{"id":34573,"date":"2025-07-30T23:46:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T23:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/34573\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T23:46:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T23:46:12","slug":"dan-sheehan-making-hookers-cool-farrells-teenage-son-wants-to-copy-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/34573\/","title":{"rendered":"Dan Sheehan making hookers cool \u2014 Farrell\u2019s teenage son wants to copy him"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Dan Sheehan tapped a penalty and went for the tryline five metres out in the first half of the second Test, Superman diving over James Slipper to score, we credited him for his genius.<\/p>\n

It was Sheehan\u2019s 17th try in 19 matches this season, and his second score in the British & Irish Lions<\/a> Test series against Australia, having taken a crucial one just after half-time in the first Test at Brisbane too.<\/p>\n

Australians cried foul, as they did for the Jac Morgan clear-out on Carlo Tizzano which led to Hugo Keenan\u2019s winning try, but the referee was happy that Sheehan had not broken the law. Players are allowed to dive in the act of scoring, where they are usually not permitted to jump into contact, as long as it is not dangerous. <\/p>\n

Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager.<\/a><\/p>\n

Enable cookiesAllow cookies once<\/p>\n

\u201cFantastic knowledge of the laws,\u201d we thought up in the MCG stands. Yet the real answer as to why Sheehan did it was a little simpler. It was more about self-preservation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was not the play,\u201d he says, confirming it was done on instinct, not design. \u201cThe play was trying to get as close to the line as possible for the second phase. I just thought in my head I got melted in the first one I tried, and didn\u2019t get much out of it, so there has to be a bit of an opportunity over the top.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just thought: \u2018If I have a dive here . . .\u2019 I didn\u2019t know if they had anyone in the back. It was just a throw and hope and I slipped through. I can see all the controversy about it, but I did know that you can dive in the air if you score.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheehan loves working out how to manipulate defences to score, although not the pain that sometimes goes with the short, stabbing drives from a couple of metres out. \u201cIt\u2019s a tough job in professional rugby,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t know why they pick the hooker to do it!\u201d <\/p>\n

In Sheehan\u2019s case, it is because he is probably the best hooker, front-row, and maybe even forward in the world right now. Aged 26 he is in the form of his life and would be one of the first names in a World XV.<\/p>\n

At 6ft 3in and nearly 18st he is a big hooker, and an inspirational one. The word is that Gabriel Farrell, the 14-year-old son of Andy and brother of Owen, wants to move from No8 to hooker for his school, Blackrock College in Dublin, because he is keen to emulate Sheehan. <\/p>\n

\"British<\/p>\n

Andy and Gabriel after the Lions won the series at the MCG<\/p>\n

SPORTSFILE<\/p>\n

Andy Farrell, the Lions head coach, tells Sheehan and the rest of the squad to \u201cnot feel guilty for having a smile on your face\u201d, and the Irishman has been beaming throughout this tour, his first with the Lions. He sits at Shore School in Sydney, where the Lions are training this week, up on a rooftop terrace with a jaw-dropping view of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House within Circular Quay. He keeps looking at it in awe as we chat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a country to tour,\u201d Sheehan says. \u201cAustralia has been unbelievable to us. You\u2019re sitting around here looking at this, and all these cities have been unbelievable. The support along the road has been crazy. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just been listening to the lads that have done it before, like Tadhg [Furlong], Jack [Conan], and they just say this is going to be something else. It\u2019s going to be on steroids. It has definitely lived up to that. It\u2019s been absolutely mental. I\u2019ve enjoyed absolutely every second of it. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be hard not to make a squad in the years to come, when you know how special these moments can be. So I\u2019ll put my head down now for another four years, please. I\u2019m going to try to get back on the plane.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dan<\/p>\n

Sheehan admits that he would find it difficult to miss out on a place in future Lions squads after the \u201cunbelievable\u201d experience of his first tour in Australia<\/p>\n

