Latest news with #SimonEasterby
BBC News
21-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Clarkson and Osborne 'deserve' Lions call-ups
British and Irish Lions assistant coach Simon Easterby said that Thomas Clarkson and Jamie Osborne "fully deserve" to be included in the squad against a First Nations and Pasifika XV on Leinster duo were late call-ups to the Lions squad as cover after featuring in Ireland's summer will make his debut at outside centre, partnering captain Owen Farrell, whilst Clarkson is amongst the replacements and Easterby believes their displays for club and country merit their inclusion. "It goes without saying the quality of those two individuals. Tom has fought through a pretty tough position at Leinster, never mind in the Irish squad, and he's put in some brilliant performances," he said."Jamie has had a brilliant couple of years. The performance he had in South Africa last summer and his performance for Leinster playing 12, 13 or wing, it's pretty impressive the positions he can cover and the quality he brings."I'm really pleased for the two of them, they fully deserve being here and I have no doubt they will perform tomorrow."The Lions starting team does not include any of the players who featured in the first-Test win against dismissed the idea that Tuesday's game is a "distraction" ahead of the second Test against Joe Schmidt's side on he urged the players that are involved to take the Pasifika game as a chance to force their way into Andy Farrell's plans with a good performance at the Marvel Stadium."The players know there is an opportunity there," Easterby added."Faz [Andy Farrell] in his selection overall has given guys opportunities based on the performances they have created on tour."I believe the group is so competitive at the minute and I don't think that will be any different with the prize of featuring in the second or third Test."
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Kinghorn injury 'way more positive' than originally feared
Blair Kinghorn's injury will need to be monitored "day by day", says British and Irish Lions defence coach Simon Easterby, but he is "hopeful" the full-back will take part in training next week. The Scotland international sprained his knee in Wednesday's win against the Brumbies and "didn't look great", but Easterby confirmed scans have showed up "way more positive" than originally feared. Advertisement The Lions have already lost a full-back in Elliot Daly, who fractured his forearm against the ACT Brumbies. Ireland's Jamie Osborne has been called up as cover, though Easterby stressed Kinghorn will be given every chance to show he is ready for the opening Test against Australia on Saturday, 19 July. "Blair didn't look great against the Brumbies and it was the right thing to do to pull him off," Easterby said. £But the scan has showed up way more positive than we'd hoped originally. "We're hopeful that he'll take some part in training next week and then it will be a little bit of a waiting game in terms of whether he's available for the first Test. Advertisement "It will be one of those things that we'll just have to take day by day. Like a lot of these injuries throughout a tour, we'll give guys an opportunity to try and prove their fitness. "And who knows? If it works out, great. If not, we've got good guys who are able to step up."
BBC News
11-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Kinghorn injury 'way more positive' than originally feared
Blair Kinghorn's injury will need to be monitored "day by day", says British and Irish Lions defence coach Simon Easterby, but he is "hopeful" the full-back will take part in training next week. The Scotland international sprained his knee in Wednesday's win against the Brumbies and "didn't look great", but Easterby confirmed scans have showed up "way more positive" than originally Lions have already lost a full-back in Elliot Daly, who fractured his forearm against the ACT Jamie Osborne has been called up as cover, though Easterby stressed Kinghorn will be given every chance to show he is ready for the opening Test against Australia on Saturday, 19 July."Blair didn't look great against the Brumbies and it was the right thing to do to pull him off," Easterby said. £But the scan has showed up way more positive than we'd hoped originally."We're hopeful that he'll take some part in training next week and then it will be a little bit of a waiting game in terms of whether he's available for the first Test."It will be one of those things that we'll just have to take day by day. Like a lot of these injuries throughout a tour, we'll give guys an opportunity to try and prove their fitness."And who knows? If it works out, great. If not, we've got good guys who are able to step up."
