Irish Eye on the World Cup Squad 1

Starting "pre" season, I will be attemtping to have a look at the probable world cup fight for places in each position after "every week"

For this week, here is a look at how Joe viewed his squad based on the summer tours and the 6 Nations roughly. Bold is my attempted guess on cutting it down to the 30 players he can take to England in 2015 were it tomorrow. While italics are not involved.

Now, this isn't what I'd choose as my 30, but what it appears to me how Joe is thinking. It also highlights the tough choices ahead, as most squads announced contain 35 players, while the World Cup squad only allows 30. This means a tough pick between a 4th centre or a 5th back three player, while also reducing the number of props and backrowers in the squad. It's also likely that there will only be two outhalves involved aswell.

	1st Choice	2nd Choice	3rd Choice	4th Choice	5th Choice	6th Choice
1	Cian Healy	Jack McGrath	Dave Kilcoyne	James Cronin
2	Rory Best	Sean Cronin	Richardt Strauss	Damien Varley	Rob Herring	Mike Sherry
3	Mike Ross	Martin Moore	Declan Fitzpatrick	Rodney Ah You	Stephen Archer
4	Devin Toner	Iain Henderson	Donnacha Ryan	Donncha O'Callaghan
5	Paul O'Connell	Dan Tuohy	Mike McCarthy
6	Peter O'Mahony	Rhys Ruddock	Robbie Diack	Kevin McLaughlin
7	Sean O'Brien	Chris Henry	Jordi Murphy	Tommy O'Donnell
8	Jamie Heaslip	Robin Copeland	Roger Wilson
9	Conor Murray	Eoin Reddan	Isaac Boss	Kieran Marmion	Paul Marshall
10	Jonathan Sexton	Paddy Jackson	Ian Madigan	Ian Keatley
11	Andrew Trimble	Fergus McFadden	Simon Zebo
12	Gordon D'Arcy	Luke Marshall	Stuart Olding	Noel Reid
13	Darren Cave	Robbie Henshaw	Jared Payne
14	Tommy Bowe	Dave Kearney	Keith Earls	Craig Gilroy
15	Rob Kearney	Felix Jones

I've also forgotten some players, mostly injured, so all corrections, comments and tips welcome.

Youngsters To Watch In the Interprovincial Under 20 Championship

The age grade interprovincial games start this weekend, and they are the first time we get to see the stars of the future show what they can do. This year, the vast majority of those who played U20 last year, while still being underage, are ineligible for the tournament due to new rules. Some players, like Harrison Brewer, have been given an exemption. This means that more players are given a chance to stake their claim for further honours with Ireland U20, and here are four candidates who will look to lead their provinces to glory.

Munster - Stephen Fitzgerald

Fresh out of Ard Scoil Ris, this 18 year old fullback has already featured in the senior set up, and was involved in the pre season friendly against Gloucester. That's really all you need to know about this talented youngster, who is one of the brightest backline prospects from Munster since Keith Earls. He would be a shoo in for Irish honours if not for the surplus of talent in the back three at this age already - Jack Power, Jacob Stockdale, Billy Dardis and Ciaran Gaffney. Needless to say, while Ireland are well stocked, Fitzgerald can at least go on to have a highly successful career for the southern province.

He's the focal point of an exciting backline featuring Irish U19 international and sprinter Greg O'Shea, U20 scrumhalf Jack Culln, while Gearoid Lyons and Tomas Quinlan are two very handy distributors.

Connacht - Cian Romaine

Ireland U19 international and Connacht academy player Cian Romaine stands out in a highly talented Connacht U20 team. The thing about the tall second row that stands out the most is his impressive motor. Romaine has a huge work rate, and will be noticed on the pitch doing several positive actions time and time again. He hounds ball carriers in defense, and carries effectively and supports well in attack. The future is extremely bright for this Buccaneers clubman

Leinster - Nick Timoney

The former Blackrock college no.8 is another outstanding backrower coming through Leinster's ranks. Extremely highly rated coming out of school, Timoney can play across the backrow, but is most suited to 8. He will go strength to strength, and will lead a Leinster U20 team shorn of their JWC experience.

