Rúaidhrí O’Connor’s reported Irish team is certainly exciting.
Given the the number of injuries, retirements and fluctuations in form that have affected the Irish team, Joe Schimdt was going to have to make a number of changes to his line up for the Six Nations.
Cj Stander’s naturalisation allied to the emergence of players such as Stuart McCloskey and Josh Van Der Flier, means that the established order within the Irish set up are about to be challenged.
Johnny Sexton’s indifferent form along with the series of concussions suffered by the outhalf, has also led to some commentators question his automatic selection and call for the inclusion of Paddy Jackson.
However given Joe Schmidt’s conservative approach with Ireland, not many changes are expected. Nevertheless such a scenario could be plausible given the line up reported by Rúaidhrí O’Connor after an Irish training session.
Not only did that team include the above changes, but also had Simon Zebo at full back and a second row combination of Donnacha Ryan and Mike McCarthy.
- Jack McGrath
- Rory Best
- Nathan White
- Donnacha Ryan
- Mike McMarthy
- Sean O’Brien
- Josh Van Der Flier
- CJ Stander
- Conor Murray
- Paddy Jackson
- Andrew Trimble
- Stuart McCloskey
- Jared Payne
- Dave Kearney
- Simon Zebo
So team of Zebo;DK,Payne,McCloskey,Trimble,Jackson,Murray;McGrath,Best,White;Ryan,McC;SOB,JvdF,Stander trained yest – ruse or revolution?
— Rúaidhrí O’Connor (@RuaidhriOC) January 30, 2016
Alan Drumm, Pundit Arena