Most of the talk this week will be about Dan Leavy, Peter O’Mahony and CJ Stander.
Caelan Doris does not mind.
Doris just wants to see his name on the team-sheet this Thursday. He wants the chance to do what he feels he is capable of doing. He wants to play his part in Leinster’s next big win.
Leinster take on Munster this Friday [7:35pm kick-off] at the Aviva Stadium and win No.22 of an outstanding season will put them on the cusp of a third straight Guinness PRO14 title.
Dan Leavy is back in full training and, according to Leinster senior coach Stuart Lancaster, he has vaulted his arm up for team selection. Leavy’s return – when it does happen – will be much welcomed and the end of a long road back from a potential career-ender, but he is highly unlikely to feature against Munster.
Leinster opted for a back row of Doris, Josh van der Flier and Jack Conan in their August 22 encounter with Munster. Van der Flier was their stand-out back-row, at openside, but was one of many Leinster players that could not keep CJ Stander’s breakdown jackals at bay.
Leinster coach Robin McBryde admitted Munster had successfully ‘made a mess’ at the breakdown so that is an area they have been focusing on in training. Doris and Will Connors were excellent in last December’s league win over Munster, at Thomond Park, and both have strong cases to make for starting on Friday.
Ireland famously got Shane Jennings to ‘rep’ David Pocock at the breakdown before they beat Australia in the 2011 World Cup. Asked who has drawn the short straw to rep the likes of Stander, O’Mahony and Tadhg Beirne in Leinster training, Doris replies:
“It changes around a fair bit and we get the auld body-shields on! But there’s no two or three people in particular. It changes around quite a bit.”
The internal competition for places, Doris says, is exciting. “You play rugby to challenge yourself,” he adds.
“You want to be coming up against, and playing with, quality players. It is definitely going to be exciting. With the breakdown so important right now, that area is going to be so important for the back rows.”
Chris Farrell is tackled by Scott Fardy and Caelan Doris during the Guinness PRO14 match between Leinster and Munster at the Aviva Stadium. (Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile)The 22-year-old made his Leinster debut in April 2018 during an inter-pro clash with Connacht. On the day that Leinster won their fourth European Cup, in Bilbao, Doris was at Vallis Way with Leinster ‘A’.
He made the bench for the British & Irish Cup final loss against Ealing Trailfinders. Also in the Leinster squad that day was Ed Byrne, Ciarán Frawley, Josh Murphy, Conor O’Brien and Will Connors.
2018/19 was a massive season for Doris, who was born in Ballina but moved up to Blackrock College when he was ready for secondary school. He made 15 appearances, including a sub appearance in a Champions Cup semi-final win over Toulouse.
The versatile back row missed out on selection for the Champions Cup final, however, and the business end of the Guinness PRO14 as Leinster went through Munster on their way to beating Glasgow Warriors to clinch the league title. He helped lay the foundations but had to take on a supporters’ role for the three biggest games of last season.
This season, after 14 appearances (11 starts) and having made his Test debut with Ireland, Doris has a glint in his eye. Others can take the spotlight as long as he takes his place in the starting XV. He says:
“Yeah, absolutely. I got a taste for it before lockdown and it’s special being involved in those big games, and that is why we play the game.
“Getting that taste for it drove me on, and motivated me, through the lockdown. So I definitely want to try and keep my place, and keep performing as well as I can.”
With no fans set to be in attendance for these knock-out games, it is noticeable how the Irish provinces are trying to gee themselves and teammates up by what Doris calls ‘celebrating small victories’.
That throws more wood on the breakdown fire, this Friday, and those battles will be fiercely contested.
Leinster will back themselves to have more ways to skin Munster than that, but they will also back themselves to neutralise and pre-occupy some of their opponent’s big guns.
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