General Irish Depth

[johng]

Here is a list of players in (my opinion) tiered teams based on a fully fit squad.

Of course some may be arguable and people will want to move players about. I have also given precedence to players already capped in most cases. Copeland, Dom Ryan, Dave Foley and Nathan White are the only uncapped ones. (I think)

I have included a few extras in the third team.

First team

Cian Healy
Rory Best
Mike Ross
Devin Toner
Paul O'Connell
Peter O'Mahony
Sean O'Brien
Jamie Heaslip

Conor Murray
Jonathan Sexton
Luke Fitzgerald
Gordon D'Arcy
Robbie Henshaw
Tommy Bowe
Rob Kearney

Second team

Jack McGrath
Sean Cronin
Martin Moore
Donnacha Ryan
Iain Henderson
Rhys Ruddock
Chris Henry
Jordi Murphy

Eoin Reddan
Ian Madigan
Andrew Trimble
Stuart Olding
Jared Payne
Keith Earls
Felix Jones

Third team

James Cronin/Dave Kilcoyne
Richardt Strauss
Nathan White
Mike McCarthy
Dan Tuohy/Dave Foley
Kevin McLaughlin/Dominic Ryan
Tommy O'Donnell
Robin Copeland

Kieran Marmion
Ian Keatley/Paddy Jackson
Dave Kearney/Craig Gilroy
Luke Marshall
Fergus McFadden
Simon Zebo
Denis Hurley

I think you can all agree that there are VERY few (if any) duds in there and if we had to go to the third team in several positions it would not be the end of the world. In fact 5 of the 23 on Saturday find themselves in my third team, and Rodders doesn't even make it to the thirds.

I would go as far as to say many of the thirds do not deserve to be called third choice, but then you look at the players in front of them.......

Compare and contrast to (for the sake of argument) the situation at the 2007 WC (only 7 years ago)

[johng]

Here is a list of current pro players who are capped but do not feature

Donncha O'Callaghan
Damien Varley
Darren Cave
Declan Fitzpatrick
Ian Whitten
Isaac Boss
James Downey
Jamie Hagan
John Muldoon
Michael Bent
Mike Sherry
Noel Reid
Paul Marshall
Rob Herring
Robbie Diack
Rodney Ah You
Roger Wilson
Ronan Loughney
Ryan Caldwell
Shane Jennings
Stephen Archer
Tom Court
Tomás O'Leary


A few very decent players in there too.

[Golf Man]

Reality is that we have depth pretty much everywhere now -

Simple fact is that the likes of
Kilcoyne, Casey, Sherry Tuohy, McCarthy, Ryan, Jordi Murphy, TOD, Diack, Jackson, Earls, Fitzgerald, Dave Kearney, Gilroy, McFadden, Olding could all very easily not be picked for the Wolrd Cup squad (with everyone fit and available)

Tight Head and Scrum Half would be a bit of a concern about the quality of the depth/drop off from starting 15.


Tight Head and Scrum Half would be a bit of a concern about the quality of the depth - Ross will soldier on, Moore is good but raw - big drop off after that. Marmion hopefully gets a chance next week to propel further up the ranks and really start pressurising Reddan - huge drop off from Murrays standard though

[dropkick]

I've been saying it for a while that theres great depth there now. I reckon we'll see a few new names making the world cup squad. Furlong, McCloskey and a certain Munster hooker. Not Duncan Casey but Mike Sherry! Sherry is good in the loose and very good darts. He also has a big frame if he wants to bulk up.

[Golf Man]

I've been saying it for a while that theres great depth there now. I reckon we'll see a few new names making the world cup squad. Furlong, McCloskey and a certain Munster hooker. Not Duncan Casey but Mike Sherry! Sherry is good in the loose and very good darts. He also has a big frame if he wants to bulk up.

Furlong - very hard to see - he is pretty much where Moore was last year but has Ross/Moore ahead of him so not going to get the gametime that Moore had - very important for props in particular. If JS brings 3 tight heads (and he may onl;y bring 5 props in total with McGrath the third TH) more likely to be Nathan White

McCloskey - seems like a real talent but its too early by far imo - he has played 9 games for Ulster

Casey/Sherry - big fan of both I have to say => Best is obv first choice - Cronin/Strauss/Varley/Casey/Sherry - no much difference between them all tbh - all have their plus points - I would say that Best/Cronin and Strauss have all had their troubles with their throwing - I would prefer to have one really solid thrower in there - Casey has been ridiculously good given the circumstances that got him onto the team - Munster cant drop him atm if the others were fit - I'd love him to get a chance but don't think JS will wiver from Best/Cronin/Strauss

[jezzer]

Scrum Half is a bit bare. You'd like to have more choice than we have. Certainly, I'd have Marmion ahead of Reddan at this stage.

[johng]

So our thirds primarily play Georgia. With a couple of seconds.3 firsts, and a few from outside.

By my totally unscientific reckoning.

[johng]

I think that was a good shout I had on including the 4 uncapped players. 3 of them will get capped and the other undoubtedly would have had he not been injured.

[cormac]

Reality is that we have depth pretty much everywhere now -

Simple fact is that the likes of
Kilcoyne, Casey, Sherry Tuohy, McCarthy, Ryan, Jordi Murphy, TOD, Diack, Jackson, Earls, Fitzgerald, Dave Kearney, Gilroy, McFadden, Olding could all very easily not be picked for the Wolrd Cup squad (with everyone fit and available)

Tight Head and Scrum Half would be a bit of a concern about the quality of the depth/drop off from starting 15.


Tight Head and Scrum Half would be a bit of a concern about the quality of the depth - Ross will soldier on, Moore is good but raw - big drop off after that. Marmion hopefully gets a chance next week to propel further up the ranks and really start pressurising Reddan - huge drop off from Murrays standard though

Going to be a lot of tight calls, especially in the back-line, if everyone is fit next August. 31-player squad this time, so it'll be interesting to see the forwards/backs split and if it ends up 18/13 there are going to be a lot of outside backs with test experience left out.

With the requirements around injury replacements (can't play until 48hrs after they're officially called-up) the squad will have to contain three hookers, three scrum-halves and three players capable of playing 10. If he goes with the 18/13 split and has 6 half-backs, it really cuts down the number of options in the back three especially.

[simonokeeffe]

Reality is that we have depth pretty much everywhere now -

Simple fact is that the likes of
Kilcoyne, Casey, Sherry Tuohy, McCarthy, Ryan, Jordi Murphy, TOD, Diack, Jackson, Earls, Fitzgerald, Dave Kearney, Gilroy, McFadden, Olding could all very easily not be picked for the Wolrd Cup squad (with everyone fit and available)

Tight Head and Scrum Half would be a bit of a concern about the quality of the depth/drop off from starting 15.


Tight Head and Scrum Half would be a bit of a concern about the quality of the depth - Ross will soldier on, Moore is good but raw - big drop off after that. Marmion hopefully gets a chance next week to propel further up the ranks and really start pressurising Reddan - huge drop off from Murrays standard though

Going to be a lot of tight calls, especially in the back-line, if everyone is fit next August. 31-player squad this time, so it'll be interesting to see the forwards/backs split and if it ends up 18/13 there are going to be a lot of outside backs with test experience left out.

With the requirements around injury replacements (can't play until 48hrs after they're officially called-up) the squad will have to contain three hookers, three scrum-halves and three players capable of playing 10. If he goes with the 18/13 split and has 6 half-backs, it really cuts down the number of options in the back three especially.

1 specialist fullback and 3 centres (Darcy, Henshaw, Payne) with Madigan and Olding covering fullback and 12 would be my guess