RUGBY IS ALWAYS evolving as a sport and more than ever, forwards find their roles expanding far beyond doing the dirty work before the backs strike.
Perhaps no player in the Ireland squad sums that up better than Dan Sheehan. While the Leinster and Ireland hooker is still expected to bring high standards around his set-piece work, Sheehan is a dynamic, modern front row forward whose involvements on match day consist of so much more than throwing lineouts and packing down in the scrum.
The 6’3″, 110kg hooker is an extremely athletic rugby player who is just as likely to be found racing down the wing as he is hitting rucks or throwing himself into tackles.
Regularly mentioned as one of the best hookers in the world, Sheehan has made himself a dangerous attacking threat, standing as Ireland’s top try-scorer in the tournament (4) ahead of today’s round four meeting with England in Twickenham [KO 4.45pm, RTÉ].
Sheehan broke through at a time when his Leinster teammate Rónan Kelleher was making his own case at Test level. Andy Farrell first capped Sheehan in November 2021, more than 18 months after Kelleher had won his first caps off the bench in the 2020 Six Nations.
The two initially enjoyed a good battle for the jersey but 24 caps into his Test career Sheehan has established himself as Farrell’s first-choice hooker, with Kelleher providing a high-quality replacement off the bench.
Hooker is now a position of real strength in a highly-competitive Ireland squad, with Sheehan playing a central role in Ireland’s three opening Six Nations wins against France, Italy and Wales.
Across those three outings Sheehan has nailed his setpiece work while bringing that dynamic attacking edge and impressive athleticism to each performance.
“I was talking to Jason Cowman [Ireland S&C coach] around his physical stuff in the gym and he just said he’s a machine,” says Ireland scrum coach, John Fogarty.
“He lifts so effortlessly. He’s a proper athlete first of all. He’s a big man that can lift big, but he can move quickly. His range of movement is huge as well which allows him to do what we see on the field in terms of getting turnovers or ball in hand and being able to use his footwork.
He’s quite unique in the world at hooker to be able to have all those attributes.
“Scrum is something that he works on regularly and we need to get out of the blocks at scrum time at the weekend, and sometimes for a taller hooker that can be difficult.
“He has his areas where he’s working on, like any of the players, but he’s delivering for the team in lots of areas. You could call Dan world class at the moment in how he’s delivering.”
Perhaps the most striking aspect of Sheehan’s game is that athleticism. While the 25-year-old has worked hard on his scrummaging and lineout work, it’s the extra layers to his game that make him such a valuable weapon for both Leinster and Ireland – bringing pace, footwork and physicality to the position.
Those attributes allow him to get heavily involved in Ireland’s attacking play, where he often positions himself in the wide channels – such as the below example from the opening round win against France.
And this play from the round three win against Wales, where Sheehan kept wide to provide an option for Jack Crowley, who found the hooker with a nice crossfield kick, before Sheehan barged through the first tackle.
Sheehan is a strong, confident ball-carrier, and his sharp footwork makes it difficult for defences to read his carries – the below example from the second round win over Italy showing Sheehan spin around the first tackle before three Italian defenders manage to ground him.
Here’s another example from the opening night in Marseille, where Sheehan stepped around Charles Ollivon rather than charging straight into the flanker, creating a better picture for his scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park.
Sheehan is skilful with his hands too, as seen with this neat pullback pass in Marseille.
And while Sheehan is a fit, highly athletic hooker, he still boasts good strength in the tackle.
With France piling pressure on the Ireland tryline towards the end of the first half in Marseille, Sheehan held his ground to halt the 112kg frame of Peato Mauvaka after the France hooker took a quick-tap penalty.
He made another big hit in the second half to stop Grégory Alldritt as the powerful France number eight tried to smash through on halfway.
That physical presence is complimented by a tireless workrate without the ball.
Against Italy, Sheehan did really well to block down this attempted box-kick from scrum-half Stephen Varney.
It’s brilliant pressure by Sheehan, who times his charge perfectly to get his hands to the ball.
If the Irish coaches enjoyed that, they will have loved what came next as Sheehan backs that defensive play up with another big effort, getting himself off the ground quickly to chase down Paolo Garbisi and tackle the Italy out-half.
