Name a more iconic duo than World Cup season and short term contracts. I’ll wait.

While I’m waiting, let’s talk about Munster’s short term acquisition of the Waratah’s Jed Holloway for two months from the end of September. It’s a sensible, pragmatic move that covers a multitude of spots through the back five of our pack but will primarily see Holloway cover loosehead lock with a ball-carrying profile.

First things first – why has this signing been made when Munster have, in theory, a rake of young back five players? I’m going to read that question a lot over the next few hours once this news breaks, so I might as well go into it here.

Yes, Munster have a lot of younger guys who can play loosehead lock or blindside flanker but they cannot play every minute of every game, nor should they.

“Throwing the young lads in” doesn’t “develop” them in a controlled, sensible way. Introducing younger players gradually alongside senior players in a winning team is the best way to prepare them for senior roles themselves and that is especially true for forwards.

Specifically, I’m talking about Sean O’Connor, Fineen Wycherley and possibly Gavin Coombes because they are the players who Holloway is going to be accused of “blocking” in the second row or possibly at blindside flanker (I should note here that I think Coombes will see more time at #8 this season).

If we go back to the last big World Cup cycle regeneration that we can measure, we can take a road map from Leinster when they blooded current Irish internationals Josh Van Der Flier, Garry Ringrose and Dan Leavy. In 2015/2016, Leinster had senior, experienced guys like Dominic Ryan, Rhys Ruddock, Isa Nacewa, Mike McCarthy, Ben Te’o, Zane Kirchner, Fergus McFadden, Isaac Boss, Michael Bent and even Jack Conan, who played 1,199 minutes in 2014/2015, dotted throughout their early-season selections while most of their senior squad was away at the World Cup. All throughout the early season, you can see Leavy, Van Der Flier and Ringrose being brought in alongside or off the bench for the experienced players but then when the bigger games roll around – most of the young guys disappear with the exception of Josh Van Der Flier, who got a lot of game time at openside due to an injury wrecked season for Sean O’Brien.

To augment their squad later in the season, Leinster brought in Hayden Triggs to the second row to provide Category 1 game cover for their second row, while Ross Molony ate up 1153 minutes of mostly PRO12 game time, often in the same matchday squads as Triggs. You’ll note that the presence of Triggs at Leinster for two whole seasons (or the signing of Ian Nagle) didn’t prevent James Ryan from emerging in 2017/2018 after he’d been already been capped before making a senior appearance for Leinster on the basis of his work for Leinster A, the Irish u20s and training sessions for Leinster/Ireland. It’s amazing how world-class players manage not to get “blocked”, even when outside players are signed in their positions, isn’t it?

My point is, Jed Holloway’s stay at Munster will not block any emerging Test player from becoming who they are supposed to be and Leinster have shown that selecting young talent alongside established professionals is the best way to develop them.

In 2015, Munster only lost six players to the World Cup, although in reality, it was only five as Paul O’Connell was due to go to Toulon after the tournament ended. This time around, at the time of writing, we’ve lost twelve players with seven of those missing from our starting pack. We’ve lost our starting front row, both of our starting lock forwards and two-thirds of our starting back row until (hopefully) late October/November.

The senior players who are left behind in those positions are as follows:

Loosehead Prop: James Cronin, Jeremy Loughman, Liam O’Connor
Tighthead Prop: Stephen Archer, Brian Scott, Ciaran Parker
Hooker: Rhys Marshall, Kevin O’Byrne
Loosehead Lock: Billy Holland, Fineen Wycherley, Jed Holloway, Sean O’Connor
Tighthead Lock: Darren O’Shea, Fineen Wycherley, Billy Holland, Jed Holloway, Sean O’Connor
Blindside Flank: Jack O’Donoghue, Tommy O’Donnell, Arno Botha, Gavin Coombes, Sean O’Connor
Openside Flank: Chris Cloete, Tommy O’Donnell, Conor Oliver
Number 8: Arno Botha, Gavin Coombes, Jack O’Donoghue

There are a few academy players I expect to see get a fair bit of game time this season – lookout for Knox, Barron, Clarke, O’Sullivan, Ahern, Daly, Wycherley and even Hodnett here – but they’ll be slotting in alongside and on the bench for the senior players listed above.

Now, have a look back at the senior squad and pick out the heavy ball carriers. Arno Botha, James Cronin and maybe Tommy O’Donnell? Gavin Coombes and Fineen Wycherley have the potential to take that role, but it’s yet to be proven for me.

While you’re there, keep in mind that Billy Holland is 34 going on 35.

Also, keep in mind that there will be injuries in this group of senior pros because there always is in rugby these days.

Can you see why Munster would look for a ball-carrying senior forward that can plugin anywhere in the second row, blindside or even #8 on a short term deal?

Let’s get down to business.

Jed Holloway

 

The first things that stood out to me about Jed Holloway was how varied he was with the ball in hand. He’s comfortable carrying the ball up the middle of the field on regular platform carries as part of a three man pod. As you’d expect, he’s comfortable passing the ball on those heavy pod screen plays but he can also perform well when tasked with possession on the flanks.

For a big man, he’s got really exceptional pace and acceleration, especially with the ball in hand. There was one example that stood out to me from the games I watched and it was his try against the Crusaders in this year’s Super Rugby championship.

Holloway starts this set-piece scrummaging on the loosehead side of the scrum but has the pace to take possession as a second phase strike runner.

We won’t pretend that there wasn’t very average defensive efforts coming around the corner here but that, in itself, is almost the point – Holloway was there at the same time as the Crusader’s back row even though he hadn’t left the scrum by the time the Waratah’s first receiver took possession of the ball. Crusader’s openside and #8 weren’t set and couldn’t live with Holloway’s line, pace and power.

There’s even a subtle bit of footwork before the contact.

Holloway’s pace and acceleration make him a viable wide carrying option too, which might give us some hint of how Munster are going to tweak our attacking work this season. He’s comfortable tracking the play in the trams and has the handling, power and pace to be really effective there.

If Munster are trying to play with a bit more width – as I feel we’ll have to, given the way the game is going – then having an athletic “heavy” presence on the flanks is essential. Holloway could fill that role, if we choose to use him there.

Holloway’s pace for a second row – where he played all of his rugby for the Waratahs last season – becomes even more apparent on transition. Keep an eye on Blue #4 on both attacking transitions, defensive transitions and attacking an opposition kick exit.

He’s keeping pace with outside backs in most of these examples, which is impressive enough. In a game where transition – and your front five’s ability to attack and defend transitions – is becoming more and more important, a guy like Holloway should be able to show his value.

None of this athleticism means he’s slacking in the basics, either.

He’s a reliable and athletic lineout jumper all throughout the line – 2, 4 or 6…

… and he’s a really capable and athletic counter jumper when deployed in the same positions.

He shows good explosivity and a big, strong defensive wingspan. He’s a strong loosehead scrummager, an impactful defender and the only real weakness I’ve seen from him has been his offensive breakdown work but that’s mostly because I didn’t see enough of it in the three games I watched, where he was primarily used as a ball-carrying asset.

He’ll give Munster a great base to play off if selected at loosehead lock. You could pair him with any of our dedicated second rows and leave space for youth at #6 or #8, depending on where we see O’Donnell playing, and at #19 and #20.