Shannon's giant Buckley can be the new Hayes

Nukem

Shannon's giant Buckley can be the new Hayes

By Charlie Mulqueen
THE renowned Shannon front-row factory is alive and well.

For the past number of years, John Hayes has been a mainstay of the Ireland and Munster teams at tight head prop while Marcus Horan has been holding up the other side of the scrum and establishing himself as a key man in the national side.

Now Tony Buckley, a 6ft 5 inch, 21 stone giant from Newmarket, Co Cork, is developing nicely and by the time the 2007 World Cup comes round, he may well be challenging for Hayes' jersey.

Buckley made his point once again over the weekend when he came into the Connacht team for the final twenty minutes of their Celtic League game against Llanelli in Galway on Friday and produced another seventy the following day for Shannon in their 52-8 AIB League rout of hapless Dungannon at Thomond Park.

Shannon ran in seven tries to cruise into pole position in Division One with Buckley completely at ease in the set pieces while also remarkably active for such a big man in the loose.

Nobody is more delighted with Buckley's progress than the Shannon coach Mick Galwey.

"Don't be writing him up or somebody will come along and steal him from us," said the coach with the kind of reconciled smile that tells you Tony's days as an active AIB League player are rapidly nearing an end.

His contract with Connacht is up at the end of the current season and it will be a major surprise should Munster not pounce for a man who bears many similarities to John Hayes.

Both came from non-rugby playing areas, Hayes in Cappamore, Co Limerick, Buckley in Newmarket. They started as second-rows before the conversion to the front-row of the scrum. As they did so, they came in contact with international female rugby players. Big John married international Fiona Steed; Elaine Collins, another international, is Buckley's girlfriend.

Buckley first came into contact with the game as a student at Newbridge College where he represented Leinster and went to New Zealand on a rugby scholarship. Hayes had made that same journey a few years previously. Both were second-rows at the time but have since been painstakingly transformed into tight head props. Hayes has made it to the top, many good judges insist it won't be long before Buckley is also pulling on the green jersey.

"Tony isn't the finished article as a scrummager and it would be silly to suggest otherwise", acknowledges Galway. "But remember John Hayes when he first came on the scene. At a game down in Perpignan, the referee told us to take him off for his own safety. Look at him today and think of where Ireland would be without him. Of course, Tony has a distance to travel before reaching that level but he's going in the right direction, he has a very good attitude and can go a very long way and he's only 23."

Nobody watched Buckley more closely on Saturday than Elaine Collins. She videotaped every scrum which the pair would subsequently study so that faults could be identified and eradicated and the good points worked on further. Elaine describes Tony (his shoe size is 17 and finding a pair of socks to fit is almost impossible!) as "very quiet and very shy", which, of course, just another similarity between himself and Hayes!

Fionn McLoughlin, David O'Donovan, Andrew Thompson, Colm McMahon, Tom Hayes and John O'Connor were the try scorers while out-half David Delaney converted them all and also dropped a goal. Jeremy Davidson, Galwey's former Ireland second-row partner and now his counterpart as coach of Dungannon, just stood there squirming in embarrassment at this dreadfully one-sided affair. They had a first half penalty by Mark Bradley and a try at the death by Seamus Mallon.

Heard about this guy a while back but its coming out again now with all the transfers happening. Anyone got some good insight and anyone see this guy play,heard he is unreal for his size (6,5" 21st)

Sundy

Very good write up for him there alrite but in terms of ireland id prefer if he was a loose head. reggie cant go go on forever and Horan still hasnt had a chance to really prove him self internationaly against a big team, other than 10 minutes here and there.
Still its nice to see a good prop in the pipeline anyway.

Thorbar

Are there many other young Irish players who are hopefuls to fill the gaps in the Irish team as it matures? We've got an incredible team at the moment but how likely does it look that we can keep up this standard of rugby for an extended period?

Eoin

Thorbar wrote:

Are there many other young Irish players who are hopefuls to fill the gaps in the Irish team as it matures? We've got an incredible team at the moment but how likely does it look that we can keep up this standard of rugby for an extended period?

I think the one area I am worried about is the front row, so it is good to see a player like this coming through the ranks. Reggie can't have too much left, and while Horan is superb around the park, a big opposing front row can cause some problems for him.

Nukem

On another note. Justin Fitzpatrick is due to sign a new contract with Ulster after 2years away at Castres. Good for Ireland i hope

Eoin

Nukem wrote:

On another note. Justin Fitzpatrick is due to sign a new contract with Ulster after 2years away at Castres. Good for Ireland i hope

It can't hurt - I seem to remember him as pretty average around the park, but solid enough in the scrum. Anyone remember the name of the prop they brought to the last World Cup? I think he was a fairly young player from the North. Is he part of the setup anymore?

RuggieBear

i was just thinking to my self that horan could make a decent hooker......i mean he can't prop for ****e but he is a really good rugby player....i reckon it could be possible to teach him to throw and hook.....

Eoin

RuggieBear wrote:

i was just thinking to my self that horan could make a decent hooker......i mean he can't prop for ****e but he is a really good rugby player....i reckon it could be possible to teach him to throw and hook.....

He is a superb footballer alright, probably stuck somewhere between blindside and frontrow! He either needs to bulk up a bit more (I don't know the stats, but he seems quite light for a prop?) or get some more coaching from Roly Meates.

Changing to hooker at this stage in his career could be very tough - a hookers skills are not that easy to learn at all.

[Jackass]

Excellent news, it's about time we had the emergence of a tight head...Hayes is the only international class there at the moment, he's not getting any younger, and our scrum would be lost without him. I just hope his performaces at the higher levels match the hipe.