Ireland World Cup Squad (17-14 split) Forwards

[simonokeeffe]

Hookers: Best, Cronin, Strauss
LH: Healy, McGrath, Cronin
TH: Ross, Moore (if fit)
2nd Row: POC, Toner, Henderson, Ryan
Flanker: SOB, POM, Henry
No 8: Heaslip, Murphy

Hooker is locked down
LH pecking order seems fairly entrenched, unless Dennis Buckley is a bolter ahead of Cronin
TH biggest conundrum due to Moore's injury, White always being injured too, McGrath kind of covering both sides especially for Canada/Romania, think only 2 out and out THs going
2nd row first 3 are bankers, Ryan just that bit fitter than McCarthy and covers 6 a bit better in theory
Flanker seems fairly straightforward to me barring injury
No 8 Murphy seems certain to me to go as only number 8 cover, ahead of Copeland to joe, and covers 6 too, probably best bench option available after Henry

[neilinboston]

Don't you need 6 number 6's to qualify as an Irish World Cup selection?

[simonokeeffe]

Don't you need 6 number 6's to qualify as an Irish World Cup selection?

Henderson, Ryan (injured today), Murphy, SOB, POM have all started European games at 6, so hopefully Henry has too

[Dave Cahill]

Hookers: Best, Cronin, Strauss
LH: Healy, McGrath, Cronin
TH: Ross, Moore (if fit)
2nd Row: POC, Toner, Henderson, Ryan
Flanker: SOB, POM, Henry
No 8: Heaslip, Murphy

Hooker is locked down
LH pecking order seems fairly entrenched, unless Dennis Buckley is a bolter ahead of Cronin
TH biggest conundrum due to Moore's injury, White always being injured too, McGrath kind of covering both sides especially for Canada/Romania, think only 2 out and out THs going
2nd row first 3 are bankers, Ryan just that bit fitter than McCarthy and covers 6 a bit better in theory
Flanker seems fairly straightforward to me barring injury
No 8 Murphy seems certain to me to go as only number 8 cover, ahead of Copeland to joe, and covers 6 too, probably best bench option available after Henry

Schmidt may well go with Bent instead of Cronin as he covers both sides

[simonokeeffe]

Hookers: Best, Cronin, Strauss
LH: Healy, McGrath, Cronin
TH: Ross, Moore (if fit)
2nd Row: POC, Toner, Henderson, Ryan
Flanker: SOB, POM, Henry
No 8: Heaslip, Murphy

Hooker is locked down
LH pecking order seems fairly entrenched, unless Dennis Buckley is a bolter ahead of Cronin
TH biggest conundrum due to Moore's injury, White always being injured too, McGrath kind of covering both sides especially for Canada/Romania, think only 2 out and out THs going
2nd row first 3 are bankers, Ryan just that bit fitter than McCarthy and covers 6 a bit better in theory
Flanker seems fairly straightforward to me barring injury
No 8 Murphy seems certain to me to go as only number 8 cover, ahead of Copeland to joe, and covers 6 too, probably best bench option available after Henry

Schmidt may well go with Bent instead of Cronin as he covers both sides

They seem to love Cronin and may as well go with someone who is good in open play when neither are good scrummagers
McGrrath already covering both sides so if only 5 props my guess 3 loseheads

[olaf the fat]

Hookers: Best, Cronin, Strauss
LH: Healy, McGrath, Cronin
TH: Ross, Moore (if fit)
2nd Row: POC, Toner, Henderson, Ryan
Flanker: SOB, POM, Henry
No 8: Heaslip, Murphy

Hooker is locked down
LH pecking order seems fairly entrenched, unless Dennis Buckley is a bolter ahead of Cronin
TH biggest conundrum due to Moore's injury, White always being injured too, McGrath kind of covering both sides especially for Canada/Romania, think only 2 out and out THs going
2nd row first 3 are bankers, Ryan just that bit fitter than McCarthy and covers 6 a bit better in theory
Flanker seems fairly straightforward to me barring injury
No 8 Murphy seems certain to me to go as only number 8 cover, ahead of Copeland to joe, and covers 6 too, probably best bench option available after Henry

Fair selection.

[Peg Leg]

2 from Henry/TOD/Murphy you'd expect. Difficult call.

[simonokeeffe]

2 from Henry/TOD/Murphy you'd expect. Difficult call.

backup tighthead behind Moore becomes interesting if he isnt fit, White probably next in line but with he has fitness issues, Furlong zero experience at this level, possibility of 3 TH going if Moore not fit
McCarthy takes Ryans spot if hes not fit

with Ruddock out Henry probably best bet for 20 jersey, just a much better player than Murphy though lacks his versatility
I reckon Murphy goes as hes no8 cover and arguably 6 whereas TOD is much better 7 but 7 only
TOD and Henry go then thats 3 specialist opensides in the squad out of 5
if Ruddock was fit would take him well ahead of Murphy, maybe same for Copeland but hes been injured all of 2015

[Golf Man]

What I expect

LH: Healy/McGrath/Kilcoyne
Hooker: Best/Cronin/Strauss
TH: Moore/Ross
Lock: POC/Toner/Henderson/Tuohy
Back Row: POM/SOB/Heaslip/Henry/Murphy

