The boss's shoes a comfortable fit for Sean O’Brien at Leinster
Leinster aren’t just bringing through the next generation of players during their two-week stint in South Africa. The forward-thinking province is just as busy blooding the latest batch of coaching talent as it fronts up for games against the Lions and the Bulls.
Stuart Lancaster - as was the case last year - has stayed behind in Dublin to prep the frontliners for an upcoming Heineken Champions Cup knockout game. Leo Cullen made the trip back home after the thrilling defeat of the Lions on Saturday.
Sean O’Brien, nominally the contact skills coach, is holding the fort now as the tourists prep for the week in St Peter’s College, Johannesburg. Backing him up are Simon Broughton, the academy manager, and Aaron Dundon, an elite player development officer and scrum coach to the Ireland U20s.
So, how has it been for the stand-in boss?
“I don’t know if that’s my title or not but, yeah, I’m enjoying the whole experience of it anyway and how the week is running. I suppose I’ve seen it week-in, week-out now for the last while, so it’s nice to develop my own little way and add what I see fit. And get Leo out of here for a while,” he laughed. “Everyone’s happy.”
O'Brien only retired from playing last year, but he is longer in the tooth than that as a coach. Tullow have dipped into his well of knowledge for years now, so too the London Irish amateur side during his stint with the Exiles.
His first ‘proper’ gig was with the Clontarf U20s when still a player with Leinster so coaching is as familiar as an old jumper to him, not some stuffy new shirt. A natural fit, as he said himself, and where better to strut his stuff than at Leinster?
News that Jacques Nienaber will join the province after leading the Springboks as head coach at the upcoming World Cup only heightens the sense of an organisation that refuses to stand still and the 36-year is excited about that next collaboration.
“Absolutely, it's a brilliant appointment. From my own point of view, learning how he works from that 'D' side of things. We haven't really had a South African influence at Leinster so it'll be good to have a new voice, new ideas, his experience at the top level.”
Strange to say for a man who racked up over 300 professional games for two clubs, Ireland and the Lions but he never got to play rugby in South Africa so this tour is a belated introduction to the culture and the demands required.
Beating the Lions was a sensational result given the inexperience of the side, the fact that they trailed by 15 late enough into the second half, and the loss of two players to yellow cards in that same period at Ellis Park.
The Bulls will be a harder prospect again. All the more so for the fact that tour captain Rhys Ruddock has been ruled out with a hamstring injury suffered four days ago while Vakhtang Abdaladze is a doubt with a neck injury sustained in the same game.
It was the Bulls who ended Leinster’s season last time out with a shock one-point semi-final win at the RDS but the motivation for this group leans more towards the desire to maintain the team’s unbeaten season and maybe more individual concerns too.
There may be as few as one or two of the touring group who can hold out some hope of being involved next Saturday week when Leinster host Toulouse in the Champions Cup semi but this next tie still makes for a fairly attractive shop window in which to sell one’s wares.
The odds on any of them standing out to the extent young out-half Sam Prendergast managed last week in Joburg are long – including for the No 10 himself – but O’Brien knows the value of these experiences to the 20-year-old and to others.
The Carlow man gave little heed to the suggestion that the likes of Prendergast might benefit from a loan spell abroad at some point given the length of the queue for exposure at home. Why expose them to the risks that would entail, he asked, when Leinster offer him so much?
“He's definitely comfortable at that level, he's a confident young fella. There's lots of areas in his game to develop, he needs to develop physically, but in terms of his game knowledge and the way he runs the team you can see the potential he has.
“It's great that he's getting the opportunities now. In the environment he's learning off Johnny (Sexton), Ross (Byrne) and the more experienced lads ahead of him. And that’s what it’s about for him, getting more minutes, getting more game time, keep the experience side of it.
“Every minute he gets on the pitch is going to stand to him.”
