THAT RONAN KELLEHER boarded a flight to London with Ireland this evening ahead of Sunday’s clash with England is an indication of just how promising a player he is, given that he only made his Leinster senior debut on this day last year.
Lining up against the Southern Kings exactly one year ago, Kelleher might not have predicted he would be playing in Twickenham by this stage.
“It would have been tough to see, in fairness, but I’ve been taking in all the experiences over the last couple of weeks and I’m just looking forward to getting over there now,” said the former St Michael’s College man, who won his first two caps off the bench in Ireland’s wins over Scotland and Wales in this Six Nations.
“A big stadium, one of the main away grounds in the world, I’m really looking forward to it.”
22-year-old Kelleher returned to Leinster last weekend in order to get more minutes under his belt, delivering another impressive try-scoring performance for his province in a convincing win over the Cheetahs at the RDS.
Getting a start was important for Kelleher to keep sharp but he is loving his first campaign with Ireland at senior level, picking up whatever nuggets he can to become a better player.
“Probably just my little chats with Rob [Herring] and Dave [Heffernan], getting a different perspective on what they’re doing with their provinces,” said Kelleher of what he has learned so far.
“That’s been really beneficial in my game, particularly in throwing, seeing their routine during the week.
“On top of that, just talking to the likes of Pete [O'Mahony], seeing how their mind works and getting through what they do in their prep during the week. I’ve been picking up little bits here and there from them.”
While some of the younger members of Ireland’s squad were working alongside the visiting Paul O’Connell for the first time this week, 22-year-old hooker Ronan Kelleher is familiar with the former Munster lock’s coaching.
Kelleher was in the Ireland U20 squad when O’Connell was their forwards coach in 2018, so he enjoyed catching up with the 40-year-old as he spent the training week with Andy Farrell’s squad.
“I picked up a good bit from him when he was with the 20s,” said Kelleher.
“His big thing back then was about visualisation and that was something we brought through as a squad. I still do that to this day.”
Kelleher has only played 22 minutes in total for Ireland across his two replacement appearances but even in that limited time, he has looked good.
Two carries for a total of five metres and one defender beaten, as well as six tackles at 100% sum up the aggression he has brought in contact.
Kelleher has also been noticeable around the breakdown in his two cameos, not winning turnovers but anchoring onto jackaling players on a handful of occasions to help them steal or slow the ball.
The breakdown is just one important part of this weekend’s battle at Twickenham, with openside flanker Josh van der Flier highlighting it today.
“If if you look Lawes, Curry, Underhill, it’s pretty physical back-row, a big breakdown back row,” said van der Flier.
“Something that we’ve spoken about all week is that they will try and disrupt us. It’s definitely a back row – especially eight and seven – that will really test our breakdown and we’ll have to be at our best.”
As for Ireland attacking opposition ball at the breakdown, it’s been a good Six Nations so far. CJ Stander has won five jackal turnovers, van der Flier has two, while Peter O’Mahony and Caelan Doris – the sub back row on Sunday – have one each.
Van der Flier is delighted at how Ireland’s back row and forward pack are working together for those vital steals.
“A lot of the time it’s the person getting the turnover who gets the credit but it’s the other lads in the team getting those low tackles and getting people to ground that’s the important thing.
“If you’re losing collisions it’s obviously harder to get those turnovers. It’s been working really well.
“CJ has obviously been brilliant and everyone knows how good Pete is over the ball as well. And then Caelan, he’s been world-class at the breakdown all season so it’s very exciting.”
