Easterby: Jamie Gives Us Flexibility In Terms Of His Positioning

With Mack Hansen ruled out with a quad strain, there are two changes in Ireland’s back-three to face les Bleus as Hugo Keenan returns at full-back, and Osborne is handed the number 14 jersey this time.

He was one of the success stories of the summer tour to South Africa, starting both Tests and marking his maiden international appearance with a try. He followed that up with November appearances against New Zealand, Argentina, and Fiji.

His Six Nations bow came in round 3 against Wales, and Simon Easterby is backing the 23-year-old to match up well against the French given his impressive physical atributes and skillset.

“Mack’s had a little bit of a quad strain. It’s not a huge, significant injury, but it’s one that we felt like it was important this week to get as much time and reps for the guys who were starting,” said Ireland’s interim head coach.

With Jamie being back on the wing then, it meant probably he could have come in and out of that position with Mack, but it felt right to give him the minutes on the right wing.

“He gives us that coverage across the back-line really in terms of that flexibility to go to a 6-2 split. So it was probably a little bit of an earlier call just that we felt like it was the right thing to do to allow us to build that continuity in the guys who were starting to get reps.

“Mack was comfortable with that, he realised that it might be one that was touch and go, and we felt like it was the right thing to do to make that early decision.”

He added: “Jamie’s done pretty well so far across the short international career he’s had. Listen, he’s a fabulous footballer first and foremost.

“He’s got a physical presence and he’s also got a really smart rugby brain and understands the game and the feel of the game.

“So we have a bit of flexibility there in terms of his positioning, the flexibility to move him around a little bit as well in certain parts of the field so we can kind of utilise his left (foot), but he’s also got a right foot as well.

“There’s a bit of flexibility within the system that would allow us to utilise him, and Hugo as well, in different positions.”

Osborne, who stands at 6ft 4in and weighs over 14-and-a-half stone, has played almost 60 times for Leinster, and his starts for the province this season – both in the back-three and at centre – include two 80-minute appearances on the left wing against La Rochelle and Bath in January.

The proud Naas clubman also played every minute of last season’s Investec Champions Cup knockout matches against La Rochelle and Toulouse, gaining valuable experience against elite French opposition on European club rugby’s biggest stage.

His statistics from his first Six Nations game feature that crucial try from James Lowe’s tap-back, 13 carries with 72.7% of them dominant and 76.9% getting over the gain-line, while he had an 85.7% tackle success rate and one turnover tackle.

Captain Caelan Doris has provided the Six Nations leaders with a massive boost, returning from his knee injury to lead the team on the occasion of his 50th cap. Finlay Bealham and Jack Conan are set to join him in hitting the half-century mark against les Bleus.

Peter O’Mahony, Cian Healy, and Conor Murray are also poised to make their final home appearances for Ireland just over a week after confirming their impending international retirements.

Easterby says the squad want to mark the occasion with the respect and level of performance it deserves. He praised the centurion trio for what they have put into the green jersey across a series of successful campaigns as they look to finish their last Six Nations with another title.

“It’s incredible what they’ve achieved. They’re three brilliant rugby players, but three brilliant people, and they’ve been a massive part of how this team have evolved across the last four or five seasons, certainly since the 2019 World Cup,” he said of O’Mahony, Healy, and Murray.

“The best thing that the rest of the team and the coaching staff and the management can do is just mark it by creating the best performance that we can.

“They’re not the type of players that would ever want it to be about them, but obviously we want to make sure we mark the occasion with the respect and the kind of performance that it deserves for them, and they’ll want to do the same.”

Easterby continued: “They’ve all become very close. They’re not just Irish team-mates, they’re good friends on and off the pitch.

The three lads who are leaving the group will leave a massive void, but that’s kind of part and parcel of international rugby.

“People play their part for a long period, in which case these three have done. The mark of respect and the motivation, I think, is that they and the rest of the team want to finish the tournament on a high.

“You know that, in respect to them and the motivation, the team is all they’ve ever thought about, and it’s not about themselves. It is what’s going to make us the best that we can be on Saturday.”

Ireland have gone with a 6-2 bench split for the showdown with second-placed France, the decision being helped by Osborne’s versatility across three positions. Munster duo Murray and Jack Crowley are the two replacement backs.

The six-two option worked well for Andy Farrell’s men during las year’s 38-17 win in Marseille, and apart from Thomas Clarkson, a first-time starter against Wales, the forward reinforcements for this weekend bring 323 caps’ worth of experience to the table.

Speaking about the decision to add Ulster hooker Rob Herring to the bench for the round 4 fixture, Easterby admitted: “I think there’s obviously a strong focus on our set-piece and how we need to keep building that.

“Rob gives that little bit more experience and nous in a position which can be pretty tricky. I think what he’ll allow us to do as well, he’ll get the opportunity to come off the bench with a younger player in Tom Clarkson.

“Give him and Tom a nice little bit of connection. Obviously Cian as well with his experience on the other side of that.

“It was a bit of a ‘horses for courses’ (selection) in terms of trying to create the best dynamic, certainly when those guys come off the bench at whatever point that is in the game, to give the scrum and the lineout that little bit of experience.”

Meanwhile, the Ireland coaching group remain hopeful that Tadhg Furlong will be involved against Italy next week, with the France game coming just too early for his comeback from a frustrating spell on the sidelines due to calf and hamstring injuries.

“Tadhg trained with Leinster last week, did a bit with them, did a bit more with us, and it’s been just a continual kind of progression in terms of getting as many training minutes under his belt,” explained Easterby.

“He’s hit scrums this week, so he wasn’t massively far away from it, but I guess it’s just making sure that there was a confidence that he could get through.

“I mean training is one thing, getting through 40, 50, 60 minutes of an international game is different.

“It was kind of we were building up towards this and we still feel like he’s in a really good place. He feels confident that he’s hit the sort of steps that he’s needed to, but it was just probably a few days too early.”