There is nowhere to hide for full-backs in modern rugby union. If they cannot soar like single-minded salmon to claim a high ball under intense pressure they will not last long and their team will win nothing. Which makes it all the more remarkable that the best No 15 currently playing in the UK and Ireland initially struggled to make his school “C” team and is among the less conspicuous members of Leinster’s star-studded squad.
On paper Hugo Keenan will have his work cut out this weekend compared with his Leicester counterpart Freddie Steward, the 6ft 5in skyscraper swiftly establishing himself as one of the world game’s safest pair of aerial hands. Which will suit the 25-year-old Dubliner just fine. To underestimate Keenan, as plenty of opponents are finding, is an increasingly big mistake.
