, according to assistant coach and scrum specialist Robin McBryde.
“Obviously we’re going to lose Andrew and Tadhg [in the autumn] but then it’s going to be an interesting mix,” said McBryde. “You’ve got the experience of Michael Bent and then you’ve got the young prospect of Thomas Clarkson, who has pretty much played every single minute of each Ireland U20 match over the last couple of seasons.
“His integration into the group has been fantastic really and we were just commenting earlier as coaches, looking back on the footage of today’s training, how well he has fitted in and adapted to the different demands, the step-up into this environment.
“He’s a really exciting player, so there’s a couple of ways we could play with that. You could start with experience and bring on some youth. Or you can start with the youngster, let him make a couple of mistakes maybe, and then bring the experienced head off the bench and finish the game off.
“It’s an interesting combination but between the four of them, it’s a great mix to have.”
Leinster bringing through exciting young players is nothing new, to be fair, and there are several others hoping to make their mark this season.
Academy graduates Tommy O’Brien, Jack Dunne, Harry Byrne, and Ryan Baird have already featured in the senior team, while the last two of those four have trained with Andy Farrell’s Ireland, but hooker Dan Sheehan has yet to get his debut.
21-year-old Sheehan has been impressive for Trinity and Lansdowne in the AIL in recent seasons and is a big athlete at 6ft 3ins and over 110kg.
He has stiff competition at hooker in Ronan Kelleher, Sean Cronin, and James Tracy – all Ireland internationals – but Leinster are similarly excited about Sheehan’s potential.
“You look at the growth that’s left in players and he’s definitely one who has got so much growth left in him,” said McBryde.
“He’s got a great arm, he just needs to be able to control it a little bit but I think he’s got the quickest arm here among the hookers currently. He can really zip that ball quite a distance.
“It will be interesting and again he has fitted in well with the group, stepped up to the level, the intensity. He’s great with ball in hand, defensively he’s pretty solid, so he’s another one that you know is going to be around for years. It’s not a question of if he’s going to get an opportunity, it’s when the opportunity is going to present itself to him.
“His physical stature, he’s a big man, one of the modern-day hookers, and that alone sets him apart from a lot of other hookers, so I’m looking forward to working with Dan as well.”
