The final trial game. The final chance to prove you are good enough to mix it with the best.
Ireland have three days of training under Joe Schmidt, this week, before a trimmed down squad reconvene for the 2017 Six Nations. 40 men have been selected but Schmidt has not closed the door to bringing in other players and will certainly release a few for provincial duty.
Racing 92 coach Ronan O’Gara told us, at the weekend, that Schmidt would likely stage a modern equivalent of the classic Probables vs. Possibles match-up that was a staple of the amateur game. O’Gara said:
“Joe has it the way he wants it because he’s going to have some A versus B games in training.
“That’s going to bring out a great Irish team, which is what we all want.”
As we have previously noted, there are many Irish players that are virtual locks for the Six Nations opener against Scotland. Some positions, in the starting 15 and on the bench, are up for grabs.
To that end, we have looked at the form of key players, the newcomers and studied the entire squad to select our Ireland Probables and Ireland Possibles XVs.
Ireland Probables
Were Schmidt to name his strongest team, we know what most combinations would be. Jack McGrath, Rory Best and Tadhg Furlong in the front row, Conor Murray and Jonathan Sexton as half backs, Andrew Trimble and Simon Zebo on the wings with Rob Kearney as fullback. All signs are pointing to Robbie Henshaw partnering Garry Ringrose in midfield.
Devin Toner is a cert in the second row and it looks like a shoot-out between Ian Henderson and Donnacha Ryan. In the back row, CJ Stander and Jamie Heaslip will be joined by Sean O’Brien [if fit] or Josh van der Flier.
Ireland Possibles
A glance at the starting line-up for the 52-21 victory over Canada gives some strong clues as to who are the main ‘possibles’.
In the front row, Cian Healy, Niall Scannell and John Ryan shoulder be next in line. You could easily give Connacht’s Finlay Bealham, Leinster hooker James Tracy or Munster loose-head Dave Kilcoyne a go here and give the Probables a test.
Schmidt could go all Munster with a second row of Donnacha Ryan and Billy Holland. There are lots of back rows to choose from but a testing combination would be Peter O’Mahony, Tommy O’Donnell and Jack Conan. For half backs, Kieran Marmion teaming up with Paddy Jackson and the Ulster pair of Luke Marshall and Stuart McCloskey in midfield.
You could select a very strong back three of Tommy Bowe, Keith Earls and Tiernan O’Halloran.
All those top players and we have not yet mentioned Ultan Dillane(!), Dan Leavy, Andrew Conway, Rory Scannell or Luke McGrath.
With Jared Payne, Jordi Murphy, Joey Carbery and Sean Cronin, Fergus McFadden, Dave Kearney all injured, Ian Madigan still hoping for a late call-up and Will Greenwood tipping Leinster’s Adam Byrne for the Lions, Irish rugby has some serious strength in depth.
