THE DISTANCE FROM the Aviva to the RDS is no more than a kilometre yet on weekends like this the two venues seem worlds apart. The lights will be on tonight (Leinster versus Lions, kick-off 7.35pm, TG4, Premier Sport) but not many will be home whereas on Sunday at the Aviva there won’t be a spare seat in the house. One is main event, the other a show off Broadway.
Leo Cullen knows the two casts, though. Some he even remembers playing with; others he’s seen appear in audition, learn their lines, grow into the part. That second category is where Dan Sheehan fits in.
At 23, the easy thing to say is that he has a big future. A better way of putting it, though, is that the future is about to arrive this weekend. Ordinarily Italy matches in the Six Nations get glossed over but in Sheehan’s case, this is a Test where anything is possible. Do well and the shirt could be his to keep.
“There was a certain amount of misinformation in some quarters about him coming into our academy,” said Cullen yesterday of his young hooker, who is in line to start for Ireland on Sunday. “When he came into the building you could see straight away that, ooh, there was a physical profile that you could get excited by.
“He has worked very hard from day one, backed himself and battled his way through. It’s a competitive space but he offers something different because he is very dynamic and has a very good skillset; so it is just trying to get the nuts and bolts part of his game right.
“He has spent a lot of time around his throwing and his accuracy around set-piece, also around scrum, because those bits really matter. (It is all well and good to) have a big athletic guy running around but if you can’t do the day job… Look, you have to get that bit right.”
And Sheehan has, excelling in Paris when he came on in the first half to replace the injured Kelleher.
“Dan is ambitious as well,” says Cullen. “Every time you see him, particularly when he came on against Wales, he throws himself into everything, as he did 25 minutes into the game in Paris.
“That was an incredible learning experience for him. Earlier this week, I was talking to him about the experience of being out there (at the Stade de France); the crowd and the noise. That’s something he never experienced before. The bands, all the bits we are familiar with.
“For a hooker who is standing there throwing the ball into the lineout, struggling to hear the caller as an example: to go through that and come out the other side is a huge experience. He had some big moments in the game.”
Sunday will be an even bigger moment if Andy Farrell gives him the nod to start but Sunday can wait for Cullen. For him, for Leinster, the biggest game of the weekend isn’t then but tonight against the Emirates Lions (the artists formerly known as Transvaal).
This is where the Dan Sheehans start out. This is where they’re tested. Survive and they reappear in a different setting against an even tougher opponent, say a Cardiff or a Glasgow. Pass that stage and they see what an interpro tastes like. Next rung on the ladder is a Champions Cup game. Then Ireland. That’s the pathway Sheehan took.
But tonight it is about the next batch, the latest hopefuls. Lock, Joe McCarthy, will win his second Leinster cap; centre Jamie Osborne gets his 13th; winger Tommy O’Brien his 16th; full back Max O’Reilly his eighth.
We’ve seen days like this before when callow youths have been bullied, Connacht and Ospreys muscling their way to surprise wins in the RDS last season. O’Reilly and Osborne played in that Ospreys loss. But so did Sheehan.
“Max stepped in in difficult circumstances last year; it is about learning from the experience and making sure you are better equipped next time around.
“It can be hard to make the step-up to top level professional rugby. We have guys like Dave Kearney and Ross Byrne playing this evening who just need to add their voices. For us it’s about learning painful lessons and being better in the future. For some of the guys, the future is now. They have learned the tough lessons. And every time they go out here in front of their friends and family, they want to put on a big performance.”
LEINSTER
15. Max O’Reilly (7)
14. Tommy O’Brien (15)
13. Jamie Osborne (12)
12. Harry Byrne (30)
11. Dave Kearney (171)
10. Ross Byrne (116)
9. Nick McCarthy (42)
1. Ed Byrne (77)
2. James Tracy (135)
3. Michael Ala’alatoa (12)
4. Devin Toner (273)
5. Joe McCarthy (1)
6. Josh Murphy (53)
7. Dan Leavy (76)
8. Rhys Ruddock CAPTAIN (199)
Replacements:
16. Seán Cronin (200)
17. Peter Dooley (98)
18. Thomas Clarkson (11)
19. Jack Dunne (16)
20. Max Deegan (76)
21. Luke McGrath (163)
22. Adam Byrne (62)
23. Scott Penny (34)
Emirates Lions: Quan Horn, Stean Pienaar, Wandisile Simelane, Burger Odendaal, Edwill van der Merwe, Jordan Hendrikse, Morne van den Berg, Sti Sithole, Jaco Visagie, Carlu Sadie, PJ Steenkamp, Ruben Schoeman, Jaco Kriel (CAPT), Ruan Venter, Francke Horn
Replacements: PJ Botha, Morgan Naude, Ruan Dreyer, Lunga Ncube, Sibusiso Sangweni, Nico Steyn, Manuel Rass, Tiaan Swanepoel
Referee – Craig Evans (WRU)
