In the final weeks of the 2018 Six Nations, Ian Keatley repped each of the outhalves Ireland would be facing on their championship run-in.
One week in training he would be Dan Biggar, the next he would be Finn Russell and there would be skip and no-look passes. Ahead of the Grand Slam decider with England, Keatley mimicked George Ford’s playing style for most of the training sessions but luckily did a few sets as Owen Farrell as that’s who Eddie Jones would hand the 10 jersey to.
“It was unbelievable to be over in England to experience the Grand Slam,” Keatley told The Hard Yards in March.
“Obviously, I would have liked to have played a bigger part in it but I understood what my role was quite early on in the Six Nations. I knew that I would be a back-up but I took that challenge on, kept trying to improve my skills and to prepare the lads fully for the games that were coming up.
“That involved doing video analysis of the opposition and trying to run all their plays against the lads and trying to prepare them that way.”
While Keatley had to settle for that role, his Munster and Ireland teammate Chris Farrell got to play at outside centre in the 37-27 win over Wales. Farrell was named man-of-the-match but missed the rest of the championship after injuring his knee during a training run at the Aviva Stadium.
He did not travel to Twickenham for the victory over England but did head up to Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel the day after to join in the Grand Slam celebrations. He commented:
“I was worried about what it would be like. Thinking, ‘Ach, I don’t want to be walking into the Shelbourne after only having one game to play’. I was nervous about it and was feeling that this may not be my place, but it was perfect.
“All the management came up and everybody had been texting me to say, ‘You had your part to play’ and ‘Make sure you enjoy your celebrations’.
“And even Sunday morning, when they were still in London, I got a text message from Peter O’Mahony saying, ‘Well done. Congratulations’.
“I don’t think they have forgotten everyone involved. There’s a massive squad effort involved and even the boys that never got to play – like Ian Keatley or Rory Scannell – them boys have had an enormous part to play and have driven standards in training, week in, week out.”
The likes of Keatley, Rory Scannell, Niall Scannell, Ultan Dillane, Josh van der Flier, Dave Kilcoyne, Sam Arnold and Luke McGrath were recognised at the Zurich Irish Rugby Awards ceremony in Dublin on Wednesday night.
Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt presented some of the players from Ireland’s wider Six Nations squad with winners’ medals and thanked them for their contributions to the Grand Slam success.
A special moment now as those who formed part of the extended @SixNationsRugby squad are presented with their medals by Joe Schmidt! #RugbyAwards18 pic.twitter.com/pZxL5nRRzh
— RugbyPlayersIreland (@RugbyPlayersIRE) May 16, 2018
McGrath and van der Flier were both at the ceremony and accepted their medals, which were obtained by Ireland’s director of operations Ger Carmody. Schmidt commented:
“Josh was on the pitch [against France] and a few of the guys were very close to the pitch. Luke was on the bench for that France game but didn’t get on.
“It is like any operation, it’s what goes on behind the scenes and they make what goes on in front of people function.”
Another medal to pocket for the Leinster lads, while acknowledgement for all of the hard work they put in to push their teammates to that outstanding success.
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