In her latest piece for HoR2 Kate McEvoy questions the necessity for Ireland to keep Wolfhounds
This article is not so much a screed on my opinion on one of the rugby issues of the day, as per the norm, but more looking at an internal debate I've been having with myself. Unlike prior articles it lacks the clarity of a definite opinion à la Campese-gate., for the past two weeks or so I've been pondering – What are the Wolfhounds actually for?
It feels like the Ireland A or Wolfhounds squad is falling between two stools. As pointed out by Whiff Of Cordite, our nearest neighbours and only competitors of this season's fixture list, the England Saxons, place an emphasis on youth and development. The average age of the squad who lined out on Friday was less than 24. Our most recent selection included Isaac Boss, Andrew Trimble & Tom Court. Even with with the disparities in our playing pool & resources size, it's worth taking a moment to consider that.
Isaac Boss has captained the Wolfhounds, had a successful provincial career with both Leinster and Ulster, including two Heineken Cup winners medals with the latter and gone to the 2011 RWC. He was joined there by two of Ulster's current form players and Grand Slam winners Andrew Trimble and Tom Court. That was in fact Trimble's 2nd World Cup and he has an impressive 49 caps to Court's 29 with Boss bringing up the rear with a respectable 15.
I understand the wisdom of mixing experience with youth to a certain degree but there seems to be a school of thought that says, particularly in the case of Trimble and Court, that this was an opportunity for them to play their way into the senior side, which was a successful endeavour for the latter but not the former. But did Friday's match really have any effect on Trimble's fate? How will playing a one-off fixture with a scratch team tell Declan Kidney anything about these players that we won't have gleaned from training or their provincial performances? Is it really fair?
The squad also included one Luke Fitzgerald, who's been in sparkling form since he's returned to Leinster but after coming back from long term injury, he is short on game time, the same of which could not be said for the other three. For me, his selection made sense based on his particular circumstances. I should add as a caveat that due the dearth of any modicum of comfort for non-flyers at Dublin Airport & a delayed flight meant I didn't see the majority of the game. Seriously lads, would a TV have killed you? Forcing people to hang out in McDonalds is possibly a human rights violation. But I digress. Despite missing the match I think I'm still entitled to ask would we not have been better served in the long run to see Kieran Marmion or Denis Buckley included in the squad ?
The larger issue in my mental debate here is what exactly is The Irish Wolfhound squad for? With just one fixture currently listed against the Saxons and the discontinuation of the Churchill Cup, where does the Ireland A set-up go from here? I'm not opposed to development of the international game, far from it & think the inclusion of the US & Canada in the Pacific Nations Cup is a positive move. But it does limit opposition for the Wolfhound setup.
However from a domestic viewpoint, with the continuing growth of the provincial set-ups and their academy systems, together with the British & Irish Cup, providing a platform for young talent, is there still the same need to call up these promising youngsters to the A squad? My gut feeling is that there is still a place for the Wolfhound squad but firstly we need to decide what it's for – is it a last audition before the big show, is it for developing up and coming players, is it for game time for returning veterans, is it for rewarding the unlucky few such as captain James Coughlan who in another era would have surely earned a full international cap by now? It's not to say it can't be all of those things, although I'm not wild about the first, but surely, we need to be looking at more than one fixture a year to glean anything of real benefit from an Irish Wolfhounds call up. What competitive options do we have? What resources can be channelled into the Ireland A coffers? What players will be best served by inclusions? How can the senior squad reap the most benefit from the development side? I don't have the answers to these questions but I look forward to continuing my inner debate with input from you all.
Kate McEvoy : Munster fan in a sea of Leinster blue. Raised on a strict diet of Bective Rangers. Earliest childhood memory is stud marks in the muck. Former hooker for a father & a mother with an eye for a forward pass bordering on freakish . Often to be found down Monkstown RFC/ A & E on account of the exploits of the better half. Best rugby memory, Toulouse main square, May 24th 2008. Epitaph will read “Knew a lot about rugby for a girl.” Can be found tweeting optimistically at @ImKateMc
