The upside of being trusted by Joe Schmidt is that it helps your Test rugby ambitions. The downside is what Fergus McFadden regularly has to put up with.
Schmidt announced his Ireland squad for the opening rounds of the Six Nations, on Wednesday, and there were a few interesting inclusions, and exclusions.
To my mind, these were the names that popped out when I read the 36-man list:
- Quinn Roux
- Rory Scannell
- Fergus McFadden
Four others came to mind when one thought of those that missed out.
- Tadhg Beirne
- Simon Zebo
- John Cooney
- Stuart McCloskey
Stephen Archer, Darren Sweetnam and Tiernan O’Halloran were also unfortunate to miss the cut while there can be a good argument made for Finlay Bealham too.
It is encouraging to see Scannell included by Schmidt. He impressed with Munster last season and had a good summer tour. He was in and out of the Munster team earlier this season but has strung together some starts and some decent performances. McCloskey’s performance levels have not dipped but I get the impression he will never truly win Schmidt over.
Roux is tipping along at Connacht and may be getting more time with the squad to keep up to speed with plays and plans, rather than threatening the likes of Iain Henderson and Devin Toner to start.
McFadden, though, has been the hot-button topic in the hours that followed his inclusion. The merits of the Leinster man getting an Ireland recall were debated on The Hard Yards rugby podcast [from 9:00 below] with myself and Wasps centre Brendan Macken having our say.
“McFadden is in good form,” I began, “seems to be a favourite of Schmidt and can come in and do the job. I don’t think he will be in the matchday 23 going to Paris, but if he was he wouldn’t let you down. That’s what he is known for – he won’t let you down. He has been rewarded for hitting form at the right time.”
That form has seen him make five starts in the past six weeks, including two solid outings against Exeter and a two-try performance against Ulster that featured a beautiful step that left Jacob Stockdale grasping at thin air. Macken, who played four seasons with McFadden at Leinster, commented:
“Ferg is one of those guys that is unbelievably brave and that’s exactly it – he won’t let you down.
“For a tough game against the French, he’s almost the perfect guy that you’d want out there. Added to the that is the fact that he’s playing really well. He made that step off his right foot to leave Stockdale [behind] to score that second try and he set up Jordan Larmour for his try.
“He really, really deserves his spot in there, as does Sean Cronin. I’m delighted to see him there. John Cooney was one of those guys who I thought would be in.”
The truth is, Schmidt could select a 45-man squad for these first two games and there would still be unhappy supporters and writers making their suggestions. The Ireland coach is spreading out the experience en-route to the 2019 World Cup but, every now and then, he goes back to those trusted lieutenants.
