In a lifetime of reporting on Irish rugby, I can think of only a handful of youngsters whose reputations preceded them, kids I heard about before seeing them perform in the flesh: Brian O’Driscoll, Cian Healy, Luke Fitzgerald, Andrew Porter.
Rugby isn’t big on bigging up the individual, especially if that individual is still in his teens. The team comes first, and all that. But now there’s a new and rather alluring name that can be added to that list: Caspar Gabriel.
One reason people are interested in this 18-year-old fly half is because he comes with an intriguing backstory, having learnt his rugby in his native Vienna, Austria, before being adopted by some canny talent-spotters in Terenure.
But it’s mainly because Gabriel is just
