Three down, several to go.
On Tuesday, the IRFU and Ulster announced they had signed Luke Marshall, Kieran Treadwell and Rob Herring to new deals. The Ulster trio have all signed new contracts that will take them up to 2021.
That leaves them with just the 11 senior Ireland internationals to go. The 11 men listed below are all out of contract next June. Simon Zebo is too but he is off to the Top 14 and France.
- CJ Stander
- Peter O’Mahony
- Rory Best
- Tadhg Furlong
- Rob Kearney
- Iain Henderson
- Garry Ringrose
- Jared Payne
- Kieran Marmion
- Tommy Bowe
- Andrew Conway
It is, as Fianna Fáil once trumpeted before a general election, a lot done, more to do.
Mike McCarthy joined The Hard Yards and [from 16:00 below] he flagged the one player Ireland simply cannot afford to lose next summer.
“You’d think the younger lads are less likely to move,” said McCarthy.
“One name that is sticking out there is Iain Henderson. He’s still only 25. He’s a Lion, he’s playing great and the game at the weekend against Argentina was huge for him.
“He was calling the lineouts, at Test level, and he has not done that too much before. It was Joe Schmidt resting Dev [Toner], putting him on the bench, and realising that there’s a chance Dev might not be there in the future. He might get injured – eventually – and who is going to call the lineouts?
“Donnacha Ryan is now gone [to Racing 92] and he was a caller, so we’re probably a bit short of Test calling locks. For Hendy to call them against Argentina really well, I thought, was massive. It’s another string to his bow and will really add to his stock, in terms of him being a Lion, he’s a lock and a No.6 and he can call the lineout as well.
“He’s a big unit, too, and they love that in France. Big ball carriers.”
Henderson called the Irish lineout for the first time, back in March, against England but his growing leadership up at Ulster and the fact that he called, and performed, so well against the Pumas stands to him again. Kieran Treadwell is a lineout caller too but he is further back in his development than Henderson.
McCarthy believes the men that may have to settle for lower IRFU deals, or seriously consider moves abroad, would be the likes of Bowe or Kearney – established players that have over 50 caps and may opt to secure one last decent contract before hanging up the boots.
