Someone had to mark Nenami Nadolo when Montpellier came to Dublin town, last month, and Adam Byrne drew the straw.
The Leinster winger had enjoyed a fantastic start to the season and had seriously impressed in the Guinness PRO14 win over Munster – tormenting poor JJ Hanrahan as high balls rained down upon him – but Nadolo at The RDS provided a reality check.
Many men have tried to keep a lid on the Fijian winger and just as many have failed but Byrne’s performance was concerning that day. He helped set up Robbie Henshaw’s try but was sucked towards a ruck to allow Montpellier an easy score in his corner and missed six of the seven tackles he attempted that day.
Byrne missed the Champions Cup win over Glasgow Warriors so it came as a big surprise, in some quarters, that he was included in Ireland’s squad for the Guinness Series. He has since played very well in wins over Ulster and Warriors [scoring a try at the weekend] but some doubts remain as to whether he deserves to be in the squad ahead of the likes of Tommy Bowe and Simon Zebo.
Byrne’s selection for the Ireland squad, and his chances of featuring in a couple of the November internationals, was discussed on The Hard Yards, with both Stephen Ferris and James Downey pitching in with their takes.
“Is it the sort of thing where Adam Byrne gets brought into Ireland camp so Schmidt can give him a load of homework?” asked host Andy McGeady. “So Schmidt can say, ‘Listen kid, me to you, you’ve got all the talent in the world, going forward, but you need to fix X, Y and Z, now’?”
Downey believes Byrne has so much potential and that it would be unwise to “shackle it” but he does feel the Kildare native has been brought into the squad so he can benefit from time training and playing under the gaze of Joe Schmidt. Downey says:
“Joe will pick up on certain, small things I’m sure.
“Be it his positioning, taking the wrong first step, giving the outside shoulder… one step to his right or keeping his eyes up for that extra second longer could create that positive attitude in his own mind that he is actually able to do it. Once he is able to do it, he’ll be fine… He’s young, so that [defensive] side of his game is definitely something that can be worked on and improved.”
Ferris is another onlooker excited by Byrne’s potential. “He has all the attributes that Joe Schmidt likes and he maybe has that bit more of an ‘X factor’,” he says.
“He’s definitely got pace and you can’t buy pace. Is he lucky to be in there? Maybe, but he’s playing in a team that is winning every single week and who are playing very well, and he’s playing well. He deserves his chance and you might see him against Fiji, although he may not play Argentina the following week.”
Fiji may provide the opposition for Byrne’s Test debut and he can be thankful that Nadolo is unlikely to feature in their November internationals.
