Nobody envies the task Joe Schmidt has in front of him…
You would be hard pushed to pick your best 15 for Ireland at the minute, there are at least two players for each position, in some cases three.
However, the biggest problem at present is picking three players for the back row. It’s a good problem though. The calibre of back row players in Ireland far outweighs that to any rival nation.
Joe Schmidt named eight back row forwards in his squad for this months November series.
- Peter O’Mahony (Munster)
- Rhys Ruddock (Leinster)
- Sean O’Brien (Leinster)
- Dan Leavy (Leinster)
- Jack Conan (Leinster)
- CJ Stander (Munster)
- Josh van der Flier (Leinster)
- Jordi Murphy (Ulster)
All eight of these men have legitimate claims to be starting in the back row against New Zealand in two weeks time.
On this week’s episode of Baz and Andrew’s House of Rugby, Paddy McKenna posed the question around who Joe Schmidt will pick in the back row, citing that perhaps Peter O’Mahony was the only player thus far that is nailed on to start.
Former Irish international Andrew Trimble agreed that O’Mahony gets in there automatically, but isn’t so sure about who the other two back rowers will be.
“I think the front row picks itself, but the second row and the back row, there is so much up for grabs and it’s crazy that now after what a lot of these guys have contributed it’s crazy that someone like Dan Leavy who was incredible last season.” Said Trimble.
“He won Grand Slams and European Cups, but we wouldn’t have even got to see how good he was had Josh van der Flier not got hurt in Paris that time, and then we did get to see him and thought ‘wow he’s indispensable’.
“He should be indispensable, but you look at the guys you have back there, Sean O’Brien’s back from injury, Joe’s a massive fan of his. I think he’ll go for Sean O’Brien, Josh is back playing well, (Jack) Conan he was brilliant at the weekend.”
Former women’s international Jenny Murphy was a guest on this week’s show and she made the case that Jack Conan is performing so well at the minute that he may even get the nod before CJ Stander, somebody who has performed excellently in the last two season.
“I think there is a case to be made, he’s playing really well with Leinster. He had a solid game against Italy, but then that’s a second string Italian team and we know that Stander performs well in that combo with himself and O’Mahony, it works really well.” Murphy said.
“I think yeah, O’Mahony is there, even just line outs, he’s exceptional. Unbelievable leader and smart decisions… It’s really tough you could put Conan in there, O’Brien in there, van der Flier. I’m so glad it’s Joe making the decision and not me.”
Trimby summed up the mood around picking the back row perfectly to end the conversation.
“At the minute it’s a nightmare.”
