Tom Ahern is going to be named in the Ireland Six Nations squad, right?
If we have to send a tactical pallet of blaas and red-lead up to the high-performance unit so be it, but the man from Ardmore needs to be getting a call. If Andy Farrell is a fan of soft rock maybe we could get him a private audience with Gilbert O'Sullivan to sweeten the deal.
The recently announced Lions coach for the 2025 Tour down under will name his selection for the 2024 edition of Six Nations on Wednesday as Ireland begin another four-year cycle with the immediate chance to defend their crown as Six Nations and Grand Slam Champions.
There is also the matter of naming a new Captain to replace Johnny Sexton. A betting man might tell you it's Peter O'Mahony.
Farrell has usually kept the faith with his tried and tested players, rarely making wholesale change to the ranks but based on what has been seen in recent weeks, the Ardmore round tower is definitely a contender.
At 23 years old, Ahern is as exciting a prospect as we have in Ireland right now. He occupies the same space as the likes of Leinster's Ryan Baird who has been showing what the new "modern" type of forward can do. His athleticism, pace, ball-handling skills and ability to step set him apart, as it does for Ahern, too.
A Natural Athlete
“He’s an incredible athlete. You saw him (against Dragons), we had a goal-line dropout, we kicked it and he caught our own kick. Incredibly athletic," said his Munster Head Coach Graham Rowntree last year.
Since the start of the 2023/24 season, we have seen Ahern deployed as a number 6 where he has been able to show the skills he developed as a full-back at underage level, while also dazzling with some core GAA skills.
"He could handle the ball, he could always handle the ball," says former Dungarvan RFC Coach Trevor Doherty.
"He was a good athlete, he was very athletic and he had that bit of aggression; probably the three most essential things for making a rugby player."
Ahern was not always the towering forward he is today. While he was always tall, he had cut his teeth as both a fullback and centre in his youth, which explains where he developed the hands that we see today. Doherty says that while the club had originally deployed him in the backs, it didn't take long for the obvious choice to present itself.
"He had that bit of aggression as well - extra aggression - and at that time we had a forward pack that lacked a little bit of that. As an U16 side, one or two aggressive players in the pack would make all the difference really. We chose to put him into the forwards from then to benefit the team."
Attacking Impact
He has played every minute of the Munster's European campaign and has become a mainstay in the province's URC defence. He's comfortably having the best season of his career to date. In the URC he has started five of the nine outings, coming on in the rest.
He has crossed over the whitewash six times - twice in the Champions Cup and four times in the league - in no small part to his newfound role in the loose where he can once again exhibit the qualities that saw him start life in the backs.
When Munster are attacking we rarely see his 6' 9' 120kg frame getting involved in the breakdown. Ahern is now deployed as one of Munster's most potent attacking options on the fringes.
Take his score against Toulon in the Champions Cup as an example.
🤩 Another assist off the boot from @Jack_Crowley10 with Tom Ahern finishing superbly 💪 #RCTvMUN #SUAF 🔴pic.twitter.com/tL4TMeLDsa
— Munster Rugby (@Munsterrugby) January 13, 2024
Jack Crowley dinks a kick in over the advancing Toulon defence and Ahern is the only Munster player out on the wing with acres of space between him and any supporting players.
The Ardmore man times his run, jumps to field the ball, catches, breaks the tackle of Dan Biggar and then bursts through the now scrambling Toulon defence as they try to stop the train from rolling to no avail; Ahern dots down for his second try in as many European games.
Grounding in the GAA
Plenty of Irish players have a basis in the GAA. Robbie Henshaw, Tadhg Furlong, Sean O'Brien, Rob Kearney, Tomás O Leary, Shane Horgan - the list goes on. They all came through the doors of their local GAA clubs playing football and hurling. Ahern is no different. He has shown as much in recent months again and again.
He was a competent hurler and footballer for Ardmore, winning an U16 Waterford football title scoring 3.09 in the final from midfield. He played in a hurling Féile in Armagh as an underage player also where he was deployed as a full forward to great success.
"At that age there's a lot of promising young lads and a lot of lads who don't fulfil their potential, but luckily enough, he has," says former Ardmore GAA coach Adrian O'Donnell.
"He has it all. He actually did a lot of athletics when he was young which is probably standing to him too. His father was a great help to him. He brought him to athletics and rugby and it's standing to him now."
Paternal Influence
Tom's father Anthony has been a source of advice and guidance, like any parent with their child.
Doherty recalls a time in Dungarvan RFC when Tom's aggression went that bit too far, but his father was there to keep him on the straight and narrow.
As Doherty tells the story, one training session had gotten a bit hot and heavy with emotions running high. "There was a bit of a punch-up at the session and the outcome was that we had to suspend him for a few matches. That was the disciplinary action we had to take because you have to lay the law down with some of the young lads for the long-term benefits. Some parents would be supportive of you, while others would give you a hard time. Our next match was away to Abbeyfeale - which is quite a long journey for us - on the sideline was Tom and his Dad. His Dad had made him travel down to watch regardless."
Dungarvan won the match, but just barely and as Doherty was walking past he overheard the chat between father and son.
'We would have only one person to blame today if we'd lost that match and it's you [Tom] for getting disciplined.' I remember thinking, that's the kind of support you need from a parent. All credit to his Dad."
Returning from injury
Ahern returned from a near year-long shoulder injury at the start of the current season to stake a claim as Munster's early doors player of the year with John Hodnett making an argument for the same.
The time spent on the recovery table has served him well, adding on size to his already substantial frame. He has been able to show off all the skills he has in his locker having missed out on the chance to lift silverware with the province last year.
If Ahern is named in the upcoming Six Nations squad he can offer something to Andy Farrell that few others can, barring the man in Leinster.
Ahern can now be deployed in either the second row or the back row. The Irish back row is a lion's den and looks to continue that way, so the second row may be his route to getting his name on a green kit.
Therein lies further problems with the likes of potential Captain - and current Leinster co-captain - James Ryan, Ulster captain Iain Henderson, teammate and de facto new Munster Captain Tadgh Beirne, the player he most resembles in Ryan Baird or big bruiser Joe McCarthy. All liked by Farrell already.
The rabbit in Ahern's hat is his ability in the loose, something Farrell values in all of his players regardless of the number on their back.
He offers a substantial lineout option too, owing to the length of his levers and with Ireland's lineout proving problematic since last year's tournament, having a simple target like Ahern's outstretched paws as an option can only be a good thing. Devin Toner wasn't bad at it and he was vertically gifted too.
If he gets capped for Ireland, he will become just the third-ever Waterford man to do so after Jack O'Donoghue and Ben Cronin. Waterpark's John O'Neill played for Ireland A, but never made a senior test appearance.
For a county like Waterford - with so little standing in rugby compared to other parts of the country - Ahern and O'Donoghue give cause for optimism. There is a pathway to the top table. You don't have to be born in Limerick or Cork to pull on the red or green jerseys.
It is the tougher route to take, but once you have arrived the journey will almost always prove worthwhile, and in all likelihood, this is just the start of Ahern's journey.
