Two Ireland jerseys are definitely there to be claimed.
“There’s no one who has ever walked into an Ireland jersey before,” Peter O’Mahony told us at Carton House, this week. “There has probably been guys who have walked out of it by the way you perform in training, do you know what I mean?”
The Munster man is back in the Ireland back row after a summer with the Lions, during which he captained the side twice, but his main goal is trying to prove to Joe Schmidt that the No.6 jersey is his.
While Bundee Aki, Cian Healy, Andrew Conway and Jacob Stockdale are all trying to stake claims for positions in Joe Schmidt’s side, two solid Guinness Series outings can all but lock down jerseys for another two senior stars. It was something discussed by myself, James Downey and The Hard Yards host Andy McGeady [from 8:00 below] ahead of Ireland South Africa.
Asked what would constitute a successful Guinness Series, Downey replied, “I’d love to see us getting Johnny Sexton, Bundee and Joey Carbery all on the pitch at the same time.” He added:
“For this autumn, I’d like to see something more. Something else… Schmidt’s initial plays are spot-on but if something happens that you can’t account for – like if you can’t manipulate a winger like Ireland did against South Africa [for Tommy Bowe’s try] a few years ago – you need players to read that and guys that can play off the cuff.
“He has selected players that are exciting and that can bring the extra edge, because that’s what we need now.”
My take would be that with Donnacha Ryan [France] and Jamie Heaslip [back injury] out of the picture for the foreseeable future, there is an ideal opportunity for Iain Henderson and CJ Stander to own the 4 and 8 jerseys. I commented:
“I’d love to see CJ Stander have at least one big game, against South Africa or Argentina. It would be perfect if he did it this weekend. There’s that No.8 jersey almost up for grabs, even for the entire season.If Jack Conan – and there was talk of him picking up a knock in training – was fit and had got in there, you couldn’t really argue with Conan beating CJ Stander to that jersey as he is in the better form at the moment.
“Stander has been good this year and he’s trying to change little things in his game – not carry into contact as much, improve his passing game – but you’d love to see him back to the guy that can make this massive impact again.
“And Iain Henderson, finally his time is here. There’s no messing around. Everyone has been saying this for a while – Ronan O’Gara and Stephen Ferris have said it on this show in the past – but we want to see him as our lock now the rest of the season.”
And exciting backline playing off the cuff rugby, two quality forwards going to the next level and three Test wins in a row.
Is that too much to ask for? …
