A stepping stone.
The knee injury suffered by Luke Fitzgerald that ruled the Leinster man out of another Six Nations campaign, led to a clamour of calls for Joe Schmidt to include young centre Garry Ringrose in the Ireland squad.
Schmidt resisted, preferring to allow the talented youngster time to develop at Leinster but it was curious situation nonetheless.
It is after all, just eight months since Ringrose made his final appearance for the Ireland Under-20 side, but he would not be unique in making a rapid rise to senior status, and these seven current Ireland heroes are the examples that this year’s squad will be hoping to follow in their footsteps with Friday’s Electric Ireland Six Nations contest against Italy.
Cian Healy
The Leinster loosehead had his final runout for the Under-20s in the side which completed a Six Nations Grand Slam in 2007, and had to wait two-and-a-half years to make his senior bow in a November international against Australia. It’s the longest gap of the seven on the list, but remarkable nonetheless given the prevailing wisdom that props need more seasoning than most before being ready to ascend to the elite.
Keith Earls
A team-mate of Healy’s in that 2007 Grand Slam campaign, Munster star Earls was a favourite of former provincial coach Declan Kidney and made his Ireland debut 20 months later against Canada, scoring with his first touch.
Conor Murray
Murray was part of the 2009 Under-20 Six Nations squad, and although he had to wait until August 2011 to make his full debut in a World Cup warm-up match, by the end of that tournament he had taken possession of Ireland’s No.9 shirt.
Rhys Ruddock
Ruddock was captaining the U-20s at the Junior World Championship in Australia in the summer of 2010 when he received a call from Kidney to join a senior squad riddled with back-row injuries on their tour Down Under. The Leinster man started in a defeat by the NZ Maori and won his first full cap when he came off the bench against Australia next time out.
Paddy Jackson
The Ulster out-half captained the 2012 Under-20 panel in the Six Nations and it was less than a year later that he was starting a senior Six Nations game ahead of Ronan O’Gara against Scotland at Murrayfield.
Iain Henderson
Jackson’s team-mate in the 2012 Six Nations, Henderson continued on to play for the Under-20s at that summer’s Junior World Championships, where Ireland stunned hosts South Africa and also beat England and France en route to a fifth-place finish. Fast forward five months and Henderson was again facing the Springboks, this time off the bench to earn his senior debut.
Robbie Henshaw
Henshaw’s talent was so well known that he was called into Ireland’s training camp for the 2013 Six Nations before he had even played for the Under-20s. As it was, the Connacht star was released to the underage set-up to make just one appearance, in a 16-15 win over England, before the then 19-year-old was selected to face the USA that June.
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