Brian O’Driscoll has named the four Irish players who he believes would make a World XV.
Ireland have no shortage of talent available to them at the moment, as they are currently top of the World Rugby Rankings and made light work of Wales on the opening weekend of the Six Nations.
Naturally, several players are in contention to be regarded as the best in their position, and Josh van der Flier, Johnny Sexton, Tadhg Beirne and Tadhg Furlong did make the official World Rugby team of the year for 2022.
O’Driscoll has also included four Irish players, although he opted for Van der Flier, Sexton, Dan Sheehan and Caelan Doris in his World XV on Off The Ball.
Brian O’Driscoll on which Irish players would make his World XV.
“I still think our number 10 is. I would say Porter’s definitely in the conversation for sure. Then number eight, Doris. And still at the moment I’d say Josh van der Flier,” O’Driscoll argued.
“Josh is a really weird one because he’s world player of the year but it feels like there’s a, ‘Come on, Josh van der Flier couldn’t be world player of the year.’ But yet he’s still churning out these performances after getting the gong.
“So he’s definitely in the conversation, even though he’s not a conventional ‘best player in the world’ type player. I’d say four of them. I’d say Porter, Sheehan, Doris and Johnny [Sexton]… And Furlong when he’s back.”
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Brian O’Driscoll has named the four (to five) Irish players that would make the starting XV as the best in the world in their position | βοΈ@VodafoneIreland | #TeamOfUs pic.twitter.com/PUvFBJWukw
β Off The Ball (@offtheball) February 8, 2023
Those players will need to be at their best against France.
Ireland will need to be at their very best to beat France on Saturday in a game that has already been earmarked as a potential Grand Slam decider.
France are the only team that Ireland have played who they haven’t beaten since Andy Farrell took over as head coach, with Les Bleus coming out on top in the last three encounters.
Both sides were superb in 2022, although Ireland certainly got off to a better start in 2023 as they cruised past Wales, while France barely beat Italy.
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