The appearance of these two bolters in Ireland’s 2016 Six Nations squad could shake things up somewhat.
Garry Ringrose and Stuart McCloskey are both taking full advantage of their provincial teammates being off on World Cup duty.
While fringe members of Joe Schmidt’s squad returned to action in the Guinness PRO12 last night, senior players with the heaviest workloads were afforded a week off.
Ringrose and McCloskey started in the respective backlines of Leinster and Ulster as they took on tough opposition.
Ringrose, who was nominated for 2015 Junior World Player of the Year, prefers operating in midfield but, perhaps due to his size, Leo Cullen is giving him a chance to impress on the wing.
The 20-year-old made a number of impressive carries and scything breaks that had the RDS crowd out of their seats. One dart up the wing led to a try for the lively Luke McGrath while Noel Reid’s fumble, from a Ringrose pass, saw another go a begging.
Ringrose, who has scored one try in his four senior appearances, was named man-of-the-match after Leinster were awarded a late penalty try to help see off reigning champions Glasgow Warriors, 23-18.
McCloskey is more of a known quantity – having made 24 senior appearances – but still the Cardiff Blues could not negate his bustling threat.
Ulster claimed a bonus point win over the Welsh side after scoring four tries in the space of 49 minutes.
McCloskey’s was the fourth of that batch, as he shrugged off a covering tackle from Rhys Patchell to dive over in the corner. That made it 24-9 but Cardiff replied with a Josh Navidi try and a Patchell penalty to ensure a tighter finish than Neil Doak would have liked.
The last unbeaten record of an Irish side the PRO12 was ended last night, too, as Munster fell to a late Steve Shingler penalty at Parc y Scarlets.
Scarlets had Shingler’s kicking and World Cup star DTH van der Merwe’s try to thank for their 25-22 victory over Anthony Foley’s men.
Andrew Conway scored Munster’s only try while World Cup outcast Ian Keatley kicked 17 points in a losing cause.
Connacht play Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium today.
