6 Nations
Tom O’Toole – A Tight-Head’s Journey
Tom O’Toole is delivering an impressive body of work in this year’s Guinness Six Nations Championships but his journey to this point has included a good degree of patience, trust and faith in his ability.
Tom made his Ulster debut at that age of 19 against Edinburgh in April 2018 and the following season he would make his Champions Cup debut off the bench against the Scarlets. As a raw tight-head prop he was making steady progress pre COVID and had made 51 appearances for Ulster including 16 starts before he was called in the national squad in January 2021 on a learning brief.
O’Toole entered an Ireland squad that had Tadhg Furlong and Andrew Porter packing down on the tight-head side and would get the opportunity to square off against veteran looseheads in Cian Healy and Dave Kilcoyne.
“Tom is a tough kid, a smart rugby player well able to play the game. He has some unique physical attributes and at that age putting him into a group of props like Tadhg (Furlong), Cian (Healy) and Killer (Dave Kilcoyne) we knew he would learn on the job. The plan was that he would come in, gain experience from being around the group and being around the environment. That was what we wanted to do initially when he came in as a 21-year-old,” – Ireland scrum coach John Fogarty.
? “I think I’ve been ready, the last three or four years I’ve been building to this.”
Tom O’Toole has made a big impact off the bench in the last two matches ⬇️#TeamOfUs | #GuinnessSixNations pic.twitter.com/MYBOesV2oj
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) March 13, 2023
Tom O’Toole Timeline
April 2018 Ulster debut v Edinburgh at age 19
December 2018 Champions Cup debut for Ulster v Scarlets
January 2021 Named in Ireland Senior Six Nations Squad
July 2021 1st cap vs USA at Aviva Stadium
November 2021 Replacement v Argentina at Aviva Stadium
January 2022 Named in Ireland Senior Six Nations Squad
July 2022 Replacement v New Zealand in 1st Test & 2 starts v Māori All Blacks
November 2022 Start v All Blacks XV & replacement v Fiji
February 2023 First Six Nations appearance – four consecutive appearances
Tom O’Toole makes his Ireland debut against the USA in the Vodafone Summer Series, Aviva Stadium in July 2021
It was not part of the plan for O’Toole to feature in the Six Nations but he would be given an opportunity to don the green jersey a few months later as he started for Ireland against the USA at the Aviva Stadium in July. He would also feature off the bench against Argentina in the Autumn Nations Series the following November.
Again, he was named in the Ireland squad for the 2022 Guinness Six Nations Championships where his tutelage continued with Finlay Bealham back in the tight-head mix and Porter now firmly established on the loosehead side. He would again not feature in a match day squad across the Championship.
Named in the extended squad for the 2022 Summer Tour of New Zealand, O’Toole started the opening fixture of the tour against the Maori All Blacks in Hamilton. A perfect storm of injury and illness opened the door for him to come off the bench in the first Test against New Zealand just three days later. He would go on to again start in the win over the Māori in Wellington.
During the 2022 November international window he started against the All Blacks XV in a tough outing for Ireland A and he would earn another cap off the bench against Fiji.
Tom O’Toole in action against France in the 2023 Guinness Six Nations Championship
Speaking of O’Toole development in national camp, Fogarty said, “I think it’s important that players have a positive experience. You are looking at them the whole time in training, gauging how calm they are, how much they understand how we want to play the game. In training we first got glimpses of him getting what we wanted him to deliver. He’s a very competitive kid and he learned very very quickly. The games in New Zealand, he learned on the job and he put himself in a great place coming into this Six Nations.
Heading into his third Six Nations campaign O’Toole was primed to deliver and has done with aplomb coming off the bench in all four games adding value at set-piece and in open play.
“Tom has had to bide his time in the wider squad, he has had to gain trust of both the coaches and his peers and that trust has been built, and in himself as well. He has absolute belief now in what he is doing and we are seeing that on the field. He has been a big part of what we have done to date in this year’s Six Nations,” said Fogarty.
