A fundamental challenge for any player is to keep adding bits and pieces to the core constituents that first enabled a professional contract, real-life Buckaroo, that is accompanied by the cautionary rider not to overload.
Scott Penny would not only understand the dynamic but has made a pretty decent fist of fulfilling that remit. This season he took on the additional responsibility of captaincy in Leinster’s early URC games – he also did so against Castres in pre-season – without compromising his impact on matches but it is another tiny tweak, his footwork in contact, improving his carrying that is the most eye-catching difference.
In some respects, he’s followed the trajectory of the player he sits behind at Leinster, former World Player of the Year Josh van der Flier, who was told that he needed to go away and improve his carrying game by Ireland head coach Andy Farrell; Van der Flier did to spectacular effect in fleshing out a brilliant all-court game.
Penny’s a pound heavier and an inch shorter than Van der Flier, statistics that dismiss any perception that he’s not big enough, a suggestion that he’s had to push back against from time to time. He explained, “Just because you are big doesn’t necessarily mean you are a good ball-carrier. I wouldn’t necessarily be the tallest but I’m not light and I would back myself around carrying and stuff.
“[Footwork] is something I’ve worked a lot on during the pre-season in particular. There were a lot of weeks and months without a game, so it was a good opportunity to practice skills; ball-carrying was probably one of the ones I put a big emphasis on. It has been going well in the general terms.”
Van der Flier and Penny spend quite a bit of time together in training, including working on lineout throwing, which both have been called upon to do in matches. There is also a bond shared, if head coach Leo Cullen elects for a 6-2 or indeed 7-1 split on the bench, knowing that the openside flanker might be redeployed to the wing.
Despite, by his own recollection, having a modest try-scoring record at school, that certainly isn’t the case in Leinster colours. Penny made his debut as a 19-year-old against the Ospreys in November 2018, a reward for his exploits in the Celtic Cup, where he scored eight tries in seven matches for Leinster A.
Since then, he’s scored 30 tries in 62 senior appearances at a strike rate of one every 2.07 matches. That puts him in fourth place in terms of his provincial team-mates with only wing James Lowe (50 tries/72 appearances, one every 1.44 games), hooker Dan Sheehan (29/49, 1.68) and wing Rob Russell (12/21, 1.75) in advance of him.
Max Deegan (32) is the only forward with more tries to his name than Penny on the current roster. Cian Healy (30) is on the same mark. The arrival of the Springboks World Cup-winning coach Jacques Nienaber to Leinster offers an opportunity to dispute the current pecking order by dint of performance.
Penny had reason to be grateful to the previous incumbent, Stuart Lancaster. He said: “Yeah, I love Stu. He was here my whole time (from) the very first year I got in the Academy. Obviously, I played at school level and that, but my whole understanding of professional rugby has been pretty much shaped by Stu.
“He was very helpful; he’d always have chats if you wanted. And obviously being a 7 (Lancaster as a player), he’d give some of his knowledge even though it was a while since he’d been playing rugby himself. But he was great, it’s not just me, everyone thought the same.”
Nienaber, in his first week with the province, has already made a favourable impression on the players building on the word-of-mouth testimonial from Jason Jenkins, whom he previously coached.
Penny said, “He was out on the pitch for the first time. From what we’ve heard he’s a really nice guy and everyone is looking forward to working with him. He’s very happy to get involved and show us some of his tactics. We saw some of that today, so it won’t be too long before we see his plans implemented into our structure.
“Obviously Jacques has been looking at old footage of all of us so he will have some say in the selection. Any opportunity you get whether it is this weekend or next weekend you [must] perform.”
Cullen’s side head for the Sportsground this weekend and Penny acknowledged the severity of the test against a side going very well and containing some familiar faces, former team-mates from schools, the 2019 Ireland Under-20 Grand Slam winning team and erstwhile colleagues at Leinster.
For Penny, a couple of months past his 24th birthday, some goals involve Ireland and winning that first cap but reaching that stage is predicated on finding a way into a ridiculously competitive backrow set-up in Leinster, one that expands in terms of quality every season.
He is not cowed by the challenge but is aware that chances like Saturday night in Galway come with a requirement to keep stepping up and standing out.
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