Ian Madigan’s fantasy World Cup XV contains a very unusual Irishman at outhalf

Friends stick together

Ian Madigan is one of the lucky 31 Irishmen heading to the World Cup later this month, but the Dubliner is looking beyond these shores when it comes to his fantasy XV for the tournament. The outhalf has only gone for three Irishmen in total and Johnny Sexton may not be too happy to be left out. Especially when he's been excluded for another Irishman in the number 10 role as AJ MacGinty of the USA gets the nod in Madigan's selection. The 25-year-old only made his full debut for the Eagles in June, but we think his inclusion might be a subtle nod to their shared history as former pupils of Blackrock College. AJ's dad is the Blackrock College principal and coach of the School's Senior team, Alan MacGinty, who of course would have coached (and taught) Madigan in school. The Leinster man selects Conor Murray as his scrum half, while he takes two Irishmen up front in the presence of Jamie Heaslip and Paul O'Connell in his team for the Fantasy Rugger website. He goes for some heavy hitters in the form of Matt Giteau and Israel Folau, while up front we must approve of his inclusion of Logovi'i Mulipola from Samoa.