Despite missing Ireland's game against Wales last week, Caelan Doris is expected to be in the 23-man squad for the trip to Twickenham this weekend.
Max Deegan returned to Leinster last week. The Irish back-row forward started at number eight for his province, playing all 80 minutes in their comprehensive win. Deegan would have expected to be back with Leinster last week. He is an emerging starter for Ireland but currently resides behind Peter O'Mahony, Josh Vander Flier and C.J. Stander. The same should have applied to Caelan Doris.
Doris is two years younger than Deegan. The two have been interchangeable starters for Leinster this season. Both are becoming Ireland contributors at the same time. Yet, despite his relative youth, Doris appears to be clearly ahead in the pecking order. Not only did he start against Scotland in a squad that didn't even feature Deegan, but he also stayed with Ireland last week instead of reverting back to his province.
That suggests Doris will be in contention to start this weekend against England. At worst, he will be in the 23-man squad.
At just 21 years of age, Doris is aggressively inexperienced to be staying with the squad rather than returning to Leinster. He has only started 28 games for Leinster. He had 14 starts for Ireland under 20s, including captaining the team at the World Cup. Doris staying with Ireland is a huge nod to what Andy Farrell's coaching staff thinks of him. Deegan and Ronan Kelleher went back. Of the 23 players who trained in Cork, 18 have at least 20 Ireland caps.
Ulster pair John Cooney and Rob Herring both have 10 caps and both are 29 years old. Leinster's Ross Byrne has five caps at 24 years of age. Will Addison is 27 with four caps. The only player even close to Doris in age profile is Byrne. He has been playing for Leinster for five years and is only in the squad because of Joey Carbery's absence.
Doris is a clear exception from the group.
While the Irish coaching staff is obviously excited about their new number eight, Doris is still a developing player. Expectations should be muted for him moving to the international level. Starring in a Leinster team that routinely dismantles opponents at the club level is one thing. Proving yourself against international calibre competition is something far different. The physicality and precision of England or France will far outweigh that of any European club team.
Precision shouldn't be a problem for Doris, but he's not yet a physically-intimidating player.
Against Northampton in their first meeting during the Champions Cup group stages, Doris gave up two penalties when he couldn't complete clearouts at rucks. The above example comes when Andrew Porter barrels through the inside shoulder of the first defender, creating space for the second defender to get into a jackal position. While his opponent has good body position, Doris is in position to drive him off his feet. The Leinster forward slides off his target instead of engaging to disrupt.
He's not necessarily a liability clearing out rucks, nor is he one in defence, but he's a different style of defensive player to C.J. Stander. Doris isn't a power player, he's closer to what Jamie Heaslip was when he started for Ireland.
Where Doris offers more value than his peers is his range. When Farrell started Josh Vander Flier and Doris by moving Stander to six, he was putting two very rangy players in his back row. Doris can mirror the movement skills of Vander Flier, opening up options in attack and creating more cover in defence. In the above phase, Doris lines up as the first defender but the ball goes wider than his channel.
Northampton's initial ball carrier does an excellent job of attacking the line to create a running lane for his receiver outside. Had Doris not shown off the speed to catch him form a disadvantageous position, Northampton would have broken the line cleanly and continued into Leinster's half with forward momentum.
Instead, Doris both stops the attack then gets up to generate a turnover.
Doris was the primary reason for a turnover on at least three occasions against Northampton. This particular one was exceptional. Doris works over the top of the bridging rucker to pick the ball up while staying on his feet. He secures the ball so quickly that he has it before he's cleared out by the prop. This is the exact type of play that Johnny Sexton was referring to when he spoke to Romain Poite in that notable moment during the Wales game last week.
It's a very intelligent and precise play from the young forward. It's the type of play that the Irish coaching staff likely loved because it's not something you expect to see from such an inexperienced player.
Whenever Doris is on the field, one of Peter O'Mahony or C.J. Stander won't be on the field. Stander offers the physicality that Doris and Vander Flier don't, which means O'Mahony is more likely to lose out. If O'Mahony isn't on the field, Ireland lose a key piece of their lineout. He's a lineout caller from the back row and he's also directly valuable as a lifter and jumper. Doris isn't going to call lineouts, he's not experienced enough for that. But he can mimic O'Mahoney's other contributions.
