This makes a lot of sense.
The importance of Ireland’s game with England in the Six Nations on Saturday cannot be understated.
We are trying to bounce back from the defeat to Wales, the English are going for a Grand Slam, it’s one of the last chances to impress for players in Lions contention and it’s bloody Ireland-England in Dublin.
It’s huge.
The public want changes to the starting XV after that performance in Cardiff and former Leinster and Irish man Kevin McLaughlin agrees.
Speaking on The Hard Yards, McLaughlin made a strong case for Peter O’Mahony’s inclusion and he make so much sense. The chat starts at the 42:15 mark.
In you can’t listen to the SoundCloud now, here’s what Kev said.
“I think Pete will come in, the focus will be back on the line out this week. We’ve gotten away with having two ball-carrying back rows rather than line out operators. Generally what you have, and what makes Dev’s [Toner] life a lot easier, is having a line out back row.
“What a line out back row does, I know because I was one of them, Pete is the one in there at the moment who actually does homework on line outs, focuses on the line outs and does a lot of work with Dev one-on-one along with Donnacha Ryan. The three of them will work together and what Dev has had in the last couple of weeks is him and Donnacha owning the line out.
“You bring Pete in there and he’ll do his homework on the defence side, he’ll help Dev out with the attack, talk to Dev about different options based on the way the English defend. That takes pressure off Dev when he’s calling and it’ll add an extra weapon in there. That’s obviously besides all the other things Pete brings.
“Who he comes in for? I don’t know. It’s hard to see Stander getting taken out so it’s going to be a tricky decision for Joe [Schmidt], but it’s a decision that has to be made.”
It’ll be interesting to see if O’Mahony comes into the side.
