Joe Schmidt will be hell-bent on finishing out 2017 with Ireland’s seventh win on the spin, but there may be room in his team yet for a promising young star.
On Thursday of this week, Schmidt will name his starting team to face Los Pumas. It should contain the bulk of the men that beat South Africa in merciless fashion to kick off the Guinness Series.
The only guaranteed change to the squad of 23 named by Schmidt for the Springboks game will be the injured Joey Carbery dropping out. Ireland may announce a call-up for the injured Carbery – the options being Ross Byrne, Jack Carty, Rory Scannell, JJ Hanrahan or Ian Madigan – but Ian Keatley did a fine job in closing out the win over Fiji and should be rewarded for doing so.
Dave Kilcoyne and John Ryan both picked up knocks ahead of that Fiji game but will be hoping to prove their fitness to the head coach this Monday and Tuesday. Ryan may get in ahead of Andrew Porter but we anticipate Jack McGrath will feature on the bench, at the very least.
Devin Toner and Andrew Conway are the only men to have started both games. Conway was man-of-the-match from fullback against the Fijians but should resume his duties on the right wing.
We suspect the one change Schmidt will be seriously contemplating this week is whether or not to promote Leinster lock James Ryan off the bench and start him ahead of Toner. This would leave Ireland well stacked, and stocked, but offer the promising Ryan a decent taste of international rugby.
The 21-year-old made his Ireland debut, in the summer, before he had even played for Leinster. He scored a try on his debut, against the United States, and came off the bench in a win over Japan. He beat Ultan Dillane and Kieran Treadwell to the bench for the Springboks game and made a decent impact from there, featuring in moves for Ireland’s final two tries.
Iain Henderson is a certainty to start in the second row after a superb, forceful outing against South Africa and he has begun to take on lineout calling responsibility since the beginning of the year. Teaming him up with Ryan would give that second row some considerable heft and some frightening potential.
Elsewhere, the half backs, back three and back row should all be unchanged, with Bundee Aki and Robbie Henshaw continuing in midfield.
IRELAND (Predicted XV)
Rob Kearney
Andrew Conway
Robbie Henshaw
Bundee Aki
Jacob StockdaleJohnny Sexton
Conor MurrayCian Healy
Rory Best (captain)
Tadhg FurlongIain Henderson
James RyanPeter O’Mahony
Sean O’Brien
CJ Stander
Replacements: Rob Herring, Jack McGrath, John Ryan/Andrew Porter, Devin Toner, Rhys Ruddock, Kieran Marmion, Ian Keatley, Darren Sweetnam.
