Saturday 6 September 2014

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.