Props - 4 are nailed on, people talking about Cronin - wouldn't be at all surprised at Kilcoyne. Some suggestions of Bent as covering both sides - don't see that happening
Hookers - not convinced by Strauss since he came back but no one else (casey/Herring) has had a chance
Last lock spot between Tuohy/McCarthy and Ryan - Ryans probably the best at his peak, cCarthy has a lot of time with the squad and with Schmidt, Tuohy a good balance I think
Back Row - would not have expected to be calling Murphy for the squad at this point - while the positions suit him he has stepped up more than I thought he was capable of Vey harsh on TOD and Ruddock

All in all I think there are 13 pretty much nailesd on - with aprobably 8/9 going fpor the last 4 spots

[Tricky Dicky]

Ah You has played some loose-head, hasn't he? He could be the fifth prop

[simonokeeffe]

Ah You has played some loose-head, hasn't he? He could be the fifth prop

lets try to not think about that

[Golf Man]

They seem to love Cronin and may as well go with someone who is good in open play when neither are good scrummagers
McGrrath already covering both sides so if only 5 props my guess 3 loseheads

missed this strange comment - there is very little between Kilcoyne and Cronin - not sure why they love Cronin? Also there really isn't an issue with their scrimmaging (either of them) - I'd actually suggest that Cronin is better, and definitely has better potential. Munster scrum doesn't get pushed around much and when you have either an ageing/off the boil Botha or Archer at TH it kind of suggests that there isn't an issue at LH

[fourthirtythree]

I thought Cronin was a better scrummager than Kilcoyne. And Kilcoyne a better ball carrier. Mind you I've seen little of either this year.

[simonokeeffe]

I thought Cronin was a better scrummager than Kilcoyne. And Kilcoyne a better ball carrier. Mind you I've seen little of either this year.

I'd go opposite

@GM IIRCwhen both were fit Cronin was making squads ahead of Killer (for Ireland), and that preference was mentioned a few times by Thornley etc

[Golf Man]

There is little or nothing between them - personally I prefer Cronin - I think he has potential to be really really good - Kilcoyne is good and very good carrier, I just think Cronin has an edge to him - talk that the yare going to try top shift him to TH

[Tricky Dicky]

Cronin and Kilcoyne are very good in the loose but have issues in the scrum imo. Kilcoyne is inclined to hinge a lot. There was a game recently and the combination of Kilcoyne and Botha together caused a lot of collapses. Court had a similar tendancy for hingeing but managed to cut it out of his game so hopefully Kilcoyne can do the same eventually. Cronin seems to keep adjusting body position in scrums, which means the guys behind sometimes can't push solidly. Does he lack a bit of bulk? Again, it's nothing that can't be corrected in the future. I think that for the moment John Ryan is the best LH option for Munster simply because he's the most stable scrummager. He's not as dynamic as the other two but has a good work-rate around the field. Cronin or Kilcoyne could supply good impact off the bench

[Oldschoolsocks]

calling it now:
if all Back rows fit
6 Sean O'Brien
7 Chris Henry
8 Jamie Heaslip
20 Peter O'Mahony

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I don't know if this will affect the thinking or not but I've noticed that there's far more of a contest at the breakdown in super rugby this year. Teams aren't just fanning out or counter rucking, there's far more of an effort to actually get over the ball and plenty of traditional opensides on show. I know we don't have any big SH teams in our group but the refs are allowing the contest and it's creating more space out wide (might just be confirmation bias because I'd proposed it before) so I could see it continuing at the World Cup.

If that is the case then it'll be interesting to see how POM gets on. On the one hand he might win more ball, but on the other we might struggle more on our own ball than we would with Ruddock of Henry in the side.

[matt]

Our current matchday 11 forwards Healy, Best, Ross, Toner, O'Connell, O'Brien, Heaslip, O'Mahony, Mc Grath, S.Cronin, Moore, Henderson, Murphy should all go if fit. Murphy the only one with a small doubt but would expect him to stay in squad.

After that you are looking at 1 Prop (White/Furling/Cronin/Kilcoyne/Bent- I would prefer a TH as more difficult to play & Mc Grath is not as good there as he is at LH), 1 Hooker Strauss, 2 Second Rows Henderson + Ryan/Mc Carthy/Foley, and I would take Henry + Ruddock as the back row gets most injuries/knocks & should be rotated more for that reason than outside backs. I know you have Henderson as well covering 2nd row/back row but at World Cup time if we progress to semi finals a lot of injury problems are in back row so you need 6/7 back rows.

18 Forwards only leaves 13 backs so Murray, Sexton, Henshaw, Payne, Bowe, Fitzgerald, R.Kearney, Reddan, Madigan, Zebo only leaves 3 left Marmion/Boss, Keatley, Trimble. Still leaves 3 ie. Madigan, Zebo, Trimble covering outside backs.

Hard to call 18/13 or 17/14? Very good squad if we avoid injuries.

[simonokeeffe]

Ruddock is back in the mix and after the stellar Autumn he had...
only thing is Jamie Heaslip no longer being immortal

Murphy has kind of been playing himself out of contention a bit but warm ups will be key

Heaslip, SOB, POM, Henry, Ruddock my guess now