Leinster list Doris at 106 kg. That's one kilogram lighter than O'Mahony and eight kilograms lighter than Stander. He can be comfortably lifted high above the heads of his teammates. He's also one inch taller than O'Mahony. In this example, Devin Toner and Cian Healy combine to push Doris into the air. He comfortably secures the ball and transitions it to the back of the maul. Doris has excellent ball skills and secure hands.
He's not James Ryan, but he has the potential to win lineouts even when forced to contest for the ball.
When England dominated Ireland at Twickenham before the World Cup, Maro Itoje dismantled the Irish lineout. Itoje is probably the best defensive second row in the world. He reads lineouts and attacks the ball in the air as well as anyone. You can't simply go to the back, front or middle against Itoje, you need to have a plentiful supply of misdirection lineout calls to move the ball around him. Doris' ability to move quickly and act as a lifter/jumper helps in that regard.
In the above example, Doris is initially the option at the back of the lineout before rushing forward to lift Rhys Ruddock with Cian Healy toward the front.
Being taller and leaner than Stander allows him to be more versatile, but it also means he lacks that ability to explode through contact the way his Munster counterpart does. Stander can create a small surface area and attack contact with great explosion. Doris is powerful but gains metres by relying on his intelligence more than his brute force. He has a quick step and can slide off of contact by altering his posture at the point of contact. Those traits also set him up to offload the ball more easily than Stander.
This is the opening play of the game against Northampton. Doris receives the kickoff and attempts to run it back, but runs into Healy. That collision takes away all of his momentum, putting him in position to be gang-tackled by two defenders. Despite his lack of built-up speed, Doris fends off the first tackler before bouncing off the second tackler. He keeps his feet moving throught contact to pierce through the tackle.
While it's only a couple of metres, it gives Leinster forward momentum and forces the Northampton defensive line backwards while creating quick ball for Luke McGrath.
From another restart, Doris shows off some power and aggression. He breaks past the outside shoulder of the first defender to confront him before getting lower than the second defender to force his way out of the Leinster 22. His ability to pierce the tackle point again generates quick ball and pushes the defensive line back. His initial action sets up a backline move that sends Leinster into the Northampton half of the field.
The awareness that Doris showed seeking out turnovers was also on show for this carry when he recognized the gap in the Northampton defence. He generates 15 metres before smartly presenting the ball as far back away from his body that he can. McGrath benefits from the quick presentation to get the ball out quickly. Ross Byrne then benefits from the disorganization in the defensive line as they are forced to react to the initial penetration.
Although these plays all come from the same game, this performance is typical of how Doris' season has gone so far. He has areas where he needs to improve, and he likely will considering his age, but he's already at the heart of most of Leinster's positive play.
James Ryan sets a high standard for players breaking into the Ireland squad. Doris likely won't match that kind of an impact, but there's a chance that he could be the next on Ireland's (and Leinster's) conveyer belt of star players.
A matter of days ago, Mick McCarthy dismissed the idea of Troy Parrott playing any role in Ireland's senior football squad. McCarthy has repeatedly dismissed inexperienced players and refused to embrace youth, instead sticking with older players who have proven to be ineffective. The Irish rugby team used to have that problem to a degree, though never as severe as the football team. It's a cultural aspect of Irish sport where the potential negative is always pointed to and fear rules the day when it comes to talented, young players.
Stephen Kenny will change that culture when he takes over for McCarthy. Andy Farrell is changing it having taken over for Joe Schmidt. Whether it was immediately swapping Rob Kearney out for Jordan Larmour, keeping Andrew Conway on the wing when Keith Earls returned last week or his embracing of Doris, Farrell is moving forward with the best option regardless of age or experience. He's not defaulting to the younger option either, Rob Herring has thrived at hooker despite the availability of Ronan Kelleher.
Farrell is making good decisions. Whether that matters against England this weekend or not is a whole other issue.
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