It may not be especially radical, and the latest squad announcement is again short on surprises, but one of the Irish team’s strengths for some time has been its settled nature. Success generally comes hand-in-hand with consistency in selection and so it is that on his return to the day job Andy Farrell has stayed true to this maxim.
Despite three centurions with 376 Irish caps riding off into the sunset, it tells us much that the 34-man Irish squad for the upcoming autumnal games against New Zealand in Chicago and at home to Japan, Australia and South Africa, features only one uncapped player, namely the 22-year-old Paddy McCarthy, a huge man with a huge talent like his older brother Joe.
The only other real “promotion” per se is the late blooming Tommy O’Brien. The 27-year-old winger has been named ahead of his team-mate and namesake Jimmy O’Brien and provides the squad with a welcome injection of real pace after winning his first two caps against Georgia and Portugal in the summer.
All told, 27 of this squad were among the 36 players initially named by Simon Easterby for last season’s Six Nations. In addition to the retirements of Cian Healy, Peter O’Mahony and Conor Murray, the quartet of Joe McCarthy, Cormac Izuchukwu, Calvin Nash and Hugo Keenan have been ruled out by injury.
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Aside from Jimmy O’Brien, the only other fit player from the Six Nations squad to miss out is the 35-year-old Ulster hooker Rob Herring.
The familiar faces of Tom Ahern, Nick Timoney and Stuart McCloskey are again named, having been among the late call-ups to the Six Nations squad, as is Craig Casey, who missed the Six Nations through injury before captaining Ireland against Georgia and Portugal.
Clearly then the McCarthys, Paddy and Gus, have usurped Michael Milne and Herring, while Ahern has been the main beneficiary of Joe McCarthy and Izuchukwu being ruled out. Timoney remains the most viable understudy to Josh van der Flier, the one backrower who was an ever present in the November window and Six Nations last season.
In the backs, Caolin Blade, who replaced Casey in the Six Nations squad, remains ahead of the phalanx of young scrumhalves coming through such as Ben Murphy, who came on for Casey in both of the summer Tests, and Matt Devine and Fintan Gunne.
Given Ireland have four successive Tests, the likelihood must be that Paddy McCarthy and Tommy O’Brien and the vast bulk of this squad will feature in the next month. All of this underlines Leinster’s role as bulk supplier ahead of Saturday’s URC clash at Croke Park, with 21 players compared to four from Munster, with Connacht providing five and Ulster four.
The return of Caelan Doris following the shoulder injury which cruelly ruled him out of the Lions’ tour, and quite likely the captaincy, is a welcome boost, albeit the All Blacks game might come a tad too soon for him.
There’s also little doubt that the vast majority of the Irish side to line up in Soldier Field will be even more ring rusty than was the case 12 months ago when the All Blacks enjoyed a 23-13 win at a lifeless Aviva Stadium in the November opener.
This is the inevitable consequence of a delayed start to the URC season caused by a Lions tour which drifted into August and Ireland ultimately supplying 18 players to that trek Down Under.
Even so, it’s a healthy state of affairs when Ireland can welcome 16 of those tourists as well as Farrell and much of the coaching and backroom personnel.
As is often the case, the trickier decisions now probably lie ahead of Farrell. If Doris does not lead the side out in Soldier’s Field, there are a number of contenders to temporarily fill the void, most obviously Dan Sheehan, whom Farrell chose to lead the Lions in their opening game against the Wester Force. There are also several permutations in the back five of the pack.
It’s an ill wind and all that. Keenan has won 48 caps since his debut on the wing for the Six Nations game against Italy in October 2020, all but four of them at fullback. Hence, in his enforced absence, there may be a long-term benefit in Farrell having to delve into Ireland’s fullback depth chart.
Mack Hansen is an option in this position, but the 15 jersey against the All Blacks looks like a choice between Jamie Osborne and Jacob Stockdale.
The latter returned to the underage position where he cut his teeth in an energetic display in Ulster’s eye-catching win over the Bulls last weekend and at 29 still has much to offer. Yet on the last three significant occasions in which Keenan was absent – the two-Test tour to South Africa and the Triple Crown-winning game in Cardiff – Osborne filled the void. He thus looks the likelier man.
Beginning this Saturday at Croke Park there will, of course, be huge focus on the Sam Prendergast-Jack Crowley rivalry. It’s worth remembering that at this point a year ago – heading into the November window – Crowley was the initial heir to Johnny Sexton when playing every minute of the 2024 Six Nations title win.
Crowley also started the opening two Autumn Series games against New Zealand and Argentina but having been replaced by Prendergast on debut against Los Pumas, the latter started six Tests in a row before Crowley wore 10 in the Six Nations finale in Rome.
Prendergast thus looks the likelier choice to start against the All Blacks but, either way, this one looks sure to run and run.