Ulster - Jacob Stockdale

When the first you hear of Stockdale is the hat trick of tries he scored for Ireland U18 last year, you take notice. From that moment on, Stockdale was a try scoring machine, whether from outside centre, wing or his preferred position of fullback. This kid is a talent, is only U19, and as a first year Ulster academy player, was already involved in Ulster senior pre season games.

He is the most exciting Ulster young backline star of recent years, and I'm including Craig Gilroy, Luke Marshall, Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding in that.

Irish Players to Watch in Pro 12

With a season left until the World Cup, this is the time for peripheral players to start making a case. Others may need a big season to guarantee future careers, while others have been threatening to break out for a while, and could use a big season to show that they can be the names the provinces build their teams around for years to come.

Leinster - Luke McGrath

We all expected McGrath to break out last season, and while I have my theories as to why he didn't, this year there is perhaps some pressure on him to succeed. Both Reddan and Boss are a year closer to retirement which helps, while his main young competitor has been given a loan deal to Connacht for the season.

While he has a safety net of having signed his first full professional contract last season, due to run out in 2016, there are a number of talented scrumhalves being churned out by Girvan Dempsey's academy and the Leinster schools; with Nick McCarthy and Charlie Rock showing some talented signs. All this means is that McGrath will have to have a year much like Noel Reid's last season to ensure that he can be the future Lion some have tipped him to be. And who knows, of all positions in the Irish camp, scrumhalf is one of the most shallow, and after Conor Murray made the World Cup squad in 2011 based on one full season, maybe this time McGrath has a chance.

Munster - Sean Dougall

It's quite hard to pick a player that Munster, Ireland and the player need to have a big season. Most of the players are either established already, or I don't believe have a huge amount of growth left in them. An ideal candidate would have been an inside centre, but I'm not convinced that 27 year old Ivan Dineen, or 23 year old Cian Bohane can push on, or will be given the chance to.

So instead, I think Sean Dougall (24), can keep growing. He pushed Tommy O'Donnell hard last year, and even started ahead of O'Donnell is several big games. Ireland can always use options at openside, and in Munster there are two very good options. Munster and Ireland could really use a big season from Dougall because either a) he beats O'Donnell for a spot, and starts to become a viable option for Ireland, or b) he pushes O'Donnell, causing him to grow into a viable option for Ireland.

Long story short, an in form Dougall should be good for Ireland, with a Munster openside pushing for inclusion in Joe's squads.

Ulster - Conor Joyce

Losing Stephen Ferris would cripple most sides, but Ulster managed to nearly pull a great season out of the bag. They do however need their other players to step up in his place though. With Iain Henderson almost certainly moving into the second row, and only Robbie Diack and Chris Henry with meaningful experience in the backrow, I'm backing last years Ireland under 20 blindside flanker Conor Joyce to make a big step up and will get some meaningful minutes.

Sean Reidy and Charlie Butterworth are two new signings with limited experience, but Joyce is one of the brightest prospects to come out of the Ulster academy, and could see himself in important matchday squads a lot this season.

Connacht - Caolan Blade

Blade is one of the most talented players in the Connacht academy right now. Highly rated among the Connacht staff, Blade made his first Pro12 appearance towards the end of the season last year after only one year in Nigel Carolan's academy.

Kieran Marmion has started 47 of 48 games for Connacht in the last two seasons, which means he will not be able to continue his remarkable run. The IRFU player welfare system will ensure Marmion does get a few rests this year too. With Frank Murphy and Paul O'Donohue gone from the squad, and despite John Cooney and Ian Porter's arrival, I'm backing Blade to show that not only will he be no.2 to Marmion, but if he works hard, he could be a threat to Marmion's monopoly on the Connacht no.9 jersey in the coming years.

Agree or disagree? Questions and comments always welcome. Did I miss anyone?