Brian O’Driscoll knew just how Devin Toner, the 33-year old second-row who had won more caps under the Ireland head coach, Joe Schmidt, than any other player, felt after he was left out of the World Cup squad this week.
“He has been the go-to guy in big games,” said O’Driscoll, who at the age of 34 was dropped from the third Test between the Lions and Australia in Sydney, the first time he had suffered the indignity in his international career. “It was only 10 months ago that he dominated the lineout in the big victory over New Zealand. It’s quite a fall from grace. If I was Devin I would be feeling very sorry for myself and wondering whether it was justified.”
Toner missed the final four rounds of this year’s Six Nations after suffering an ankle injury in the opener and the player who was preferred to him, Jean Kleyn, qualified for Ireland on residency grounds only this summer. The South Africa-born player was part of the lineout that malfunctioned against England last month, but he is seen as offering more in the loose.
Owen Franks, meanwhile, was looking forward to his third World Cup. The prop has been a mainstay of the All Blacks’ pack for most of this decade and started two of their three Rugby Championship matches this summer, but he lost out to two younger, far less experienced players with speed around the field cited as a reason. Franks issued a statement denying that he was slowing down while admitting the two tight-heads chosen were quicker than him.
This is part of a trend. At 27 the Wales loosehead prop Rob Evans is not in the veteran category but after starting four of Wales’s matches in their grand slam triumph this year he suffered injuries that disrupted his World Cup preparations. He was considered to be lacking the durability needed in Japan and Warren Gatland chose the 21-year-old Rhys Carré, whose number of caps equals his number of starts in the Pro14, one, for the World Cup.
The England head coach, Eddie Jones, did not have to make a decision over Dylan Hartley, who was not considered because of injury, but by making Owen Farrell co-captain last year and giving him the responsibility of overturning an interval deficit against Japan, he was already leaning that way.
When Wales returned from their tour to New Zealand in 2016, the national management called a meeting with the four regional coaches and said they wanted tight five forwards to be far better equipped when it came to running, handling and passing. They recognised that the game was evolving and that set-pieces, while still important, were influencing fewer outcomes.
The Bristol back-row Aly Muldowney, in an interview with the Irish website Balls.ie, reflected on Toner’s omission. “The demands on second-rows are increasing and increasing,” he said. “They have to be near level with back-rows who don’t have to scrummage as hard. Now you have to be way more involved in the game and the same goes for front-rows. Otherwise you just get found out these days when everyone else is so fit.”
A breakdown of the squads for the World Cup showed that the tier two and three nations had a greater number of 30-something players than the tier one sides, an average of 11 compared with 8.2. Of the leading sides Wales chose seven and England a mere four, including both their scrum-halves.
It was not that long ago that Eddie Jones looked geared to take players such as Mike Brown, Ben Te’o, Danny Care, Chris Robshaw and James Haskell to Japan. They all featured in England’s final match of the 2018 Six Nations, a day when eight of the 23 had reached 30. Jones’s training sessions are high on intensity, with players tracked. He never reveals why someone has been omitted, no matter his contribution in the past; like Gatland, he relies on evidence, of his own eyes and statistical.
If age is a factor, it is not the only one. One of the difficulties of selecting a Lions squad is anticipating how players who start for their countries will cope with the disappointment of being on the bench for a Test or, worse, stuck in the stand wearing a shirt and tie.
Would a player chosen for the World Cup who had been a first-choice for so long show as much enthusiasm and drive in training when he realised he was likely to start against only the lowest-ranked side in the group as a rookie whose surprise at being included in the squad was as great as his delight? Carré might not start a match in Japan but he will bring a desire and energy to training. Which is not to say Evans would have sulked but it is hard to mask frustration for nigh on two months.
Gatland, Jones and Schmidt have not got where they are by ducking tough decisions; the same with New Zealand’s Steve Hansen. As former players, they know the stabbing pain of rejection. As coaches, they have to put the team first and not get washed away by sentiment.
International rugby is becoming a younger player’s game, no matter how much such as Alun Wyn Jones and Sergio Parisse resist the march of time. Yes, there is something distasteful about a player just qualifying on residency grounds nudging out an established member of the squad but, if Schmidt brings the World Cup to Ireland, who will mention it?
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