With the Pro14 and Premiership over for another season, thoughts are turning towards the World Cup and who represent their countries in Japan. The final days of May saw Joe Schmidt announce a 44-man training squad to prepare for the tournament.
This will be Joe Schmidt’s last Ireland squad selection as he has announced that he will be leaving his role as head coach after the tournament. This time last year, Ireland were on fire following a Six Nations Grand Slam and were about to go to Australia for a series victory. However, a number of stars under-performed in this year’s Six Nations and suddenly they look a lot more beatable.
Having had the chance to look at the training squad and some of Ireland’s other recent squads, I chose to pick the Irish for my next squad prediction. To be clear, this is not a matter of picking the 31 I would take, but rather who I think Joe Schmidt will take, so I have tried to avoid any biases I have towards any specific players.
Journey to RWC2019 series:
So without further ado, I think that Ireland’s 31-man squad will be…
Prop
No shock here if you have read my other squad predictions, but I am expecting Ireland to travel with 5 props. Cian Healy and Tadhg Furlong are 2 of the best props in the world at this point and are almost certainly going to be the starters. Jack McGrath is a top-quality replacement at loosehead and though he has had some injury issues this year, I fully expect him to still make it onto the plane providing he proves his fitness, though I expect a 3ʳᵈ loosehead to travel as an insurance policy in the form of Dave Kilcoyne. As for the second tighthead spot, I expect that to go to Andrew Porter, who was the regular replacement for Furlong in the Six Nations.
Hooker
Joe Schmidt took 3 hookers to the last World Cup an I would expect the same again here given the much longer distance for a replacement to travel. Rory Best will be the clear favourite to start here and will be hoping to end his career on a high, while I fully expect Leinster’s Sean Cronin and Munster’s Niall Scannell to travel as his replacements.
Second Row
Ireland have an embarrassment of riches at lock, as shown by the fact that Quinn Roux does not make the 44 despite playing in 4 of Ireland’s 5 Six Nations games this year. Devin Toner is a key part of the Irish lineout so will surely travel along with Leinster teammate James Ryan. With some of the back rowers missing due to injury, I think that Tadhg Beirne will earn a spot off the back of a couple of great seasons with the Scarlets and Munster. It wouldn’t surprise me if Jean Kleyn takes the 4ᵗʰ and final spot, but I have instead gone for Iain Henderson due to his international experience.
Back Row
Peter O’Mahony has inherited Richie McCaw’s invisibility cloak and gets away with murder at the breakdown and constantly chopsing at the officials, so he is guaranteed a spot, as is CJ Stander, who had a poor Six Nations but is another quality player and experienced leader in this team, while he can also cover both flanker and number 8. Jack Conan is a different style of number 8 to Stander and in my opinion looked the better option earlier this year, so he will surely make the plane. The losses of Sean O’Brien and Dan Leavy to injury are huge, so Josh van der Flier is all-but guaranteed a spot and Jordi Murphy gets my vote for the final spot, though I wouldn’t be overly surprised if Henderson was used as a 6 and a 5ᵗʰ lock (most likely Kleyn) taken.
Scrum Half
When he’s a his best, Conor Murray is one of the best 9s in international rugby, so there is no way Schmidt doesn’t take him. However this is where things get a little harder to predict. Given Murray has not been at his best this year, I considered taking 3 scrum halves, however Schmidt only took 2 to the last World Cup and seemed hesitant to take Murray off the pitch in the Six Nations despite his poor form, so I instead chose to pick just one other halfback. John Cooney did well when given the chance in the Six Nations and is also an option kicking off the tee, however I think that Kieran Marmion‘s performances for Ireland before injury will have been enough to earn him the spot. Honestly, any of the 4 scrum halves in the training squad have a good argument to make it onto the plane!
Fly Half
Like Murray, Johnny Sexton has been nowhere near his best this year but there is no way Schmidt will leave him out now. Joey Carbery has been the go-to replacement for Sexton and has had some great moments for Munster this season, so I expect him to travel, while his ability to also play at fullback adds to the versatility of the squad and opens up a spot for Jack Carty, who had a great Six Nations when given the chance.
Centre
Joe Schmidt often includes 4 centres in his squads and with me predicting that he will only take 2 scrum halves, that leaves enough slots open to do this. The first 3 largely pick themselves: Bundee Aki, Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose. I think the 4ᵗʰ spot will go to Chris Farrell, who took part in 2 rounds of the Six Nations this season.
Back 3
All the selections I have made have left space for 5 players in the back 3. Simon Zebo is of course ineligible due to playing in France, which is a real shame. I think that Keith Earls, Rob Kearney, Jacob Stockdale and Jordan Larmour are the obvious picks here and I think that Andrew Conway takes the final spot as he has been around the squad more often than Mike Haley and Dave Kearney in recent years and has 5 tries from 12 appearances so far.
So those are my picks for Ireland’s 31-man World Cup squad, who do you think makes the list?
Eyes on the Ball 