JIMMY O’BRIEN DIDN’T even get a chance to play down the nerves he felt coming in to win his first Ireland cap, as Johnny Sexton had already revealed the fullback’s post-match admission a couple of minutes before the latest debutant sat down for his first media duties as a full international.
“I think he might be adding legs to that story,” O’Brien answered after being informed Sexton said he was “sh**ting it” when introduced in the first-half of yesterday’s 19-16 defeat of the Springboks.
“First half, I thought there was no way (they would put me on), I thought they’d bring Joey [Carbery] on and get Johnny to cover 12. There was a split second when I was maybe sh**ting it, but got over that quickly.”
No shame in feeling a few butterflies when your Test debut is as an early-game replacement, against South Africa, playing at outside centre – a position O’Brien has covered plenty but last started a game at in March 2021.
Far from a smooth start to your Test career, but O’Brien handled it brilliantly. The versatile Leinster back has been knocking on Andy Farrell’s door for some time and grabbed his chance with both hands, showing some nice touches in attack and, crucially, stepping up in defence.
His display was all the more impressive when you consider O’Brien had originally been due to play for Ireland A on Friday night. Then Robbie Henshaw pulled up with a hamstring problem, Stuart McCloskey was promoted to the starting team and O’Brien got added to the bench. With less than 30 minutes played against South Africa, McCloskey was forced off and O’Brien jogged on for his first taste of the Test arena.
“I played my first 10, 15 caps for Leinster at 13 so it wasn’t too alien, just haven’t played there in a while,” O’Brien explained.
“[Jesse] Kriel hit me pretty well out the back of something but it was just getting into the system at 13. I did the Captain’s Run yesterday at 13, I familiarised myself with being in the front line and making those hits instead of being in the backfield covering kicks.
“Last night I sat down with Garry [Ringrose] on the off chance I was going to cover 13. Faz told me I was covering 13 so that was so helpful.”
The homework paid off and fed into a memorable end to a special week for the 25-year-old.
“I would say, the camaraderie of the group is amazing,” O’Brien continued. “Everyone is so delighted, I was nervous about my first cap but the lads were so happy, they filled me with confidence being so relaxed about me playing 15, wing, 13, it speaks volume for the group we have.
Straight away I was thinking of 13, had all the plays in my head for wing but went through the set plays from 13, went through the set-plays in my head, visualised the list I had in my notebook. Chatted to Garry, said let’s do this and from there it flowed. No one batted an eyelid which filled me with a lot of confidence.
“Feel pretty good. Thank God we won because it would have made it a lot worse, I wouldn’t be celebrating half as much. Just delighted to get my first cap, I thought I’d get two minutes at the end so to get most of the game and win is amazing.”
It helped to have a few familiar faces around him; Leinster teammate Ringrose partnering him in midfield, Sexton at out-half, and the returning Hugo Keenan at full-back.
Before yesterday’s clash at Aviva Stadium, Keenan had yet to play a minute of rugby for Leinster across the opening sevens rounds of the URC, his last action coming on Ireland’s summer tour to New Zealand.
The Leinster man has been a revelation at fullback for Ireland, quickly making what looked like a potential problem position following the retirement of Rob Kearney his own. Given his calm, confident displays in the 15 shirt, it was little wonder Farrell gave Keenan every opportunity to prove his fitness ahead of the visit of the reigning world champions.
“When you go into camp it’s pretty intense from minute one,” Keenan said.
“You have to get up to speed as quickly as possible, but that’s international rugby, you have to be able to step up straight away and I was lucky enough to be trusted to perform today. I suppose there was a lot for me to work on in that performance, but good to be back out there.”
It felt like a statement win for Farrell’s team, beating the Boks by playing some brilliant attacking rugby, but also matching them in areas of the game where the visitors would have been expected to hold the upper hand.
Most encouragingly, off the back of that brilliant summer tour to New Zealand, it also saw Ireland win a different type of game against a very different type of opponent.
“It’s about backing up performances now,” Keenan continued.
This was a bit different than the three leg series in New Zealand, we spoke about that. We only had one shot against these. We obviously lost that first Test in New Zealand and this was like a one-off play-off nearly, and we had to treat it like that.
“We couldn’t afford a sloppy start, couldn’t afford to let them into the game and we treated it in a different manner. But we were so keen to push on from the tour, it’s not about resting on your laurels and getting comfortable with doing what we did then, it’s firmly about what’s next for us; how do we push on, how do we improve from the tour? Because there is lots for us to get better at and that’s the exciting part.
“We had to grind out this win today. We got up early, probably tried to protect the lead a bit too much if we’re being honest with ourselves. We probably could have played a bit more rugby, but these are learnings you have to take from the game.
“South Africa obviously played a bit more expansive in that second half, tested us and played very well, but it was a seriously tough game.”
The aim now is to keep winning and keep building ahead of next year’s World Cup.
“That’s the challenge,” Keenan added. “We don’t want to have that dip of form. It’s such a big year for many reasons, we want to continue that momentum from the New Zealand series and that’s the challenge.”
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