Like so many of the Ireland forwards, Sheehan’s linespeed throughout the tournament has been excellent – flying up to snap into this tackle early in the second half against the Italians.
Some of his defensive work has been more subtle – such as this example against Wales, where Sheehan steps across to screen Nick Tompkins and allow Gibson-Park gather a Tomos Williams chip.
Of course, the nuts and bolts of Sheehan’s job centre around the setpiece, and in the games against France and Italy he was central to a strong Irish lineout – with Farrell’s side enjoying a 100% success rate off their own throw across their opening two fixtures.
Against Wales that return dipped, although most of the issues appeared to be with the lifting. Still, Sheehan brought invention at the setpiece on the day, including this short throw to Gibson-Park in the opening 10 minutes which had the hooker breaking down the wing and carrying Ireland into the Wales 22.
Sheehan shows real aggression in the carry to drive over the tackle of Josh Adams.
When Wales try the same move later in the game, Sheehan is alert to get across and make the double-tackle with Andrew Porter – ensuring Elliot Dee only makes a couple of yards off the carry.
The hooker has made some excellent contributions across Ireland’s three wins, but of course, most of the attention has centered around his prolific strike rate.
Sheehan has scored four tries across three games, leaving him just one short of the tournament’s top try-scorer, Scotland winger Duhan van der Merwe – who has played 65 minutes more than Sheehan.
His first of the championship came on the opening night in France.
After another clean lineout throw, France stay on the deck and Joe McCarthy comfortably wins possession in the air. Sheehan then quickly joins the maul and Ireland immediately punch forward before Sheehan breaks off to score Ireland’s third try of the game.
It’s a strong Irish maul which leaves France scrambling, and as soon as the space opens up, Sheehan drives through.
He scored his second of the tournament when Italy visited Dublin, turning up on the wing to finish a fine team move after some brilliant handling from Crowley, Robbie Henshaw and Stuart McCloskey.
The wide angle shows how Sheehan was patiently hugging the touchline waiting for the play to come his way.
And while Crowley will have appreciated Sheehan’s desire to give his out-half a better angle for the conversion, Sheehan’s ballsy finish – driving into Ange Capuozzo rather than just diving for the corner – was perhaps a riskier option than the Ireland coaches would have liked. Luckily, Sheehan had the strength to bowl the Italy fullback over and ground the ball.
He then added a second try to secure the bonus point for Ireland early in the second half. This time, the score came from an Ireland lineout in the Italy 22, Sheehan throwing another clean ball and joining the maul before powering over.
It’s efficient work by the Ireland maul again, but also poor defending by the Italians as they swing around to the side, allowing Sheehan bundle over with ease.
And Sheehan will have been disappointed not to have bagged a hat-trick on the day.
Popping up on the wing minutes after scoring his second try, Sheehan looked to be in for another only for a brilliant try-saving tackle from Varney, who did superbly to deny the Ireland hooker in what was Sheehan’s last action of a highly productive afternoon.
Sheehan also scored Ireland’s opening try against Wales, again getting over from a lineout maul.
This time it took a more determined effort from the home side, with a number of backs joining in to add some extra heft before a 13-man maul finally pushed past a strong Welsh defensive effort, with Sheehan on hand to register his ninth try in 24 Tests.
In the first 25 minutes alone against Wales, Sheehan made eight carries for 51 metres, broke two tackles, made two linebreaks and scored a try – numbers which underline just how much of a handful the former Clongowes student has become.
“He’s such a good footballer,” says backrower Caelan Doris.
He’s almost like having an eighth back out there at times.
“He’s incredibly powerful and has very good feet, very good footwork. His lineout and set-piece work, when he first came onto the scene his scrum was maybe an area that needed improvement and he’s gotten that to a top class level.
“His lineout throwing is class, he obviously scores a lot of tries, and he keeps breaking little milestones here and there and making history.
“Between him and Ro [Rónan Kelleher] and Tom Stewart, we’ve got three top class hookers. It’s exciting to see them push each other and the standard continually improve.”
