THERE HAS BEEN as much discussion of Ireland’s number 10 shirt leading into this Six Nations as ever, but the man at number nine could have the biggest say if they’re to be successful.
Jamison Gibson-Park has been a key part of this Irish team since his Test career exploded in 2021.
Andy Farrell saw something special in the Leinster man, who had been a back-up scrum-half for most of his career, and Gibson-Park swiftly became a crucial piece of the Ireland jigsaw.
Now 32 and with 38 Irish caps to his name, Gibson-Park has gained lots of experience and interim head coach Simon Easterby will be leaning on him to steer the ship as they chase a third consecutive Six Nations title.
The scrum-half will be at the heartbeat of Ireland’s efforts to make their attack more consistently effective after a hit-and-miss autumn. Gibson-Park is central to everything given his position but also because of his instinctive decision-making and sharp passing.
And yet, he is reliant on others to be in the right places for him to send them into space.
“I suppose particularly the 10s but we’ve got some unbelievable ball-playing backs and outside backs as well and that’s the thing with our game, we’re not really relying on one person calling all the shots,” says Gibson-Park.
“There’s a lot of responsibility on the whole backline to be callers so I’ll be relying on them giving me some good calls.”
Gibson-Park is particularly effective at exploring the shortside when Ireland are attacking.
He regularly bounces back against the grain in a bid to expose any lapses in concentration from the defence, any over-folding to the far side of the ruck.
“I think it’s hard to defend,” says Gibson-Park of his fondness for the shortside.
“For me personally, defending some of the big boys, you’re making a tackle and the ball goes away and it comes back right away, you could be under pressure trying to make decisions at the line.
“I think it’s a tricky area to defend in. I suppose we’ve done well attacking there at times so hopefully we continue to grow our game.”
Gibson-Park likes to throw long passes back into the shortside but that was ineffective at times in the autumn so he’ll be keen to sharpen up those decisions and take full advantage of any space.
Unsurprisingly, he’s happy that the law has been tweaked so defenders in rucks and mauls can no longer scrag scrum-halves as they clear the ball to pass or run.
“Ultimately, I can see what they’re trying to do,” says Gibson-Park. “They want a cleaner, faster game so I think it certainly makes sense from that point of view.
“I don’t mind it. I feel the forwards probably have a different opinion but it’s kind of the way the game is going.”
The other tweak around scrum-half play is that defensive scrum-halves can no longer go around to the base of the opposition scrum to pressure the ball.
That changes things defensively in a substantial way.
“That’s one of the tricky ones,” says Gibson-Park. “We’re probably one of the teams that would have tried to take advantage of being able to go and put pressure on the base so that’s gone now, obviously we’ve had to rethink our set-ups and that.
“That’s all part of the evolution of the game. We’ve got a few clever guys who are in charge of and that helps, [including] Hugo Keenan, so he’s got a few bits for us.”
Most of the discussion around Gibson-Park’s influence for Ireland understandably revolves around his attacking skills but he has become an important defender for the team too.
His pace means he is excellent at scrambling to cover linebreaks, while he has become increasingly willing to mix it in contact over the years. Gibson-Park admits that he has learned to love defence.
“Probably my first love would be to play differently but it’s an area of my game that I’ve been trying to grow and continue to try and grow.
“I’m obviously lucky to be blessed with some pretty awesome defensive coaches and Si here and Jacques back at Leinster. It’s something I’ve tried to evolve my game and continue to do so.”
Indeed, he missed Ireland’s tour of South Africa last summer after suffering a big hamstring injury at the defensive breakdown when Leinster played the Bulls in the URC semi-finals.
Whatever about the legality of that clearout on him, Gibson-Park hasn’t shied away from competing at the breakdown since his return to action this season.
“It probably takes a little while,” he says of regaining the bravery to jackal, “but that’s probably more pressure from the physios than anything else.
“But I think to get stuck into that area of the game, you have to be smart as well and realise there is risk attached, especially when the other guys are nearly double your weight.
“The coaches are saying get stuck in, the physios are saying get out!”
Gibson-Park has also worked hard on his kicking skills in the past few years.
Every scrum-half in the game, never mind at international level, has to be a good kicker and the change in law around ‘escorting’ means that accuracy with the boot is even more important now.
“It’s big, especially in this day and age,” said Gibson-Park.
“We’ve touched on the new laws and it’s a massive contest that can swing games massively so you are certainly going to have to be on it from a kicking game and an aerial game as well so that’s a huge part of the game.”
Gibson-Park should have a huge say in this Six Nations.
Our forwards will have to be on their game to allow JGP to get quick ball and make the introduction of SP to six nations rugby a comfortable one. He more than capable but a strong performance from the pack will make life that bit easier and allow the lad to settle into international rugby. What a pairing we have of 10s both extremely talented and in somewhat different ways.
@Den: JGP can carry games, does it for his 10s all the time, takes a load of pressure off, Mitchell will have him run ragged imo. Also a class player.
@Den: felt jgp had a poor autumn series by his usual high standards. England are clearly targeting the breakdown to slow up ireland ball, hopefully jgp is back to his usual high standards as we will need it.
@Patrick O’Sullivan: Agree, sometimes I feel that certain members of the Irish squad have very little game time under their belts when it comes to the 6 Nations unlike France and England all players are week to week in the Pro 14 / Premier league…. Sometimes I see that as problem with Ireland that it takes a couple of games for players to get up to speed.., all very fine if you have the likes of Italy at home as an opener. I think England will be gunning for us we are favourites so the expectations to win are on the home team. no real pressure on England.