Matt Williams claims fly-half debate distracting from Ireland’s true ‘weakness’ as IRFU urged to implement radical idea to solve issue
Sam Prendergast and Jamison Gibson-Park in action for Ireland against Scotland, and former Leinster head coach Matt Williams.
Former Leinster coach Matt Williams insists that all the talk around the fly-half position is distracting from Ireland’s main issue, which is the other key decision-making position.
They are currently blessed with two incredibly talented young 10s in the form of Sam Prendergast and Jack Crowley, but their current Six Nations options at nine are all in their 30s.
While Craig Casey, who is 25, is out injured, Andy Farrell and Simon Easterby will at some point need to look beyond Jamison Gibson-Park and Conor Murray.
Although Gibson-Park, who will turn 33 next week, and 35-year-old Murray are still playing at a very high level for Ireland, Williams feels that there is a lack of depth and is worried should their level drop.
‘Too much on the 10s’
“To have a young player in the system where you’re watching Jamison Gibson-Park I think is massive,” he told Off The Ball.
“I think it is a weakness because once Ireland get a nine that slows down a little bit, it all goes out of the window.
“If you compare that to France, let’s forget [Antoine] Dupont as he’s a freak, but then you look at [Nolann] Le Garrec and so many other good nines playing in the French system.
“They give their nines that responsibility and they demand it of them. I think that might be an issue for Ireland to consider; ‘are we demanding enough of our young nines coming through the system?’
“Are we putting too much on the 10s? Look at the discussion, everything’s been about who is going to replace Sexton because we play so much off 10, and we haven’t focused enough on the quality of the nine.”
Former Leinster fly-half Andy Dunne feels that lack of depth at scrum-half has been prevalent for a number of years, but his biggest concern is over the way Gibson-Park plays in comparison to the other options.
“There have been some very good players but what we didn’t have was three or four options and I think that’s been the case consistently for 25 years,” Dunne said.
“I look at Gibson-Park and behind him you’ve got two people over 30 in the squad in Conor and Caolin Blade.
“You’ve got Craig who’s probably the clear frontrunner for second choice and is out injured, so there are numbers and personnel there.
“[But] I don’t get a sense that we have enough players who are of the same calibre or game style as Gibson-Park. They’re quite a different profile.”
Enlisting help from France
Dunne has duly put forward a radical proposal, suggesting the IRFU should enlist some help from France, who could give the governing body direction on how to develop scrum-halves.
“There’s a strong argument for the likes of David Humphreys on this. We had a real lack of front-rows and props and we’re addressing it, and we’re not bringing in foreign players anymore, he’s put the kibosh on that,” he added.
“I think that’s what we’re equally in need of at nine. If you can’t beat them, join them. Go get someone like Jean-Baptiste Elissalde and bring them over here.
“If we want to emulate what France do at nine, go get a French bloke to come in and teach us because we’re not doing it very well.”
