Ireland would be better off if these two men didn’t play again until 2018.
In the Lions’ third and final Test against New Zealand, two Irish players were in the wars and it was hardly a surprise.
Sean O’Brien was midway through his fifth game on tour and having a fantastic series until Jerome Kaino cleared him out of a ruck with devastating force. He somehow made it to half-time but no further. Johnny Sexton copped a fierce but perfectly legitimate tackle from Sam Cane. He left the fray for a while but returned and had a strong say in matters until the 72nd minute.
Still, they took damage again, received treatment again and were left nursing seriously jarred bones when all was said and done.
Both men proved themselves to be world-class operators on that Lions tour but, in my opinion, Ireland would benefit more from them taking the next few months off. It was a position boldly put forward on The Hard Yards but one Ronan O’Gara was not having.
New Zealand, themselves, have granted six-month sabbaticals to the likes of Richie McCaw and Dan Carter. It was confirmed, this week, that All Blacks vice captain Ben Smith will sit out of action until next season after suffering from vertigo during the Lions Test Series.
Looking ahead to the 2019 World Cup, the argument was posed that O’Brien, Sexton and possibly Rory Best, could all do with an extended break. O’Gara was not so sure.
McCarry: I spoke to Sexton before the Clermont game [in April] and asked him if, after the Lions Tour, he would consider taking six months off. He looked at me like I was stupid. He started listing out how he was unlucky here, that [injury] wasn’t anything big, I was only out for a week here. I’m not going anywhere.
You wouldn’t be surprised seeing him back, well in time for the Champions Cup games [in October]. I’d love to see him and O’Brien take some time away, like the Kiwis do. But then you’ve seen how competitive this Irish team is. There would be a lad in there and you might not get your jersey back by the time you return.
O’Gara: The Irish players are looked after so well. Everything is planned. If you’re a player, you want to play the games.
What was happening at certain periods of our career is we felt we were being underplayed. You need three or four games to find form. It’s hard to go into one Magners League [PRO12] game and then have Europe the following week. No matter how experienced or how good a player you are, you hit your straps after four or five games.
I always preferred playing three or four games over four weeks but you often found you’d only play two of the games. The guys will get three or four weeks’ rest, then a 10-week preseason and after that, there’s only so much preseason you can do… after two or three months, there’s only so much fitness work you can do.
While O’Gara has a great point about how well managed these players are, the sabbatical argument centres around the players stepping away from rugby completely for four or five months and allowing both the body and mind to recover.
Going back to that conversation with Sexton, here was his immediate response when the idea of a break was put to him.
“I thought I took a sabbatical already. Six weeks in Santry.”
Ultimately, players want to play and will do so even if the body is 70 or 80% right.
If this call is to be made, it would have to come from the likes of Joe Schmidt and his backroom, and coaching, staff. Let certain soldiers avoid short-term pain for Ireland’s long-term gain.
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