Farrell: Osborne skillset makes him a perfect fit at 15

Nobody but Andy Farrell saw Jamie Osborne’s Ireland debut coming as a full-back.

In the days and weeks leading up to Saturday’s first Test against South Africa in Pretoria, the 22-year-old wasn’t even among the contenders being spoken of to fill the vacant 15 shirt in the series.

With Hugo Keenan away with the Sevens team, Jordan Larmour was the incumbent having started at full-back in Ireland’s final Six Nations game when Keenan was injured. Jimmy O’Brien was the expected starter, having impressed in the position for Leinster late this season, while also having some credit in the bank with Farrell. Ciarán Frawley, meanwhile, was also in the hunt, although he was more likely to be back-up out-half.

It was Osborne, however, who got the nod, in a selection that caught everyone by surprise, even Rassie Erasmus. The Springboks’ head coach started stirring the pot early last Saturday when he laid out his predicted Irish team for this week, but had O’Brien at full-back.

Osborne at full-back isn’t a selection he would have predicted; while the Naas man played 15 for Ireland at U20 level three years ago, his senior rugby has almost exclusively been played in the centre, with just two of his 48 appearance for Leinster at full-back, the last of which was more than 18 months ago.

Farrell (below), however, believes he ticks all the boxes.

“His skillset is very interesting for us to see,” the Ireland coach said at the team’s Johannesburg base this afternoon.

“He’s obviously going to add to our performance. From what I’ve seen lately in the back end of the URC season is that whenever he plays, he’s got presence, it doesn’t matter what position he plays.

“He suits the way we play, he’s bright, he gets on the ball a lot in an organising way. His communication is very good and he’s accurate. He’s obviously got nice, soft hands and can play that way but also he can hit a line as well.

“To add to that, he’s deceptively very quick, good in the air, very athletic and he’s got a big left boot on him as well.”

In addition to Osborne playing away from his regular position, the Leinster man will also be dealing with the pressure and excitement of making his Ireland debut against the defending world champions.

And while Farrell admits there’s a risk involved with putting a rookie in at the deep end, he says Osborne has served a long apprenticeship in the Irish squad over the last two seasons.

“Any time you pick any side there’s always a risk but you’ve got to go with what you think is best of for the team, and his skillset is undoubtedly the right fit for us with Hugo [Keenan] obviously being out of the squad.

“It’s a slot where we can have a look at Jamie and how he adds value to that is something we’ve been excited about for some time now and we get the opportunity to do that.

“As far as Jamie as a player is concerned, never mind a full-back, this has been in the pipeline for quite some time now, in regards to Jamie’s been in and out of the squad as a development player, but also he’s been picked in squad before and was un fortunate to be injured, hence in the Rugby World Cup training squad he got injured pretty early.

“When Jamie’s been in the squad on numerous occasions, he’s always filled in for us in all sorts of positions, certainly at full-back as well as centre. Anyone who knows Jamie as a rugby player and his background as a junior coming through, a lot of it’s been in the 15 jersey.

“He’s a quiet lad and he comes across as quite shy, but he’s not. He’s confident in his own ability. You can tell with how he prepares, how he plays the game et cetera, and he’s all across his stuff within a few days and he’s very comfortable,” Farrell added.

The Ireland head coach also said he fully backed Keenan’s (above) decision to transfer across to the Sevens programme.

The 28-year-old has been a mainstay in the Irish squad for the last four years, but is unavailable for the tour of South Africa, as he prepares for the Olympic Games in Paris.

“I spoke to Hugo quite a bit [about his plans].

“There’s no way that if somebody’s got a dream like that – now, don’t get me wrong, if 10 of them had a dream, there’s a different decision to be had, but when it was highlighted from the Sevens management that he was in their thinking, then the question goes to Hugo.

“If that was a dream of his to do that, there’s no way I would stand in his way.”

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