Emerging Ireland head coach Simon Easterby has urged the players in his squad to impress during their upcoming tour to South Africa in order for them to ultimately challenge for places in Ireland’s senior squad.
Easterby, who usually plies his trade as Ireland’s defence coach, will be in charge of a 35-man squad that will play in the Toyota Challenge – against Griquas, Pumas and the Cheetahs – in South Africa at the end of September and early October.
Took his chance
The 47-year-old used Leinster second-row James Ryan as an example of a player who grabbed his opportunity when making his Ireland Test debut in 2017 against the USA while more senior players were on tour with the British & Irish Lions in New Zealand.
“James hadn’t even been capped by Leinster at that stage,” Easterby told The42.
“I think he had actually played for a Munster XV and that was his first game of rugby out of school. So that’s an example of a guy with little experience and there are guys here who have more experience, but guys in the past have come through this system and blooding them and we believe we need to blood guys who aren’t at the forefront of people’s minds.
“Don’t forget, we’ve also missed out on a good chunk of time with players potentially because of Covid and not going on tour to the South Sea Islands [in the summer of 2021]. Things like that have been outside of our control but something like this allows us to bridge that gap.”
Easterby believes Ireland A’s encounter with an All Blacks XV in the first week of November will be an incentive for the players in his Emerging Ireland squad to chase. If they do well in that clash with the New Zealanders they could be involved in Ireland’s Test against Fiji at the Aviva Stadium on November 12, he said.
Although it seems like it will be a rapid rise to the top, the Emerging Ireland squad have players with international experience in Robert Baloucoune, Caolin Blade, Shane Daly and Max Deegan while Ciaran Frawley, Joe McCarthy and Cian Prendergast were in action against the Maori All Blacks on Ireland’s tour to New Zealand earlier this year.
Added to that, Jamie Osborne and Tom Ahern have both trained with the senior Ireland squad as development players.
“There will be players who surprise us, the public, and supporters with what they do and maybe some of them just haven’t had that exposure at the higher level yet,” said Easterby.
Although they could keep an eye on those players while in action for their provinces in the United Rugby Championship, it’s obvious the Irish coaches want to see them up close.
Eager to replicate Ireland set-up
Despite not having Ireland head coach Andy Farrell with them in South Africa Easterby and the rest of his coaching staff will be keen to have a similar environment and style of play which Farrell has developed with the senior side.
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“That is part of the reason why we want to expose these players to the system and the environment. Not only to find out how they play the game but what makes them tick and what is their motivation, how can they handle the pressure,” added Easterby.
“It’s not Test match rugby but we want to provide an environment that is closely aligned to what we do in the senior side and then we will then have far more understanding as to whether they can step up in the next couple of months and beyond to the World Cup.”