Hugo Keenan is the Ireland rugby team’s Winston Wolfe. Like the Pulp Fiction character, he is an expert when it comes to making messes vanish and cleaning up the scene of crimes against handling and discipline. It’s possible to envisage him saying to his team-mates: “I think fast, I talk fast, and I need you guys to act fast if you wanna get out of this.”
There was a moment late on in Ireland’s 22-19 victory over Australia when those characteristics were evident in a prolonged sequence of play in which the Irish fullback was involved. Twice his passes enabled team-mates to temporarily escape the close scrutiny of the Wallabies’ defence.
Seconds later a clear-out cleaned out some gold jumpers loitering with the intent to nick possession at a ruck, and the final instalment was typical of Keenan’s boundless enthusiasm in supporting colleagues. He didn’t get the pay-off – it might have led to a try – despite a perfectly timed and angled run.
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Tadhg Beirne tried to manipulate a half chance in Ireland’s favour but couldn’t get his hands free through the tackle to offload and instead the ball tumbled to ground for a knock-on. The flanker’s instincts were spot on, as were Keenan’s, the latter a direct descendant of Luke Fitzgerald, the patron saint of late angled runs.
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There is an innate honesty in the manner in which Keenan plays – chasing, tackling, running, supporting, fighting through contact, ball presentation and kicking with an earnest diligence no matter how forlorn the prospect of success at times in the belief that integrity of effort is rewarded down the line.
The 28-year-old wasn’t foot perfect by any means against the Wallabies; no one came through the sloppiness of the first half unscathed. In the mind’s eye of being permitted a re-run Keenan might like to have his time over from the fifth minute of the game.
Following a scrum free-kick his team-mates worked him into a gap through which he accelerated and threatened the Aussie line. Stepping inside one defender, Andrew Kellaway, the player whom Keenan had beaten on that outside arc, blindsided the Irish fullback by reaching in from behind to slap the ball away.
Keenan’s focus was on taking the last collision, to then ground the ball. In trying to manoeuvre or rearrange hands, body and feet he was vulnerable for a nanosecond. He did nothing wrong per se; it was a brilliant defensive play by Kellaway.
There was one other moment. Australian scrumhalf Jake Gordon put up a Garryowen, Robbie Henshaw, going backwards, got underneath the ball but in doing so took away the space for Keenan to jump into to contest with Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, who gathered the ball after it bounced. It was a little communication malfunction.
Australia went on to score a try five phases later through Max Jorgensen. In doing so he created a little family history. Some 33 years earlier I have a very sketchy memory of his father, Peter, scoring the match-winning try for Australia in a 13-9 victory over Ireland in a schools international at Thomond Park. Newbridge’s Mick Kearin kicked three penalties for a home side that included future Irish internationals Anthony Foley and David Corkery.
The regularity with which Keenan continued to pop up in all aspects was notable but he wasn’t helped by a distinct lack of shape in the Irish attack. Flat to the gainline with little depth or deception, the home side shovelled the ball on, without committing defenders, passes went astray or were poorly directed and often there was nothing for the player at the end of the line to do but take contact.
Ireland sent three or four players to resource rucks opposed by one or two Australians. The visitors, primarily through the outstanding Fraser McReight, were canny in sniffing out turnover opportunities, but otherwise were content to let Ireland have the ball and instead fan out and stay connected in their defensive alignment.
Occasionally execution was a bugbear for the home side. A lovely slick lineout move, thrown over the back to Joe McCarthy, set the Irish backline in motion but it floundered when Sam Prendergast turned his shoulders to the touchline as he waited for James Lowe, a millisecond late, to arrive. When the Irish wing did he had nowhere to go.
Keenan continued to figure in a positive manner, fighting through tackles and making a couple of crucial ones in the same phase of play on Harry Wilson and Jeremy Williams. His next impact was even more pivotal to the outcome.
A moment of aerial artistry and athleticism where he twisted acrobatically to bat the ball backwards at the second attempt as he tumbled towards earth in chasing a high ball gave Ireland a beachhead in the Australian 22. It was a selflessly brave act.
Two hitherto intermittently misfiring elements, the lineout and backline, aligned seamlessly in conception and execution, the byproduct a try for the excellent Caelan Doris. Ireland’s performance after the break had been better without coming close to the high watermark of the best days, with the bench a significant contributor.
In the end things worked out for Ireland, for Andy Farrell as he takes a sabbatical with the Lions, and for record breaker Cian Healy, and November offered a glimpse of what the future might hold, the good and the not so. There is much more to take than the simple mathematics of three wins from four matches.
