Barry Murphy and Andrew Trimble have selected their Ireland team to play England this weekend as Joe Schmidt’s side kick-off their Six Nations campaign against the Red Rose on Saturday.
Ireland are aiming for their third consecutive Six Nations championship and have won three of the last five tournaments.
Schmidt’s side lost just one game last year (Australia) with a clean sweep of the Six Nations and the November internationals, including a first ever home win over two-time defending world champions and world number one New Zealand.
The team is pretty settled but there are some big calls to be made at openside flanker, centre and full-back and the two former Ireland internationals went through the side they think could play at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
“[Cian] Healy, [Rory] Best, [Tadhg] Furlong, [James] Ryan and [Devin] Toner are pretty much a given,” said Murphy on the latest episode of Baz & Andrew’s House of Rugby.
“[CJ] Stander and [Peter] O’Mahony are there and then the seven is a big question; [Josh] van der Flier, Sean O’Brien, [Dan] Leavy; it will be one of the three of them I can imagine.
“Seanie played very well against Wasps last week.”
Trimble added: “I just know Joe loves Seanie” before Murphy continued: “I still think van der Flier will start. He’s played so much rugby this year and has played so well with probably Seanie then on the bench as a big impact coming on against England.
“Leavy played well at Twickenham last year so what a spot of brilliant headaches to have. [Conor] Murray and [Johnny] Sexton in the halves and in the centres would you think Bundee or Henshaw?
Trimble: “I think [Robbie] Henshaw. Henshaw and [Garry] Ringrose for me. I think the Sexton’s and Henhaw’s of this world, and probably Sean O’Brien’s of this world as well, they’ve got so much grace in the bank and Joe loves them so much that they can get in there straight away without having played much rugby and perform.”
Murphy: “[Keith] Earls and [Jacob] Stockdale obviously on the wings and then 15 is a tough one. [Rob] Kearney played 15 at the weekend, didn’t have a great game, but he’s got to be minding himself a little at this age ahead of next weekend.
“He’s often been called out as potentially past it then comes back and had an unbelievable tournament last year. I know Joe is a big fan of his as well and it’s just an interesting one going into a World Cup year, they’re going to need to have a replacement for him that is playing.
“[Will] Addison hasn’t played there all year so for me it’s [Andrew] Conway or [Jordan] Larmour. Conway has been Munster’s best player for Munster for the last two months and he plays a lot on the wing but a lot of his big impacts in games has come from receiving kicks.
“He had a huge November for Ireland as well and obviously with Larmour as well we know what we can do.”
HOUSE OF RUGBY’S IRELAND XV
1. Cian Healy
2. Rory Best (captain)
3. Tadhg Furlong4. Devin Toner
5. James Ryan6. Peter O’Mahony
7. Josh van der Flier
8. CJ Stander9. Conor Murray
10. Johnny Sexton11. Jacob Stockdale
12. Robbie Henshaw
13. Garry Ringrose
14. Keith Earls15. Rob Kearney