Telegraph
26-06-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Dan Sheehan the hybrid hooker who can play centre and dreams of kicking drop goals
Dan Sheehan is one of those sickeningly talented individuals who can turn his hand to pretty much anything. He is a golfer with a single-figure handicap, a hooker who according to his coach Simon Easterby could fill in at flanker or centre – and he's now captain of the Lions in his first appearance. But the 26-year-old could easily have been lost from the game after being passed over by Leinster's senior academy after coming out of school. It has taken a series of sliding-doors moments for him to be leading the Lions against Western Force on Saturday. 'It says a lot about him because you don't make these decisions lightly,' Lions head coach Andy Farrell said of his decision to appoint Sheehan in the absence of Maro Itoje. 'To have the special honour to captain the British and Irish Lions must be amazing for Dan and his family. They must be bursting with pride, but it's well earned, obviously.' School days in Romania fostered versatility To rewind slightly, Sheehan attributes much of his skill-set to multi-sport background which was honed in, of all places, Romania while his father, Barry, was selling Heineken in Eastern Europe. Rugby was not on the curriculum at the American international school that he attended, but pretty much everything else was. 'We were playing all sorts of different sports like baseball, basketball, volleyball,' Sheehan said this week. 'I've always enjoyed PE class, playing any sport. Badminton, whatever. That definitely impacted my skill-set and being comfortable doing anything. My parents were big on just giving anything a lash.' Sheehan was already rugby mad by this point and even without any organised games in Romania would spend hours at a time practising his line-out throwing with his brother Bobby in their garden. Returning to Ireland, Sheehan enrolled at Clongowes Wood College and was on the books of Leinster's wider academy. However, despite his obvious potential, Sheehan was not selected for a senior contract, in large part because Ronan Kelleher, another Lions hooker, was in the same academy intake. So instead, Sheehan joined Trinity College under head coach Tony Smeeth. 'He has had a different journey from most of the Leinster lads,' Smeeth said. 'He ended up missing out so he came and played two full seasons for us. I remember they knew they had something but there was just not space for him. It is part of the issue that everyone talks about how great Leinster's academy is, they don't always make the right calls. Tadhg Beirne trained for nothing in the Leinster academy until Ruddock picked him up for Scarlets. Just don't make decisions on lads so early.' Leinster academy rejection proved the making of Sheehan At this stage, Sheehan was Ireland's fifth choice Under-20 hooker but a couple of injuries at the 2018 Junior World Championship resulted in him receiving a call-up. Yet Sheehan himself suffered an injury at the tournament which meant he was allowed to stay in Leinster's wider sub academy to complete his rehab. 'He just trained for nothing or got expenses,' Smeeth said. Sheehan quickly started turning heads with his performances in the All Ireland League for Trinity. 'I remember a couple of games where we were down in Limerick and we were struggling and he was straight out of school, butting heads,' Smeeth said. 'We won the [Under-20s] All-Ireland Championship and he was scoring tries for fun. He was probably 118kg, but was running in tries from the halfway line. You just don't get that. He had ball skills of a centre. I used to ring the [Leinster] academy director, Noel McNamara, who actually taught him at school, and said:'Why aren't you looking at this guy?'' Cue another sliding-doors moment as Eoghan Clarke chose to join Munster, opening up a spot for Sheehan to come into Leinster's senior set-up. Even then Sheehan had to wait his turn and was back out on loan at Lansdowne where he was tutored in the art of line out throwing by Mike Ruddock, the former Wales head coach. Once he broke through at Leinster, Sheehan has barely looked back, scoring two tries on his debut against Zebre in October 2020. Little more than a year later, he had won his first Ireland cap and bagged his first try just a couple of weeks later against Argentina. His try-scoring record is simply ridiculous. For Ireland, he has scored 15 tries in 32 matches; for Leinster 45 in 70, a tally that most wings would be happy with, let alone a front rower. Along with Kelleher and Codie Taylor, Sheehan is part of a new breed of hookers who have helped to redefine what is expected of front-three forwards. 