C’mere to me have you heard the one about the rugby player that does all the “unseen” work? he got a hundred caps and went on a couple of lions tours….WHAA??
In Ireland, we specialise in this type of forward. The invisible Trojan that works like a donkey for the good of team. Don’t you dare question the value of his contribution. If you do it is going to be very obvious to the experts that you haven’t played the game and certainly don’t understand the modern version of it. Heralded by pundits , loved by teammates and adored by coaches these guys get a free pass because of all the unnoticeable work they perform at opaque footballing occasions like rucks and mauls or are lauded for even less understandable traits like “positioning”. In rugby terms, these are advanced concepts. The things common fans don’t have a capacity to comprehend but the laymen ARE right..these guys do sweet FA..You can see the emperors scrotum. We all can
Jamie Heaslip doing f**k all at the back of another ruck as his teammates score a vital try pic:espnscrum.com
I remember the first time this really started to annoy me was when someone mentioned what a fantastic counter-rucker Donnacha O’Callaghan. Just in case you don’t understand counter rucking let me explain..in a rugby match when a player pushes you ,you push back .thats counter rucking folks!!its not a skill it’s moving slowly in a certain direction with another human attempting to do the same thing in the opposite direction.
Our current counter rucker extraordinaire is Jamie Heaslip.. pusher-in-chief its one thing for your tight forwards main skill to be in this realm but a no.8 does anyone talk about Kieran Reads counter rucking?does anyone talk about Taulupe Faletau`s lineout lifting?Does Billy Vunipola do any work on a rugby field that could be considered “unseen”? Not a beeping chance because they are three of the best in the world and they love to hide the work they do but highlight it.. they run and they pass and impact the game in a very obvious way by being very good at the basics of rugby again that not chasing diagonal kicks that’s running passing and tackling. the things Jamie Heaslips falls well short in terms of worlds best and he is getting further not closer.
Jamie Heaslip used to be a brilliant rugby player he was the most exciting back row player pre-SOB in a decade.Then his game calcified and got conservative . He was the most exciting back row player pre-SOB in a decade. He didn’t get on with coaches, he wore fancy boots he had a bad attitude and I loved him. His boots seem less fancy these days and his coaches love him, he still has the bad attitude (that’s why he isn’t the Irish captain) but it seems less maverick and more straight up prick(there someone said it )
Jamie Heaslip never breaks tackles anymore in fact he seems intent on finding at least three tacklers to hit him about a quarter metre behind the gain line before collapsing and presenting clean ball to repeat the formula with an even less effective ball carrierEven though i played the position myself I still thought it would be prudent to look up the most basic definition on Wikipedia and I stumbled across this “Number eights are often strong ball carriers and run off the backs in an attempt to break through or push past the opposition’s defensive line.”Jamie Heaslip never breaks tackles anymore in fact he seems intent on finding at least three tacklers a solitary metre behind the gain line before collapsing and presenting clean ball to repeat the formula with an even less effective ball carrier
Thats Ireland’s big problem and certainly was felt throughout the 6 nations.when we need to break the line we simply did not have the players to do it.With O’Mahoney and O’Brein out for the entire tournament and surrounded on with side by novices this was the 6 nation for Heaslip to step it up and in my opinion he failed miserably sure he scored a few tries but how many destructive carries d he literally isn’t in the shot because he is already i the opposition 22 and he wait. how many times did he beat his opposite man. Lets take a look
Against Wales Felateau outplayed him to an embarrassing degree. The pundits screamed.”Well,they fulfil totally different roles on their teams.” No!, they play the same position and Faletau plays it an awful lot more effectively . Then onto to Paris where he was up against Damien Chouly he was probably privately relieved not to get his annual is roasting off Picamoles. Chouly is a second rate forward and still Heaslip couldn’t make an impression on the game. then we played against England and again the best player on the pitch was Vunipola. He destroyed Heaslip individually and Ireland collectively.. Heaslip is meant to be an outstanding defender. i accept he makes a lot of tackles but he should have gone out on that Twickenham field with the sole intention of stopping billy the basher. he didn’t but he went looking for work elsewhere.. he did slightly better against nations that are in the upper echelons of 3rd rate international rugby.. he had a decent game against Italy where Parisse looked like a beaten man realising that he wasted an entire career being the best player on a terrible team/ Parisse usually turns it on against Ireland and i think its because he and many other international teams target Heaslip as they view him a soft target and he is unless you take into account his 2 try performance against Ryan Wilson and Scotland
Before the last two lions tours Heaslip was nailed on starter at no.8. This time round the only reason he is going to make the squad is reputation. Its ben a very long time since Heaslip was a top class rugby player I don’t care what anyone says and no one has ever seemed to come and challenge him in Ireland either. Its not his fault he is the best we got and it s a shame that the best no. 8 we have ever produced is so far short of the best in the world for such a long period of his career.
scrumblags 