Newly appointed Irish forwards coach Simon Easterby believes his new team’s injury worries leave the door open for international outsiders to stake a claim for next year’s Six Nations.
Easterby replaced John Plumtree in July and had two mini training camps with Ireland to get up to speed with the players before the Guinness Series squad assembled at Carton House last week. In an interview with In Touch magazine, Easterby reveals two missed calls from Joe Schmidt alerted him to the fact that the may be a wanted man.
‘International rugby is the highest level and it felt like the right time to step away from the Scarlets, even though it was a wrench. If any team other than Ireland came calling I probably wouldn’t have done it but when it is a country that you played for, and were proud to have worn the jersey for, it makes it easier.’
Ireland are without a host of forward options for the three-Test spin against South Africa, Georgia and Australia.
Cian Healy, Sean O’Brien, Damien Varley, Donnacha Ryan, Marty Moore and Jordi Murphy are all missing through injuries, with Ireland particularly stretched at tight-head. The back row is shorn of two ball-carrying options – O’Brien and Murphy – but Easterby believes call-ups such as Tommy O’Donnell, Dominic Ryan and Rhys Ruddock can step unto the breach.
Before Dominic Ryan captained Emerging Ireland in the IRB Nations Cup, during the summer, he declared, ‘I’ve no doubt that people in this squad will be at the World Cup next year.’
The Leinster flanker is on the verge of a test debut this month.
Easterby says, ‘(The injuries) give other guys an opportunity and that is good for Irish rugby. We are going to see into the depth of certain positions. Some will change a little over the next twelve, eighteen months and at this stage – building up towards the Six Nations and trying to defend that – we will have a chance to see some players we maybe wouldn’t have seen before.
‘For me it is disappointing, the fact I won’t get to work with some of the guys who won the Six Nations. The flip-side of that is you create some depth in key positions. Then the challenge comes in the Six Nations when some of those guys become fit. Can they break back in or have the others done enough to hold their position? That is a good place for the side to be in terms of the competition for places.’
You can read the full interview with Simon Easterby in the latest edition of In Touch.
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