AMID A SLOW start against Italy on Sunday Hugo Keenan took it upon himself to give his team the kick up the backside they needed.
Taking a quick-tap on the edge of the Ireland 22, the fullback caught Italy off-guard by haring forward and bringing his team up to halfway. Keenan’s teammates rowed in behind him and Ireland’s brilliant attacking system moved into motion, leading to Jack Crowley crossing for the first try of the afternoon.
It was the first notable contribution of what would prove a busy afternoon for Keenan, who posed an aggressive running threat throughout. After his impressive defensive performance in Marseille a week previously, against Italy Keenan shone as one of Ireland’s most dangerous attacking weapons.
Which is why the sight of him exiting with a knee injury after 55 minutes proved such cause for concern.
Fullback is one of the few positions across Andy Farrell’s squad where the depth chart currently looks a little light.
The Ireland boss was initially optimistic on Keenan’s injury, saying he was “in good spirits” post-game, but if the fullback was to be unavailable for the round three meeting with Wales on 24 February, it’s not immediately clear who would be next man up. Ireland are expected to provide an update on Keenan’s condition later this week.
While Farrell has been keen to build depth across his squad over the last few years, there has been little rotation at fullback.
When Keenan is fit, Keenan plays, and for most of his Test career the fullback has been an ever-present.
Keenan played every minute for Ireland at the World Cup and would likely have done the same in last year’s Six Nations had he not been forced off following a heavy tackle which saw Freddie Steward red-carded in the round five Grand Slam game against England.
Jacob Stockdale, Jordan Larmour, Mike Lowry, and Jimmy O’Brien are the only other players to have started at fullback during Farrell’s time in charge.
O’Brien had emerged as Farrell’s favoured back-up option, with the versatile Kildare man starting at 15 in the World Cup warm-up games against Italy and Samoa. However with O’Brien ruled out of this Six Nations, the depth chart below Keenan is less clear.
Connacht’s Mack Hansen would have been another option had he not also been ruled out with injury. Hansen has been a nailed-on starter on the Ireland wing but has plenty of fullback experience, playing at 15 for Connacht on three occasions over the recent Christmas period.
With O’Brien and Hansen both unavailable to Farrell, the Ireland boss would have to dip a little further into his stocks should Keenan not make the Wales game.
The most likely option in his current squad is perhaps Leinster’s Ciarán Frawley. The 26-year-old sees his long-term future at out-half but has seen very little gametime at 10 for Leinster. Frawley has started nine games for the province this season [six at fullback, two at out-half and one at centre] and provided backline cover in Ireland’s 6:2 bench split against France in Marseille – where he saw two just minutes of action.
The Ireland coaches have long admired Frawley, although the decision to leave him out of the matchday 23 for Italy altogether will surely have been frustrating.
Frawley has been capped just twice and has never started a Test game for Ireland, but Farrell is often comfortable in backing players to deliver despite having little international experience – with O’Brien, Jack Crowley, Joe McCarthy and Calvin Nash all recent examples.
Otherwise Farrell could turn to Larmour, although the fact that he didn’t fill in for Keenan on Sunday suggests that scenario is unlikely. Instead, Farrell moved Crowley to fullback and sent Harry Byrne in to see out the game at out-half, with Larmour coming in for centre Robbie Henshaw just after the hour mark.
That switch also suggests Crowley would be a live option to move to fullback for the Wales game if needed, but it would make more sense for Farrell to let him continue his development as a Test out-half.
Larmour’s last start at fullback came for Leinster against the Stormers almost a year ago, and he hasn’t started at fullback for Ireland since three outings at 15 during Farrell’s first Six Nations at the helm in 2020.
Ulster’s Stockdale is another contender, albeit an unlikely one. The 27-year-old didn’t make the matchday squad for the France or Italy games and his last start at 15 was for Ulster in May 2021.
Of course, Farrell could also call in extra cover. The Ireland boss told Simon Zebo to “stay ready” after the Munster man missed out on the initial Six Nations squad, but even if Farrell was tempted to recall the in-form Corkman, the 33-year-old may not be fit in time for Wales. Yesterday Munster stated Zebo is set to increase his training load as he recovers from a knee injury.
Joey Carbery is still available for selection but is highly unlikely to be called up given his impending departure from Munster at the end of the season. His Munster teammate Shane Daly has also enjoyed a good season and has been capped twice by Farrell [v Georgia 2020 and Japan 2021], while also featuring for Ireland A and Emerging Ireland in 2022.
Farrell has options, albeit most of them are untested at international level. Frawley and Crowley look the current front-runners should Keenan miss the Wales game, but the Ireland boss will be hoping his star fullback is fit and firing for the visit of Warren Gatland’s side as his team aim to keep their bid for back-to-back Grand Slams on track.
