THERE WAS A lot of furore surrounding JJ Hanrahan’s decision to sign with Northampton from next season but the fact is that Anthony Foley has favoured other players over the Kerryman at out-half and inside centre for most of this season.
Ian Keatley has made the 10 jersey his own while Denis Hurley has been selected at number 12 more often than not.
The debate of Hurley or Hanrahan at 12 comes down to a debate in philosophies. Hanrahan offers an option as a second distributor and playmaker while Hurley has the physique and style of a more traditional inside centre.
After playing the majority of his professional career in the back three, it has only really been this season when Hurley has transitioned to being seen as just a centre.
After a few years of limited opportunities he was delighted to get a crack at the position.
“It is a great change,” Hurley said.
“I kind of got frustrated in the back three for the last couple of years. I wasn’t getting game time and I was sitting on the bench and not getting involved a lot. I wanted to get back into the team and I have to look at my physical attributes. I’m 6’3 and I’m playing at about 100 kilos.”
Those measurements are ideal for the physical style of play favoured by Anthony Foley in close quarters and Hurley thinks his mixture of size and skills meant inside centre was a natural move for him – although he is still learning how to play it to the best of his ability.
“A few of the lads had said it to me that why didn’t I try to get in there and then I thought about my offloading game,” Hurley said.
“Maybe you can get more out of me by moving me into the centre. It has been great for me because I have been relearning to a degree at a new position.”
A lot of fans would vote for Hanrahan over Hurley at 12 due to the former’s creative spark but Hurley does have a strong offloading game. In the past it has been one of the strongest weapons in his arsenal but the Champions Cup hasn’t seen him utilise it very often.
Hurley thinks you need to be smart about when you try and offload rather than force it through a tough defence.
“12 is a position when you are in a squeezed space,” Hurley said.
“It is about trying to get over the gain line and you could have two defenders in front of you. It’s when you get a 1 vs 1 or an inside shoulder that you can get your hands free and then you hope there are guys running lines off you.”
There is also the issue of defending at centre vs Hurley’s old haunt in the back three. Hurley admits he is a work in progress in that department but also credits himself with reacting quickly to mistakes and rectifying them.
“At 15 you are taking the last man on the field so it is easy to read from that point of view,” Hurley said.
“At 12 you could have lads running lines. I’ve made mistakes at 12, I know I have but I think I’ve learned very quickly. There were question marks when I first moved in about my defence at 12 but I think I’ve proved that I can and that’s given me great confidence.”
