FROM NAAS TO IRELAND WITH LEINSTER ALONG THE WAY FOR JAMIE OSBORNE
United Rugby Championship Leinster V Dragons
By Daire Walsh
A first test cap didn’t materialise in the opening two rounds of the Six Nations Championship, but that hasn’t stopped Naas’ Jamie Osborne from embracing life as a fully fledged member of Andy Farrell’s Ireland senior set-up.
After spending one week in camp as a development player during the Autumn Nations Series in November 2021, Osborne featured for Ireland ‘A’ against an All Blacks XV at the RDS 12 months later. While he was effectively training alongside the main squad in this latter period, it wasn’t until Farrell unveiled his 37-man selection for this year’s Six Nations that the Kildare man truly found himself in the elite international reckoning.
Given he was the only uncapped name in the group that was originally announced for the tournament – his provincial colleague Michael Milne, Munster’s Roman Salanoa and Ulster hooker Tom Stewart have since joined him – it is easy to understand why Osborne didn’t figure in the match day 23 for the wins to date over Wales and France. He was one of five Leinster players to be released back to the province for their United Rugby Championship clash with Dragons this coming Saturday and will hope a strong performance against the Welsh region can serve as the launchpad for an eventual Six Nations debut.
“I think everyone makes it so easy, it’s such a good atmosphere in the squad. Everyone is encouraged to be themselves. It probably helps that there are so many Leinster players in there for me,” Osborne remarked at a Leinster media briefing in UCD on Monday.
“I had a couple of chats [with the coaches] in the first week of camp. All they want is to try and get me up to speed with everything, get me to understand how they want to attack and defend. I’m just trying my best to do that in training.
“I think it helped that I had been in before because I kind of knew what to expect. The first time I went in I was probably really nervous because I was a development player and probably didn’t feel as part of the squad as I do now. This time I’m more comfortable, so nothing has really shocked me.”
At the same time that Osborne is looking to forge his reputation as a senior international, his housemate and fellow Lilywhite Sam Prendergast is turning heads for Ireland in the U20s Six Nations. The younger brother of Connacht lock Cian Prendergast (who is also part of the Irish senior squad at the moment), the Leinster Academy fly-half kicked 18 points at Musgrave Park last Friday as Richie Murphy’s side maintained their push for a second successive underage Grand Slam with a 33-31 victory over France.
He also shone brightly in an opening round success against Wales with an outlandish offload for a James Nicholson try gaining the seal of approval from former New Zealand star Sonny Bill Williams on social media. Although this led to his elder sibling attempting to keep him grounded, Osborne doesn’t feel there’s any danger of Prendergast getting ahead of himself.
“I was talking to Cian and he was trying to knock him down a peg or two. His head was getting a bit too big! No, no to be fair, he hasn’t talked about it at all,” Osborne said of the praise Williams heaped upon the Newbridge College graduate.
“He’s definitely cool, calm and confident in himself. He loves rugby, watches a lot of rugby. He has trained a good bit up here [Leinster] and definitely shown that he has great potential. I’ve been delighted for him that he’s been going so well.”
Whereas the Prendergasts featured prominently for Newbridge in the Leinster Junior and Senior Cups, Osborne never got the opportunity to sample life in these particular competitions. The 21-year-old’s alma mater Naas CBS is more traditionally associated with the sport of Gaelic football and have won four of the last five Leinster Colleges Senior Football Championships.
Osborne’s brother Andrew did feature for the school on their march to a Leinster Junior Cup quarter-final in 2019, however, and the presence of former Leinster and current Connacht winger Adam Byrne amongst their list of past pupils shows that a pathway does exist beyond the heavyweights of schools rugby in the eastern province.
Naas RFC in Forenaughts also played a big part in his development and this continues to be the case for the next batch of hopefuls in the club.
“There are so many players at minis level. A lot go to Newbridge, so you lose a few there, but I think the coaching throughout the youths section has been improving year on year. It has probably persuaded lads to not give it up so early to play GAA or hurling.
“There’s another player on the U20s, Oscar Cawley, he’s been the sub ‘9’ the last two U20s games. He’s another one from the school, so I think there’s just been great work done in the club. Hopefully that continues.”
Interestingly, Jamie isn’t the only member of the Osborne clan to play in the professional game as his cousin Rowan Osborne made 11 first-team appearances during a two-season stint at Leinster. He subsequently moved to Munster in the summer of 2021, but the Eadestown native was unfortunately forced to retire on medical grounds after picking up just two caps with the Red Army.
Although he hadn’t met Rowan prior to joining the Leinster Academy, he quickly became acquainted with the ex-Clongowes Wood College scrum-half.
“I always knew I was related to Rowan, heard about him when I was growing up. I think we’re like third cousins, but the first time I actually met him was when I came in here [Leinster] at first. It was obviously disappointing to see he had to retire, but I think he’s doing well outside of rugby now,” Osborne added.