Joe Schmidt finally confirmed his World Cup squad this morning – here’s how the squad breaks down…
17 – members of the 31-man squad going to their first World Cup
16 – Leinster players chosen, well ahead of Ulster’s seven, Munster’s six (we’re giving them Paulie) and the two from Connacht
10 – players over the age of 30, led by 35-year-olds Paul O’Connell and Mike Ross
28.8 – average age of the squad, with the forwards coming in at 29.4 and the backs at 27.9
1,043 – total number of caps in the squad, an average of 33 per man
82 – caps for centre Gordon D’Arcy, who we could have seen for the final time on a professional rugby field after he was left out
2 – scrum-halves in the panel, the biggest risk taken by Schmidt
4 – positions being covered in some form by Ian Madigan. The Leinster man goes into the tournament as equal second choice out-half, third choice scrum-half, third choice inside centre and fourth choice full-back
2 – Rob and Dave Kearney are just the second set of brothers to represent Ireland in the same World Cup squad, joining Richard and Paul Wallace in 1995.
0 – minutes played by first choice prop Cian Healy in preseason so far
109 – total number of international minutes played by Nathan White and Tadhg Furlong, the two back-ups to tighthead stalwart Mike Ross
18 – days until our first game against Canada
