BERNARD JACKMAN AND Murray Kinsella believe Leinster forward Ryan Baird could have a big role to play in Ireland’s Six Nations, beginning with February’s curtain-raiser away to France in Marseille.
Baird, 24, has earned 15 caps since his test debut against Italy during the 2021 Six Nations but has arguably hit career-best form in recent months.
Another totemic display on Saturday — albeit against a mostly second-string Stade Francais side — prompted The 42 Rugby Weekly Extra host Gavan Casey to pose the questions to our podcast analysts: “What is preventing Baird from becoming a consistent Ireland starter and, if he is missing something, what is it?”
Should Ryan Baird start for Ireland❓️
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"If there is a time for him to come in, this is it."
"You need someone with his skill set to take it to France."@bernardjackman thinks Baird could play a big role for Ireland ☘️
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“I actually don’t think he’s missing anything except having time in the saddle,” replied former Ireland hooker Jackman. “I think if you’re comparing him with Jack Conan or Peter O’Mahony or Caelan Doris or Josh van der Flier, he exceeds nearly all of them in terms of his physical ability and raw potential.
“I actually think he’s done a lot to tidy up other areas of his game. He used to drift in and out of games a little bit and maybe his work without the ball wasn’t at the same level, but this season he’s been really, really good.
“He has to be bang in there (in contention for selection against France).
“Jack obviously hasn’t played a lot and Peter hasn’t played a lot so if there is a time for him to come in, I think this is it.
“Also, look at the opposition we’re playing in Round 1: you probably need some people with his skill set to take it to France and trouble them.
“It’d be a conservative selection not to look to get him into the matchday 23. All he’s missing, I think, is the 25 to 30 games that the others have, but I don’t see a huge amount else that he can’t do.”
The 42 rugby journalist Kinsella added: “I think he’s so exciting and I would have him in a 23 because he’s become a destructive player as well as the constructive player that we saw for his big line-break from inside his 22′. It was an incredible moment of athleticism.
“He has the ball in two hands, nice habits, he gets in behind, he’s looking for support and he goes, ‘Ah, I’m quicker than everyone, they’re not going to catch me.’ He goes past two Stade Francais defenders and for a second you think he’s going to go all the way.
Ryan Baird stretches his legs#LEIvSFP pic.twitter.com/Ix5XV6a4Mq
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“Those moments are less common at test-rugby level obviously but he’s doing all of the other nitty-gritty things in terms of maul ‘D’, in terms of lineout ‘D’.
“The lineout didn’t go great in the first half. He was calling that, so there was a lot of responsibility in the number-six shirt for him. He slipped off a couple of tackles that I thought he could have nailed but that’s going to happen when you’re being aggressive defensively.
“But he’s in really, really good form. It’s the best I’ve seen him playing.
“It was funny, actually, when he made that big line-break, there was a Leinster supporter sitting very close to me in the stand and he goes, ‘Peter O’Mahony, my arse!’ I was going to use it in my match report but I thought it’d be better suited to the pod!”
Casey, though, stressed the importance of Peter O’Mahony’s role in Munster’s win against Toulon on Saturday, particularly in the maul and at lineout time where Munster were immeasurably improved by the impact of their former skipper.
Jackman and Kinsella, too, believe O’Mahony is still firmly in contention to retain his spot as Ireland’s starting blindside because of the weight he takes off his teammates’ shoulders in various phases of the game.
Jackman said: “Baird still has a little bit of a propensity for ill-discipline — needless penalties conceded, not being smart around the breakdown — but it’s coming for the right reasons: he’s trying to be disruptive. But I would say Pete would be a long way ahead of him in terms of street-smarts.
“I don’t see it as Pete versus Ryan (for the Ireland jersey) to a certain extent. It’s how Andy Farrell is trying to pick a pack that will complement each other.
“With Pete in there, he takes away a lot of the stresses — a load of things that more athletic players aren’t as good at. That’s the challenge for Farrell is to get that mix right, and it’s really good timing for Ireland and Munster and Pete that he’s coming back now and he gets a chance to show that he still has a lot of rugby ahead of him rather than behind him.”
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