‘He’s confident in his own ability’ – Andy Farrell backs Jamie Osborne to step up against South Africa

The 22-year-old Naas native has been part of numerous Ireland squads before now, but he’s been given the nod for the eagerly anticipated clash between the world’s No 1 and 2 ranked sides.

Osborne has played most of his rugby in the midfield for Leinster, but Farrell has no fears about pressing him into service in Hugo Keenan’s absence despite having Jimmy O’Brien, Jordan Larmour, Jacob Stockdale and Ciarán Frawley in the squad who have all played No 15 under his stewardship.

He identified the Leinster man as the full-back for this game from the outset of this tour.

“We slotted him in at No 15 10 days ago now, said: ‘You’re in at 15, how’s it going, Jamie?’ ‘Yeah, great, I’m all across it, no problem’. 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 said.

“It’s a privilege for us to be able to name somebody in the starting line-up for their debut, especially on an occasion like this, so congratulations to Jamie. We’ll celebrate that tonight with him. I’m sure we’ll do him proud on Saturday as well.

“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.

Ireland team to face South Africa

“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.

“His skillset is very interesting for us to see, how we use the skillset that he’s got. 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.

“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 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.”

Farrell said he is on board with Keenan’s decision to opt out of the tour and play for the Ireland Sevens team at the Olympics.

“I spoke to Hugo quite a bit,” he said.

“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.”

The other big call in Farrell’s team sees Craig Casey starting at scrum-half in Jamison Gibson-Park’s absence.

“Of course,” Farrell said when he was asked if it was a big opportunity for the Munster scrum-half who partners Jack Crowley.

“I’m sure Craig will feel like that as well. He’ll see this as his big opportunity. He deserves it, he deserves the challenge to start a Test match like this and we’re looking forward to seeing how he drives the team forward.”

Robbie Henshaw gets the nod ahead of Garry Ringrose in the ever-competitive midfield with Farrell admitting it was a tough call to bench Garry Ringrose and leave Stuart McCloskey out altogether.

“No and I always say this, don’t I, about Stu McCloskey. His form has been great, he’s been great in training, you look back at some of the big games we have won and he has been involved in a lot of them and he’s not even in the 23,” he said.

“Obviously, Garry is a class player that is waiting there to come on and add to the team so it’s as tough as it gets and that’s exactly what you want it to be.”