25 Irish players aged 25 and under

Of the 23 Ireland players that suited up for Ireland’s Grand Slam win at Twickenham on St. Patrick’s Day, eight of those players – Tadhg Furlong, James Ryan, Dan Leavy, Garry Ringrose, Jacob Stockdale, Andrew Porter, Joey Carbery and Jordan Larmour – were 25-years-old or younger.

Second-row Iain Henderson and scrum-half Kieran Marmion just turned 26 last month, while Jordi Murphy will turn 27 in April with CJ Stander turning 28 in just over two weeks time.

The 2009 Grand Slam under Declan Kidney was the ultimate success for a side that had won Triple Crowns in three of the previous five seasons before their triumphant victory in Cardiff, however, only six players – Luke Fitzgerald, Rob Kearney, Tommy Bowe, Tomas O’Leary, Stephen Ferris and Jamie Heaslip – were 25 or under during the Grand Slam win over Wales.

Rob Kearney was the only player from that side, and the only player in the history of Irish Rugby, to start in two Grand Slam wins, which shows you just how attritional modern rugby can be.

However, when you take into account that Robbie Henshaw, Chris Farrell, Josh van der Flier, Ultan Dillane, Jack Conan, Niall and Rory Scannell and Luke McGrath (all of whom are 25 or under) played no part on Saturday, it makes for a very bright future for Ireland heading forward in this competition.

You’d figure that a lot of Ireland’s future success will be tied largely to whether Joe Schmidt is spending more time in Dublin with Ireland or Dunedin with the All Blacks, but for the moment, while Schmidt is still an IRFU employee, this could be an example of one of his extended matchday squads – accounting for injury cover – consisting solely of players aged 25 or under.

The depth in Irish Rugby is at an all-time high. Try pick a future Ireland captain here.

Ireland squad 25 or under

1. Peter Dooley (23)
2. Niall Scannell (25)
3. Tadhg Furlong (25)
4. James Ryan (21)
5. Ultan Dillane (24)
6. Dan Leavy (23)
7. Josh van der Flier (24)
8. Jack Conan (25)
9. Luke McGrath (25)
10. Joey Carbery (22)
11. Jacob Stockdale (21)
12. Robbie Henshaw (24)
13. Garry Ringrose (23)
14. Darren Sweetnam (24)
15. Jordan Larmour (20)
16. Bryan Byrne (24)
17. Denis Coulson (23)
18. Andrew Porter (22)
19. Kieran Treadwell (22)
20. Jack O’Donoghue (24)
21. Jonny Stewart (20)
22. Ross Byrne (22)
23. Barry Daly (25)
24. Rory Scannell (24)
25. Chris Farrell (24)

The FootballJOE quiz: Were you paying attention? – episode 10