Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Not sure I can separate the four of them either. They’re all in the same bracket for me. But I’d still want someone in there who can kick.

Baloucoune and Stockdale cannot play the same position. It’s like saying I’d have Clarkson ahead of Porter.

Pretty sure Trimble played both sides as well.

But then Horgan and Bowe played the vast majority of their Ireland games at 14 and Hickie the same at 11. And going back to the original point I struggle to remember Stockdale ever playing 14.

These days, England seem spoiled for choice in the back three compared to us, especially at wing. So many young prospects are coming through.

I'd argue that there are some good prospects coming through the provinces right now, albeit they've arrived through non-traditional pathways. Shayne Bolton looks the pick of them right now. He's a IQ power winger in the mould of Lowe, but is just 25 and is far quicker than the latter now. Doesn't have the passing or kicking game but is a good finisher. Capped twice for Ireland and I hope to see him get plenty more.

Zac Ward looks a promising player as well. He's a bit older at 27 and from the Sevens circuit. Very unorthodox and whenever I watch him I've no idea what he's going to do next. But so entertaining to watch.

JJ Kenny at Leinster looks like he might have something about him too. He's another Sevens convert who was offered an academy spot after impressing there and in the AIL. He's only 22 and has plenty of time for improvement. Made an encouraging start with 5 tries in 4 appearances to date. Looks to have usurped a few more heralded Leinster academy graduates.

With this in mind - is there an argument for encouraging more Irish players to move over to England - it would deepen the base of Irish professional players.

OK I see the point - notwithstanding this, if I am on a provincial contract with Connacht for example, and I dont see myself making the Irish team - would I be better off financially heading for England? And also - if I did head to England/ Britain and started doing well, would I then have a better chance of making the Irish team. Tadhg Beirne is the only one really I can think of who went down this route in recent years. He wasnt capped while he was playing in Wales - IRFU had a lucky escape here because if he had gone on to play for Wales…..

From an Ulster perspective, based on current form, I’d expect to see the following in the next Six Nations squad: McCloskey, Izzy (Henderson), Ward (Hansen), Stockdale, Stewart (McCarthy), O’Toole (Boyle), Wilson (Bealham), McCann (Baird), Timoney, Doak (Blade) and Hume (Henshaw). I’d imagine Postlethwaite and Murphy would be named in the development group.

Aside from Harry Byrne & Edogbo who else across the provinces has really been putting their hand up?

The most sensible post of 2025 by a large margin. Thank you again.

Boooo. Down with this sort of thing. We need a ruling.

Really can't see it. Whoever I think deserves a crack, I'd say Andy will call up McCloskey, Izzy, Stockdale and Timoney. Apart from them, the strongest cases I think are Stewart and Postlethwaite.

I don't think there's any question marks about whether Stewart has played more and put in markedly better performances than McCarthy - we'll see if Andy cares.

O'Toole's form is noticably better this season - I don't know that he's done enough to unseat Clarkson given Andy's emphasis on loyalty.

Postlethwaite and Ward have been training members of squads before, so Andy has been curious enough to bring them in. McCann, Wilson and Doak have featured for the As/ Ireland XVs or Emerging Ireland. I don't think he's interested in McCann for whatever reason. Really great player, no real USP though. Doak's kicking saved a lot of blushes in Ireland A versus England A last year, but hasn't been called up to the senior squad. Wilson has been fantastic in the loose since he first broke through but does need to improve in the scrum. Does he have more work to do on that than Clarkson? Arguably not, but we'll see.