We may as well go ahead and just start calling him the anointed one such is the hype in the aftermath of Garry Ringose's performance against Munster last weekend. When Brian O'Driscoll suggested that the 20 year old Leinster man would be a decent shout to start the opening game of the Six Nations, many were in agreement.
And it's easy to see why. Ringrose has been touted as a future star for a couple of years now and this transitional period that we keep hearing about has come at the perfect time for the Blackrock man. He's becoming a key part of Leo Cullen's squad and he's taking that responsibility head on. Whether the calls for a starting Six Nations spot are premature is another matter entirely.
While O'Driscoll may have fanned the flames, the reality is that there a quite a few Ulster centres in the queue to start alongside Robbie Henshaw against Wales in little over five weeks time. However, while he's not a man to be swayed by popular opinion, we now have the first indication that Ringrose is firmly in Joe Schmidt's plans.
The Leinster man's talents obviously won't have come as any surprise to Schmidt. He'll have been keeping a very close eye on him for quite a few years now, but it's certainly interesting to see that Ringrose has been included in an Ireland pre-Six Nations training camp on Sunday alongside fellow Leinster rookie Josh van der Flier.
Given Schmidt's meticulous attention to detail it would be difficult to accuse him of jumping the gun with regard to Ringrose. It is just a training camp after all and there's no suggestions that he's nailed on for a place in the final squad to face Wales. However, if he keeps going the way he has been over the past few weeks, the clamour for his inclusion is only going to increase.
Ringrose has once again been named in Leo Cullen's starting XV to take on Connacht later today and the Leinster boss yesterday spoke about his involvement in the Ireland training camp. And while Cullen is obviously pleased to see his young centre progressing so quickly, there was certainly no chance that he would join his former teammate in suggesting a Six Nations starting spot is around the corner.
It’s great that he has been named in that Ireland squad and that sort of exposure will be important for him as well. However, the decision on where he plays beyond that is obviously someone else’s call. He’s definitely one for the future. We will try to manage him as best we can.
With the likes of Marshall, McCloskey, Payne, Cave and Olding all putting their hands up for a centre berth in Ulster, the competition in midfield is going to be fierce. Someone is going to come out of that pack and claim a regular centre spot for Ireland, time will tell whether Ringrose can do enough to be included in that conversation with little over a month to go before the start of the Six Nations.
