When he finally got his chance at ten, he didn’t hesitate.
Two successive Munster coaches have neglected to trust JJ Hanrahan at his preferred position of out-half but the Kerryman was picked in the playmaker role for Emerging Ireland’s opening Tbilisi Cup game against Emerging Italy and he ran the show.
Ireland scored three first half tries through Eoin Griffin, Andrew Conway and Stuart ‘The Bangor Bulldozer’ McCloskey but impressively, Hanrahan assisted all three.
And all of his attacking skills were on show – an incisive pass for Griffin, a pinpoint cross-kick for Conway and a lovely slashing break to tee up McCloskey.
Ireland ultimately ran out 25-0 winners and while it was only against Emerging Italy, it will be interesting to see if Hanrahan’s display gets the attention of Joe Schmidt. You can watch Ireland’s entire opening game right here (although we wouldn’t recommend it).
Ireland’s next Tbilisi Cup match is against Uruguay on Wednesday at 2pm.