'I enjoy playing attacking rugby in the loose, whether it be on the edges or through the middle,' Sheehan said. 'It would be a shame if I constricted that into a traditional tight-five hooker style of play. It's definitely something I can make sure I bring out on to a pitch, the things I enjoy and I'm good at. Growing up we had the likes of Keith Wood who played differently. He would put boot on the ball… drop-goals… I'll fit a drop-goal into my career at some point.' It is almost 12 months to the day that Sheehan ruptured his ACL playing for Ireland against South Africa and even by the standards of modern medicine, his return in time for this year's Six Nations was remarkable. 'I remember speaking to my dad almost straight away and almost thinking the worst and saying how horrible the timing is, but it ended up probably being the best timing if you were going to do it,' Sheehan said. 'If you were going to miss six months, I missed the right six months.' Almost inevitably, Sheehan marked his return for Leinster with a pair of tries before going on to score five tries for Ireland in this year's Six Nations. Asked about Easterby's assertion that he could fill in at centre or in the back row, Sheehan is far from daunted by the prospect. 'It is a conversation that crops up through the years whether we go for a 5/3 or a 6/2 split on the bench, and the coach will go 'if the s--- hits the fan you might need to jump into the back row',' Sheehan said. 'That's something I'll relish. It wouldn't faze me too much, and I'd have a bit of free licence if I was thrown into the back row. Give it a lash, trust your instincts. I would back myself [at centre]. We'll see on the pitch!'
West Australian
23-06-2025
- Sport
- West Australian
British and Irish Lions assistant coach Simon Easterby says side eager to impress after Argentina loss
British and Irish Lions assistant coach Simon Easterby says a need to impose themselves more on the contest is a key focus ahead of Saturday's clash with Western Force at Optus Stadium. After the Lions' surprise 28-24 loss to Argentina in Dublin, the tourists have arrived in Perth ahead of the first leg of their nine-date itinerary around Australia. And with less than a month to go until the first of their Tests against the Wallabies, the Lions defensive coach is targeting an improved showing on that side of the ball — starting with the Force this weekend. Lions head coach Andy Farrell was scathing in his review of the Argnetina defeat, labelleing it unacceptable and Easterby said they needed to better set the tone in early phases. 'Reflections are that we probably just didn't quite impose ourselves as much as we would have liked,' he said. 'They scored a couple of tries from the early phases. We want to be really strong in the first few phases and we weren't so. 'It's a system that some guys are familiar with. We just need to make sure we're on the same page as quickly as we can be. There's been lots of good chat around fixing a few areas on both sides of the ball.' The representative side's cohesion was put under the microscope in the wake of the Lions' loss to Argentina and Easterby admitted the chemistry was still building. 'It just takes a little bit of time to build cohesion, different combinations, different parts of the game,' he said. 'You're inevitably going to have a little bit of bedding in time. We know that we're going to have to fix things really quickly and move on. 'There's no better challenge than coming here this week after losing the game in Dublin and putting our standards out on the pitch.' Easterby has been tasked with planning operations on the defensive side of the ball for the Lions and said good defence could lay the foundation for the attack; his job will now be to help the combined side gel as a unit. 'It's important the team has a clear understanding of how we want to defend as a Lions team, where we take lots of bits from different teams, there's lots of brilliant defenders in each countries that you get to select from,' he said. 'We're fortunate we have the best of the best from Ireland and UK. We need to make sure we allow those players to express themselves defensively within a system that allows them to have a bit of a framework, but can also go and make good decisions and impose themselves without the ball.' Easterby acknowledged the rareness of a Lions tour would put a target on the back of the team in each of the nine games they played, but said the squad relished the opportunity to perform. 'Lions tours only come around once every 12 years. You realise that in opposition, this might be their only opportunity as a player, to play against the Lions team,' he said. 'With that comes expectation for us. It's a brilliant challenge.'