Roman Salanoa celebrates with teammates after beating the Griquas in the 2022 Toyota Challenge in Bloemfontein, South Africa
Roman Salanoa is another young tighthead on a steep learning curve. Limited by injury at Munster, Roman was selected to tour with Emerging Ireland last autumn and started the game against the Pumas and was a replacement against both the Griquas and the Cheetahs. He was a late call up ahead of the opening round of this year’s Guinness Six Nations on the eve of the first round fixture against Wales and has been training with the squad ever since.
Speaking of Salanoa’s development Fogarty opined, “We want him to go through the same steps. When players come in first they want to show everything that they can do, they want to show everything about themselves, they don’t quite fully understand what they plan is or what the system is and it takes a little bit of time for them and just be nice and accurate. Tom went through that process and Roman is in that process now and we see a lot of the same attributes in Roman that we saw in Tom and we are going to keep a very close eye on what he is doing in Munster and his development here with us and we’d like him to follow the same pathway.”
Images & Content from Irish Rugby & Images © Inpho Photography
The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) is delighted to announce the return of the ‘A’ Interprovincial Men’s Championship which will kick off next month.
The times and dates of the opening three rounds of the Championship before Christmas have been confirmed, with a similar points-scoring system as used in the URC. A Championship winner will be declared after the final round of matches in May and the IRFU will be commissioning a legacy trophy to mark the 150th anniversary celebrations.
Welcoming the news, IRFU Performance Director David Humphreys commented:
“We’re delighted to kick-start the Men’s ‘A’ Interprovincial Championship which will provide a host of players with a further means of developing in a meaningful competition. With the success of the Emerging Ireland Tours, coupled with the return of an ‘A’ international against England next year, it is vital that we continue to provide players at provincial and Club levels with opportunities to impress outside of the traditional URC and EPCR fixture windows.
“Discussions have been ongoing for some time to provide players with meaningful games and all four provinces are unanimously supportive of this competition. It is also great to see provinces taking matches around their local Clubs.
“It is anticipated that as the competition progresses over the coming seasons these fixtures won’t clash with Energia All-Ireland League fixtures for the most part, thus potentially also offering players from the Club game with an opportunity to impress.
“This competition will form another important part of the representative pathway from Energia AIL to URC levels for Academy players upwards over the coming seasons.”
The dates for the post-Christmas fixtures will be confirmed in due course. Ticket details will be confirmed via the respective provinces.
IRFU 150 Interprovincial ‘A’ Championship Fixtures:
Saturday, 16th November:
Connacht Eagles v Leinster ‘A’ (Creggs RFC, 1pm)
Friday, 22nd November:
Ulster ‘A’ v Connacht Eagles (Ballymacaran Park, 3pm), Leinster ‘A’ v Munster ‘A’ (Lakelands, 5pm)
Friday, 29th November:
Munster ‘A’ v Ulster ‘A’ (New Ormond Park, 3pm)
Friday, 20th December:
Ulster ‘A’ v Munster ‘A’ (tbc, 3pm)
Saturday, 21st December:
Leinster ‘A’ v Connacht Eagles (Ollie Campbell Park, 2pm)
Weekend of 28/29 December:
Connacht Eagles v Ulster ‘A’ (tbc), Munster ‘A’ v Leinster ‘A’ (tbc)
Weekend of 9/10 May:
Connacht Eagles v Munster ‘A’ (tbc), Leinster ‘A’ v Ulster ‘A’ (tbc)
Weekend of 16/17 May:
Munster ‘A’ v Connacht Eagles (tbc), Ulster ‘A’ v Leinster ‘A’ (tbc)
Images & Content from Irish Rugby & Images © Inpho Photography
The Emerging Ireland team to face the Cheetahs in the final game of the three-match series in Bloemfontein on Wednesday evening (kick off 6pm Irish time, 7pm local time) has been named.
Leinster’s James Culhane will lead the team and he forms a new back-row alongside Harry Sheridan and Sean Edogbo, who makes his first start of the tour having come on as a replacement in the 29-24 win over Western Force on Sunday afternoon. Former Ireland Under-20 captain Evan O’Connell locks down with Darragh Murray, who featured in the opening 36-24 victory over the Pumas, with Alex Usanov named in the front row alongside hooker Stephen Smyth and Jack Aungier.
