THEY SAY THAT every cloud has a silver lining, and if there is one to come from John Cooney’s injury for Ulster then it will likely be in the valuable experience Nathan Doak will get.
The 19-year-old scrum-half jogged on after just half an hour in their season opener against Glasgow Warriors when Cooney hobbled off with a hamstring complaint and since then has lived up to the hype surrounding his prospect status.
Doak, the son of former Ulster scrum-half Neil, controlled the game masterfully and scored a try and three conversions in helping close out the win over the Warriors, then ran the line with poise in Parma last weekend in a 36-3 bonus-point win over Zebre, racking up another 65 minutes.
How quickly he has taken to life as a professional has come as no surprise to those who have been tracking the former Wallace High man’s progress, Doak long seen as a valuable future member of the squad at Kingspan Stadium, as his performances for the Ireland U20s over lockdown suggested.
While he perhaps wouldn’t have been expecting to see quite so much game time so early in the campaign, beating out Dave Shanahan to both be the reserve scrum-half against Glasgow and then start against the Italians shows the faith Dan McFarland and the coaching staff have in him at such a young age.
With Cooney out of contract at the end of the season, there is a pressing need to have Doak up to speed if he will perhaps need to fill in on a more permanent basis moving forward, but for the time being assistant coach Roddy Grant is keen to see the teenager continue to back up one good performance with another.
“It’s been really pleasing, especially for him, that he’s come in and played so well,” said the forwards coach.
“At the weekend there I thought he did a really good job. His kicking was excellent, some of his box kicking was excellent. The Glasgow game he came on and added a good bit of tempo. There’s no doubt he’s got talent and it’s been really good he’s played well when he’s been in an Ulster jersey.
“I always say, and this is my opinion on young guys and a number of the forwards, the big thing is gaining experience and then being consistent in your actions, and that comes with experience. He will just get better at it. With these young guys you just want them to be as consistent as they can be.
“If John doesn’t play then someone else does. That’s good, that’s what you want in a squad – when John Cooney isn’t playing then it’s great there’s others who can step up and do a good job.”
As for Ulster as a whole, while they may remain as only one of two teams with a perfect record in the United Rugby Championship after two rounds – alongside Munster – there is a sense that they are still leaving a fair bit to be desired in their performances.
In that win over Glasgow they never quite managed to shake off the persistent Warriors, who managed to take both a try and losing bonus point from Kingspan Stadium, while their win over Zebre was scrappy, even though they managed to cross the whitewash six times.
Rather than look at that as a negative ahead of the visit of Rainbow Cup champions Benetton – another team to win both of their opening fixtures this season – to Kingspan Stadium on Friday night, Grant believes that is only proof that better is yet to come from his players.
“That’s the pleasing thing. We’re in a results-based profession, so that’s all-important, but they haven’t been the most polished performances against Glasgow and Zebre. Plenty to work on,” he explained.
“We had a robust and honest forwards review (after the Zebre game), and those are always easier after a win. We had a lot to work on after Glasgow, we have a lot to work on after Zebre.
“We’re certainly hoping and the aim is to take a big step forward this week against a big challenge. There was some good stuff, obviously, but also a lot to work on.”
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