DAVID GIBSON\/FOTOSPORT\/SHUTTERSTOCK<\/p>\n

Sheehan felt less zen when he was sitting on a white plastic chair during the dramatic ending of last Saturday\u2019s second Test. He and Furlong were next to each other on the sidelines and could do nothing to influence the outcome. <\/p>\n

As Leinster men, they had seen this movie before, and did not fancy a re-run of all the near-misses gone by: the 28-24 World Cup quarter-final defeat by New Zealand two years ago<\/a>; those Champions Cup losses to La Rochelle in the 2022 and 2023 finals, by three points and one point respectively; the 37-34 European semi-final defeat by Northampton Saints this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cTadhg looked at me and I looked at him,\u201d Sheehan says. \u201cHe was like: \u2018How many times have we been sitting on this bench in this situation and we\u2019ve never won a game?\u2019 \u201d <\/p>\n

Yet this one was different, as Keenan\u2019s try sealed the series win in the final minute<\/a>. \u201cI felt like a fan,\u201d Sheehan adds. \u201cYou\u2019re so engulfed in what you\u2019re seeing. It\u2019s probably almost more enjoyable watching it happen and being able to celebrate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dan<\/p>\n

The celebrations after the Lions\u2019 victory in the second Test were Sheehan\u2019s favourite moments of the tour<\/p>\n

STEVE CHRISTO\/SPORTSFILE<\/p>\n

That led to Sheehan\u2019s favourite moments of the tour, as the players went out to sing songs and drink beers on the MCG pitch \u2014 before the ground staff kicked them off \u2014 late on Saturday night, then moving the celebrations to Sydney on Sunday. \u201cI don\u2019t think the MCG were very happy with us,\u201d Sheehan says, \u201cbut we were having scrums on the cricket crease [during the Test], so we might as well sit down on a chair [afterwards]!\u201d <\/p>\n

He has loved bonding with England\u2019s Luke Cowan-Dickie, Jamie George, Ollie Chessum and Ben Earl, whom he has played against and looked up to from afar. Sheehan has found it odd going from \u201cgrowing up hating\u201d them to realising \u201cthey are good fellas\u201d. Will he be able to rekindle that burning fire when the Six Nations<\/a> rolls around? \u201cWhen you pull back on an Irish jersey, it won\u2019t be too hard,\u201d he says with a smile.<\/p>\n

After two days of celebrating a series victory, the partying stopped and focus returned to rugby. For Sheehan and his team-mates, this tour has always only been about two numbers: 3-0. <\/p>\n

The Lions did not enjoy their belated review of the game on Tuesday. \u201cIt\u2019s not pretty watching,\u201d he says. \u201cAustralia dictated the pace of the game early on in that first half \u2014 were just a bit all over the place. It took us a few punches in the nose to wake up and really get to grips with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the outset, the Lions have owned their favourites tag, but have yet to truly dominate the Wallabies. They are desperate for it all to come together in Sydney on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are searching for an 80-minute performance,\u201d Sheehan says. \u201cWe have the ability to do it. The people in the room, it is crazy the talent we have, so we just need to get them all working. We\u2019ve always been pretty clear on our goals. At the start of the campaign it was to go unbeaten overseas and win the series 3-0. So, we just need to stick to what we said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people who\u2019ve put a lot of effort into travelling out for this game and a lot of our families will be here, so there\u2019s plenty of motivation. I can only imagine what the Australians are feeling now as well. It would be disappointing if we didn\u2019t show up on Saturday.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Dan<\/p>\n

Sheehan says he and his team-mates are determined to deliver a series whitewash after admitting they were outplayed for large parts of the second Test<\/p>\n

DAN SHERIDAN\/INPHO<\/p>\n

Sheehan has delayed his departure from Australia, just in case the party extends deeper than expected if they achieve their clean-sweep goal. Like most, he just does not want this experience to end. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe get that winning feeling and we get addicted to it, and we can keep finding it,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s quite an infectious feeling. You can feel it among the group, the lift it gives people. Hopefully we can do it for one more week.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Dan Sheehan tapped a penalty and went for the tryline five metres out in the first half…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-34573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}