Darragh Murray of Emerging Ireland scores his sides second try – Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Steve Haag Sports/Darren Stewart
In the backline, Sam Prendergast starts his third game of the tour at out-half and he will be partnered by Cormac Foley, who featured as a second half replacements against the Australian Super Rugby side last time out. Connacht’s Hugh Gavin forms a midfield partnership with Hugh Cooney, with Ulster’s Zac Ward named in an exciting back tree alongside the returning Ben O’Connor at full-back and Andrew Osborne who moves to the right wing.
Munster loosehead prop George Hadden, who was called up to the squad last weekend, is set to make his first appearance after being named on the bench alongside Conor O’Tighearnaigh and Alex Soroka who started Sunday’s win. Hadden’s provincial team-mate Danny Sheahan provides cover once more at hooker, while Scott Wilson and Charlie Tector are also named on the bench for the Toyota Stadium clash alongside out-half Jack Murphy.
Looking ahead to the game, Emerging Ireland Head Coach Simon Easterby said: “When we set out at the beginning of our pre-camp in Dublin, we knew about the challenge of facing three sides in a week and we knew that every player in the group would have the opportunity to play his part. To a man each player has given his all so far and we are aiming to finish off the series with another positive performance on Wednesday.
The Cheetahs are a fiercely proud and strong side and it should be a lively game with a vocal home support behind them. It has been a fruitful past few weeks to date and we have learned a lot. While our performances haven’t been perfect, the players have embraced the challenge and played some brilliant rugby at times. The action has come thick and fast and we know that we have to be clinical in our execution. We will need to go up another level on Wednesday to get the performance we want and hopefully finish the tour on a high.”
Wednesday’s game will be broadcast once more on IrishRugby+ – click here.
Emerging Ireland (v The Cheetahs, Wednesday, October 9, 7pm local time, 6pm Irish time)
15: Ben O’Connor (UCC RFC/Munster)
14: Andrew Osborne (Naas RFC/Leinster)
13: Hugh Cooney (Clontarf FC/Leinster)
12: Hugh Gavin (Galwegians RFC/Connacht)
11: Zac Ward (Ballynahinch RFC/Ulster/Ireland Sevens)
10: Sam Prendergast (Lansdowne FC/Leinster)
9: Cormac Foley (Lansdowne FC/Leinster)
1: Alex Usanov (Clontarf FC/Leinster)
2: Stephen Smyth (Old Wesley RFC/Leinster)
3: Jack Aungier (Clontarf FC/Connacht)
4: Evan O’Connell (Young Munster RFC/Munster)
5: Darragh Murray (Buccaneers RFC/Connacht)
6: Harry Sheridan (Dublin University FC/Ulster)
7: Sean Edogbo (UCC RFC/Munster)
8: James Culhane (UCD RFC/Leinster) (captain)
Replacements:
16: Danny Sheahan (Cork Constitution FC/Munster)
17: George Hadden (Garryowen FC/Munster)
18: Scott Wilson (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster)
19: Conor O’Tighearnaigh (UCD RFC/Leinster)
20: Alex Soroka (Clontarf FC/Leinster)
21: Matthew Devine (Corinthians RFC/Connacht)
22: Jack Murphy (Clontarf FC/Ulster)
23: Charlie Tector (Lansdowne FC/Leinster)
Images & Content from Irish Rugby & Images © Inpho Photography
Following Emerging Ireland’s 29-24 victory over Western Force in Bloemfontein on Sunday three players, Gus McCarthy (Leinster), Sean O’Brien (Munster) and Jude Postlethwaite (Ulster) will return to their provinces.
The trio will leave South Africa on Monday afternoon and will be available for selection for their respective URC fixtures this weekend.
The squad will visit Heidedal Township this afternoon and will conclude the three-match series on Wednesday evening against The Cheetahs (kick off 7pm local, 6pm Irish time). That match will be live on irishrugby+
Watch the full match back here on irishrugby+
Check out the highlights from the win against Western Force below.
Images & Content from Irish Rugby & Images © Inpho Photography
Jordan signs for Bristol Bears
IRFU Announces Return Of ‘A’ Interprovincial Championship
