The finishers. The closers. The euphemisms.
Call them what you like but no player likes to start a game on the bench.
Growing up, unless we were extremely practical, we dreamed of walking out on cup final day and playing a full part in a sensational victory. Few would envision sitting on the bench and coming on for the final stages to nick a score, or prevent one at the other end.
And yet, across sports, there are players that have made a career of being the one that comes on and alters the course of a game. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Javier Hernandez in football, Manu Ginobili in basketball and the Irish duo of Cian Healy and Sean Cronin in rugby. In this year’s Six Nations, former Leinster centre Ben Te’o was one of Eddie Jones’ lethal “finishers” as England topped the table.
Ian Keatley was Connacht’s undoubted No.1, at outhalf, for three seasons but has had a less settled time at Munster. While admitting he wants to start each and every game for the province, he has come to accept that it is not possible to be the frontrunner each weekend.
The 30-year-old has been involved in several Ireland camps and has won three of his five Test caps under Joe Schmidt. He was in the Ireland squad for their opening two games of the 2017 and told The Hard Yards about how Schmidt makes his replacements a vital part of his pre-match preparations. He said:
“Joe would have a subs meeting the night before the game and he’d talk to you about your role and what he’d want you to do, coming on.
“He’d show it to you up on the big screen, in front of everyone, the impact that the subs made [in previous games] when they came on.
“It’s starting to become a huge facet in the sport but, yeah, it is hard to accept as a player – that you’re subbing. You have that disappointment but… you take that day to get over it and then it is all about the team and you focus on your job coming on.”
We already knew that Schmidt was a meticulous planner and someone how prepared video analysis pieces for his players but the extra detail of bringing his subs together and talking them up in front of the wider squad is an interesting evolution in the process.
It is something that a lot more coaches, across sports, should definitely look into.
The full chat on subs in rugby starts from 19:20 below:
