How many Irish would make a Lions Team/Squad right now?

Healy should be in the squad, his scrummaging is getting better all the time and we know about his loose play.

Based on the 6Ns Best would probably be in pole position for the starting hooker shirt, rightly or wrongly he will come under a bit of pressure from Strauss for the Ireland shirt next season but my guess is that that will drive him on even further and improve him.

Ross is important to Ireland but I don't see him being important to the Lions, I don't think he'll make the touring squad.

Afull season of test rugby and you just never know about Ryan, he did very well in the last two 6Ns games but right now I think he'd struggle to make the squad.

If the body is willing then O'Connell is on the plane and on the team.

See above for Ferris, although there are some good B/S's around not least Lydiate.

O'Brien should make the plane but I don't see him starting as Gatland will surely pick Warburton and then of course there is Tupiric who we will see a bit more of next season. Even Ross Rennie is a contender.

Heaslip should make the plane but I really like the look of Morgan and I expect he could be in pole position for the No.8 shirt in 12 months time.

Reddan might have a chance of making the plane but that's based more on his Leinster form than his Ireland form. Right now as things stand I'm just amazed anyone thinks Murray is a genuine Lions contender!

Sexton is a cert for the plane and has a real chance of starting, however we know his HEC form isn't always translated into the test arena but it's questionable whether that's his fault or Kidney's.

D'Arcy won't be on the plane unless there are injuries, he may not even be in the Ireland team in 12 months.

If the body is willing then BOD is nailed on in the squad and while for the first time he will have competition for the 13 jersey I personally would be very surprised if he wasn't a key member of the team.

I'll do the wings as a collective, I don't see Trimble making it, Earls might make it but it depends on where he's playing next season, will he be a wing, centre or full back? He might make the plane as a utility back, think Austin Healey in 2001(apologies for that comparison Keith!) If Fitzgerald got fit and hit top form then I think he would make the squad but I don't think he would make the test team. Bowe wasn't in great form this season but still scored a lot of tries for Ireland, we'll see how goes after returning from injury but I think he'll be in the squad, whether he make the team will depend on how he goes in the warm up games.

Kearney is a cert for the squad and should be a cert for the team but with a Welsh coach I suppose there is always the concern that 1/2penny might be given the benefit of the doubt but for me it's not even a debate.

Unfortunately I don't see any bolters for the simple reason that the young guys won't get a chance with Ireland so they won't make the Lions squad. Shame...

Fireball07 wrote: »

I don't think Phillips is even the best Welsh scrum-half.


And I know there's a severe lack of options but I'd prefer any of the others to Phillips. We've got a year for one person to really stand-up and stake a claim.

There were times in the 6Ns when Phillips was outstanding and yet there were times when you could see that he was holding back the Welsh backs.

I think if Care ever got his act together he'd be the best in Europe and therefore the Lions 9, but he has a long road to travel in the next 12 months for that to happen. I remember thinking about three or four years ago that England a potentially world class half back pairing in Care and Cipriani and look what's happened!

As for young scrum halves I remember thinking the English U20 9 this year was a very good player, he's the guy Henderson smacked in the bake for being an annoying little s***. Good player though, next years Lions will be too early for him but look out for him, I think his name is Robson.

You could also add Laidlaw to the SH options. Would have the added benefit of being able to cover OH in an injury crisis.

Fishooks12 wrote: »

I think he fits a certain type of team though, and I can see the Lions backline having too much class to be compromised by slow service

I can only see Youngs displacing him, neither Reddan or Murray are as good as Phillips.

Blair will be playing in ProD2 this season which will probably affect his international chances, I never thought he was that great anyway.

sid waddell wrote: »

Hard to see many Irish making the trip down under next year after today.

Actually its very easy to see alot/the normal ammount of Irish heading down south next year considering this was a 1 off terrible preformance.
This preformance was just a series of things not working/being done wrongly.
The star players have the skill and ability so they would still make a Lions team.

Looking at the depth of the Home Nations, the Lions look strong at prop, second row, backrow and in the back three.

However hooker is a concern along with flyhalf. Scrumhalf and centre are a 'wait and see' area atm.

My hopes for next season are Scotland start putting some decent players forward other than Richie Gray, players like Matt Scott, Visser and Hogg and that one of England's scrumhalves are in form come the tour (either Youngs or Care, Dickson is only club standard).

Since the Grand Slam, Ireland have been woefully inconsistent and that is going to cost a lot of players. Then again, we can't complain too much, we dominated the last touring party (7 Irish starters in 2nd test: O'Connell, Wallace, Heaslip, BOD, Fitzgerald, Bowe, Kearney).

thomond2006 wrote: »

Looking at the depth of the Home Nations, the Lions look strong at prop, second row, backrow and in the back three.

However hooker is a concern along with flyhalf. Scrumhalf and centre are a 'wait and see' area atm.

I think scrumhalf is much more of a concern than flyhalf. At least Sexton is an obvious candidate, whereas scrumhalf looks very weak. There are enough centres to create a strong combination one way or another.

Wallace should go as a tackle bag

CatFromHue wrote: »

Tox56 wrote: »

People have short memories, if Kearney repeats his 6 Nations and HEC form of this year next year, he will be hard to ignore.

There were question marks over his defence during the 6 Nations and they've been answered now I think.

6 Nations and HEC teams won't run at him like OZ will next Summer or NZ did this Summer.

Personally speaking I think we need another full back option for Ireland. Jones being constantly injured and Duffy being ignored is of no help to Ireland.

My point being it would be hard for them to ignore the European player of the year or something similar, but I get the problem of defence.

I just don't understand why someone can't sit down with him and make sure he works on it, if Earls can fix it surely Kearney can. He's a big bloke and you would think someone could teach him some proper technique, this is the guy who shrugged off SBW!

There is no way Courtney Lawes is better than POC.

i think to ensure all nations are happy as well a max of 6/7 players will get a starting position from one country so therefore a few calls could go other ways