You normally have to wait a decade or so for one of them.

Two of them in two months!

The guy was impressive in many ways . . . articulate, intelligent, and quite demonstrative in expressing himself. On the field, near enough the full package . . . jockey at the Ocke, combative scrummager, sure striker of the ball, a direct and pacy carrier, an aggressive stopper in the tackle and takes shit from no one . . . including Steve Thompson. Runs across field a bit but that's forgivable.

Equally an answer to a frenzied decade of the rosary by Fast Eddie. Fester was a distant memory, the Munch had settled for a cosy retirement at Saracens, Frankie Sheahen had a career-threatening neck injury . . . after that there was Bozo the Clown, Chemical Ali and Dame Edna.

The word latent has many connotations . . . just what had Flannery been doing for the last few years? Far from filling a gap, Ireland's new hooker was a new source of offensive capability and a guarantee of quality application from a serious player. Shoulder surgery for a hooker is bad news . . . more than anything a hooker needs unrestricted use of this part of his body to ply his trade. Fester got over it . . . this guy is just as capable, maybe not before the autumn internationals but certainly before the Six Nations. God speed.

What do we do in the interim? Frankie Sheahan is a logical choice . . . he is back playing for Munster, his form has been reasonable, he is rusty and a little off the pace, but not too much and his darts were consistent in the Magners League games I've seen.

To come back from his injury shows good resilience and he won't let Ireland down. But Ireland need more than that . . . particularly if Flannery's condition doesn't heal properly.

From time to time when I do the Last Wo rd or The Hub, I get this uncomfortable feeling in my waters about what the next question is going to be. "And so Connacht, after a great win last week, are due to play so and so . . . what do you think Franno?" They may as well have said E=MC2 and flux capacitor with a general agreement on trade and tariffs followed off by existentialistic conceptions, smorgasbordf Franno?

I haven't a rashers what is going on in Connacht rugby. I always answer with a "de ladz done good" type of reply . . . but essentially I rarely watch them . . . I'm sorry. So when John Fogarty, Connacht's captain and hooker, got picked for the senior sides' mini-camp, you had to ask is he filling a gap or is the guy good enough to be there and, more importantly, good enough for international level? I've only seen him play in snippets and highlights which is dangerous to make any judgement on. Connacht always seem to be quite proficient at line-out time and take the heel without too much hassle so there is a base level to work on. Age is a consideration though . . . 29 is late to be bustin' through to glory.

I'll watch Connacht to see if he is a late late candidate . . . because the alternative doesn't bear thinking about.

Years ago, I played a couple of tests against Australia. They had a hooker called Tommy Lawton . . . he was the biggest hooker in the world. Ten minutes into the game I was near the bottom of a ruck, somebody under me had let out a continuous series of blood-curdling screams . . . whoever it was had broken their leg, back or neck. Everyone of the Irish players got up as quickly as they could until there was only one player left . . . Tommy Lawton. He sheepishly got to his feet and walked to his props to get ready for the next scrum. Everyone shrugged their shoulders . . . Simon Poidevin told me afterwards he's claustrophobic. I couldn't believe it. Lawton must have been 20 stone . . .

he's apparently near twice that now. I thought I saw him come onto the pitch in the Ireland vs Australia game during the summer except this player was wearing an Irish shirt. If Rory Best was serious about Ireland, he would have lost two stone and learned to throw the ball into the line-out consistently at this stage. Incredible to think that when the autumn squad was picked last year, Best was considered the number-one choice over Flannery. Hooker is such an important position that if there is any weakness there, the whole team is in trouble. Leinster couldn't get their line-out to function last year in the tight games. On the evidence presented so far this year, they won't be in a much better position to do so this season either.

I've always thought of hookers . . . even though they operate within the tight five . . . to be a foreign player to the rest of the concrete mixers. His relationship at scrum time was more with the scrum-half than his props. His throwing didn't really have anything to do with his jumpers . . . if he got his timing, mind and throw right, he'd find his jumper. It's an individualistic thing. More importantly I see them as auxiliary backs . . . they complement the back row in many ways, making more tackles and covering, carrying the pill more often than 1, 3, 4 or 5 . . . it suits the position.

It's why I've always advocated an open-side wing forward in the hooking role. At schools level you can now pick your entire second-string back row in the front because you don't need big fat butter-fingered oafs anymore since you are no longer allowed to push in the scrum. One of your flankers will be able to throw the ball in proficiently.

I just can't understand that someone in the Irish management didn't approach either Shane Jennings (left) or Johnny O'Connor and ask would they like to see if they can throw the ball in. If one of them could do it for an hour a day for a month, they would be better than any of the hookers currently playing in Ireland except for Flannery. Then ask them if they would like to fight for their position in the number-two slot instead of being on the very outer reaches of the extended squad. Can you imagine the benefit of having someone like Jennings playing in conjunction with your back row . . . how much damage he could do instead of someone like Best.

One injury to Ireland's key specialist player and we are in serious trouble.

Management know what is behind Flannery . . . time to think outside the box.

nfrancis@tribune. ie