SOMEHOW, IRELAND BACK row Caelan Doris just keeps on getting better and better.
The 25-year-old showed another weapon in his armoury by impressing at number seven for Ireland in last weekend’s World Cup warm-up win over Italy, as discussed by Murray Kinsella and former Ireland analyst Eoin Toolan on today’s Rugby Weekly Extra, a podcast for subscribers to The 42.
With some huge turnovers, two tries, as well as lots of passes, carries, and tackles, Doris showed that he can fill in at openside if Ireland are ever without Josh van der Flier.
Even if number eight is his best position, Doris has now also shone at six and seven for Ireland.
Toolan: “It’s outrageous that he’s playing out of position and he’s the best player on the field by a million miles. Everything he does is just pure quality.
“His accuracy in his contact both in attack and defence, his handling skills, his running lines, he draws two poaches off two first-phase starters by Italy. They’re just so quick in terms of how he latches onto the ball carrier. At first, I thought there was no clear release and it was a penalty against him, but you go frame-by-frame and he’s just so accurate.
“Two tries to boot, then earns Stuart McCloskey his try by rushing the nine and going into counter-ruck, so that definitely shows Farrell that if anything happens to Josh van der Flier, there is a more than capable understudy in Caelan Doris.”
Kinsella: “Because it looked like Peter O’Mahony was going to be the one to switch to seven, as we’ve seen him do in the past with Ireland and Munster. But when you’ve got another number eight as good as Jack Conan and Doris could move to seven, that makes sense.
“Doris has every single skill, so he’s good at every role in the back row. I know that people think that when he plays at six, maybe his influence isn’t as prominent. I would suggest that’s solely based on touches of the ball, but he actually does all the parts of the six role really well. He can jump in the lineout, for example, and his maul work is outstanding.
“The reason it suited him so much at seven is probably because there are so many touches of the ball to go there. You think of van der Flier and how many times people have discussed his ball-carrying impact in the last couple of years, he does get touches on the ball and Doris had loads of them in this game. He was making passes, making carriers.
“The defensive effort he put in and the license he had to attack the breakdown was phenomenal. He had 19 opposition ruck arrivals, which some guys get for attacking ruck arrivals. The top attacking ruck arrivals for Ireland was Joe McCarthy with 28 so Doris is not far off that in defensive mode.
“Everything he does is quality. He’s disciplined, he’s really smart, and he’s clearly set to be one of the biggest stars of the World Cup.
“If you told someone who didn’t know rugby two weeks ago that Ireland’s number seven is the World Rugby player of the year, then they turned up on Saturday night, they’d have said, ‘Ah yeah, of course he is, he’s clearly the best in the world.’”
Toolan: “The big question is if he can throw in the lineout because van der Flier definitely has that over him. So until the hooker goes off and we see Doris throwing into the lineout, he’s not the complete modern-day seven.”
Kinsella: “I want to see the pair of them place-kicking, that will settle it well and truly.”
Today’s pod sees Toolan and Kinsella break down Ireland’s win over Italy in great depth, as they discuss the players who furthered their World Cup cases and those who missed their chance.
The lads also discuss the other international action, including Wales’ win over England and Scotland’s exciting victory against France, as well as touching on the big talking points from the World Cup squad announcements.
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