When Simon Easterby confirmed his Ireland squad for this week's Guinness Six Nations training week, the additions of Gavin Coombes, John Hodnett, Nick Timoney, Stuart McCloskey and Jacob Stockdale were all pretty obvious selections.
McCloskey and Stockdale would have been in the initial squad had it not been for injury, while Coombes and Timoney were the next backrow cabs off the rank following injuries to Iain Henderson and Cormac Izuchukwu. While Hodnett comes in as an uncapped player, he’s been knocking on the door for long enough that a call-up was in the post.
The inclusion of Diarmuid Mangan was the one name that jumped off the page. The 21-year-old has only played seven times for Leinster, but the Irish management have been impressed enough at the versatile forward to bring him in for a look under the bonnet.
A key member of the Ireland U20s side that won back-to-back Six Nations Grand Slams in 2022 and 2023, and also reached the World Rugby U20 Championship final, Mangan has been supplementing his gametime in the Energia All-Ireland League for UCD, and he appears to be the latest of that successful U20 crop that have been fast-tracked into the Irish Rugby high performance centre.
Sam Prendergast and Gus McCarthy have both been capped in recent months, while centre Hugh Cooney was also in with Ireland as a development player earlier in the campaign. The 29-man squad for Sunday’s Ireland 'A’ game against England ‘A’ contains 12 players who featured across the last three years of U20 rugby.
"I think he’s a great example of someone who is in an Irish squad not based on provincial form," Bernard Jackman said of Mangan on this week's RTÉ Rugby podcast.
"That’s not knocking the games he’s had for Leinster. It’s based on the overall reputation and potential that I think a lot of people feel he has."
A schools team-mate of Prendergast at Newbridge College, the pair actually first met as children in Syria when their parents were stationed in Damascus while with the Defence Forces.
"He was on the same cup team as [Sam] Prendergast, fifth year they got to a final but it was never played because of Covid, so they shared it with Clongowes. They were both exceptional. He’s very similar to Prendergast – from a military background, a real leader, incredible ability to just take on information and implement it.
"And he’s very athletic, he’s played at six and he’s back in the second row at the moment but he can play both. He’s very physical, a big strong lad.
"In school, if you knew them you'd be saying they have a ceiling that’s a lot higher than other fellas. That’s what you're seeing now.
"Mangan may not be needed now but will be important for the future. That’s what a good talent ID porgramme does," Jackman added.
Jonny Holland was also on this week’s podcast, with the Cork Constitution head coach having crossed paths with Mangan against UCD in the last two seasons.
"It's very interesting for someone at my level because I actually have seen a lot of them play games against us [Cork Con] and that's who we're trying to preview and see who they have available week-to-week," Holland said of that successful group of Ireland U20s.
"You see that you have a cohort there that are very dangerous, but Mangan is definitely one.
"He has played at second row, which surprised me, but he's obviously a bit of power in the engine room, and his ability at eight, he's a big ball carrier. He scored a try against us under the posts just before halftime in our home game before Christmas. Of course it was him galloping under the sticks, but as Bernard said that he's a physical boy.
"He's chunky, he's athletic, but he's got big old arms and he's a strong boy. So he's definitely an exciting prospect for Ireland to develop him."
The Sallins native has played more often in the back row for UCD, largely down the the presence of Alan Spicer and Conor O’Tighearnaigh in the second row.
However, Jackman believes the powerful forward has the attributes to become a long-term replacement for Iain Henderson as a tighthead lock who can cover at blindside flanker.
"I know he has played a lot in the back row, but I think what they see is a George Martin type lock, or a James Ryan, a tighthead lock who goes around bashing people.
"They've obviously gone and done a run on what's a year older, what's a year younger in that space and probably felt it’s worth it to invest a bit of time in him for that because we don't produce that type player.
"I know Joe McCarthy is unusual and I still see him as being different. Obviously, he goes around whacking people, but he's nearly more explosive.
"But I think if you can have a couple of them in the system, just bubbling along underneath it's a nice luxury to have.
"And I think that's what they see in him, he does lots of good things as well, but I think that's where they could see him prospering down the road," Jackman added.
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