Conor Murray: After sharing their playbook with the Lions, now it's time for Ireland to evolve

Irish Times

4 days ago

This
Lions tour
will not automatically benefit
Irish rugby
. You have to earn everything, all over again.
In theory, a record number of Ireland players and coaches coming off a successful series bodes well for the 2027 World Cup back in Australia.
In reality, two years feels like a decade to most athletes. Anything can happen, and it usually does.
All the players want now is an uninterrupted break, far away from anyone who knows anything about rugby. They want to spent time with their family and friends, without the daily routine of buses, training and airports.
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They want to stop sharing a hotel room with another grown man.
I bet the players will miss Aled Walters' intense yet entertaining sessions. Lads love going to the gym when Aled is holding court.
Andy Farrell
and
Simon Easterby
used to pop down to watch the best S&C coach in the business do his thing.
It might be August already but next season is not on the agenda. Never mind the 2027 World Cup.
We wrongly presumed that winning a Grand Slam in 2018, followed by the series win in Australia and going unbeaten through the calendar year (when we had the All Blacks' number in November) would drive Ireland into the 2019 World Cup.
There are no guarantees in elite sport, particularly international rugby. Remember how good the
Wallabies
were at Twickenham last year, and how poor they were in the first Test in Brisbane before finding their sea legs in the second and third Tests.
If we flipped the schedule on its head, people would be calling it one of the great Lions tours.
The players who benefited the most, from an Irish perspective, are
Jamie Osborne
and
Tom Clarkson
. Neither made the match day squad when Northampton beat
Leinster
in the Champions Cup semi-final last May.
Thomas Clarkson and Jamie Osborne after the Lions' win over the First Nations & Pasifika XV at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho
Two months later they are Lions. Osbourne is a natural footballer who excels at fullback or centre. There are serious players ahead of him, like
Hugo Keenan
,
Garry Ringrose
and
Robbie Henshaw
, but I suspect Osborne will find a way into the Ireland team sooner rather than later.
Same goes for Clarkson.
Dan Sheehan
was the star on tour. Nothing fazes him. I remember when
Rónan Kelleher
first came into Ireland camp. He had all the tools a world-class hooker needed. And then Sheehan arrived a year or so later and kicked down the door.
Now they are a pair of interchangeable Lions test hookers. Some going.
Most of all, I was delighted for
Tadhg Beirne
to be named player of the series. I know early on tour he was worried about making the Test 23. And not because of external opinions – he was not hitting the standards he expected of himself.
He set the tone after 16 seconds in Brisbane with a trademark jackal over Joseph Suaalii. Penalty. 3-0. The Lions never really looked back.
Beirne has a habit of getting his hands on opposition ball when they are threatening to cut open our defence. He did it in the URC final in South Africa two years ago. He does it every other week at Thomond Park.
Tadhg Beirne in action for the Lions during the second Test against the Wallabies at Melbourne Cricket Ground. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho
I expect Sheehan and Beirne to be shortlisted for world player of the year.
Ireland can be a better for this Lions tour. Of course they can. They can evolve from 2023 into an even better team in 2027, that are capable of… I better not start making predictions in the middle of a World Cup cycle!
We also need to accept that Farrell and the other Irish coaches weren't holding back on the Lions tour.
From the expertise of Easterby's coaching to Garry Keegan's focus on performance, Jac Morgan will bring a wealth of information back to the Ospreys and the Welsh camp in November.
But so will Joe McCarthy after partnering Maro Itoje in the second row.
The only way the Lions can work is when every player and coach, from the four countries involved, are open to sharing ideas.
The Scots and English return home with precise details about how an Andy Farrell team will attack and defend.
Ireland will have to evolve. But that was always going to be the case. Lads are not getting any younger.
Having said that, I started this column last month by waxing lyrical about
Jamison Gibson-Park
. He did not disappoint. To my mind, even at 33, Jamo is the Ireland scrumhalf through the next World Cup.
Craig Casey during Ireland's captain's run ahead of the game against Portugal in Lisbon last month. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho
Sure,
Craig Casey
and others will challenge him for the nine jersey. Casey captained Ireland this summer, he won't take his foot off the gas. Ben Murphy had an unbelievable season for Connacht. Fintan Gunne, the Leinster young fella, looks fairly decent. Nathan Doak in Ulster too. Paddy Patterson, with more opportunities, can show how much of a threat he is around the ruck. Paddy's quick, and so agile.
My suspicion is that a 16- or 17-year-old from a hurling area or one of the Leinster schools will burst through in the next few years. We don't know his name yet, but this Lions tour has inspired him to become a professional. To improve his weaker side. To head into the back field by himself to perfect box kicks until it's too dark to see the ball.
From an Aussie perspective, the hope is that
Joe Schmidt
used the Lions series to ready his players for victory over South Africa at Ellis Park next Saturday, to win back the Bledisloe Cup after 23 years and to be contenders for a World Cup on their own grass when Less Kiss takes over as head coach.
If Schmidt has done anything for the game in Australia, he revived a belief that used to be ingrained in every Wallaby.