The team Ireland need to select to defeat New Zealand

Patrick McCarry

It is all becoming clearer now.

Sunday for the Irish players is all about recovery and, for those that picked up knocks, satisfying the medical staff that you are ready to do it all over again.

Ireland will head back to Carton House and will have a light hit out at training on Monday before getting down to the nitty-gritty on Tuesday. By the end of that session, Joe Schmidt will have a good idea of the starting XV he will be naming to face New Zealand next Saturday.

The Ireland coach may already have most positions decided but, following his side’s 28-17 win over Argentina, he told us that there would be some ruminating done over the next 48 hours. Asked when he will know his matchday 23 to face the All Blacks, Schmidt replied:

“Not immediately. I’ll get the microscope out and have a decent look, and make some decisions on the back of that.

“You know, we’ll also be looking at how those guys recover and whether they can hit the ground running on Tuesday, at least, to put themselves into the mix on the back of a good training [session] to get selected on Thursday. So, at the moment, post this game, I’ve certainly learned not to make too many impetuous decisions.”

One thing is for sure, Sean O’Brien is out with a broken arm. The flanker will be looking to get back around the turn of the year if his arm fracture is not too severe. Robbie Henshaw tweaked his hamstring and there were ankle rolls for Kieran Marmion and Bundee Aki, who both crossed for tries against Los Pumas.

The Irish scrum went extremely well, as did the wingers while Dan Leavy looked good when he came on and linked up well with Peter O’Mahony and CJ Stander.

Schmidt’s big decisions rest around scrum-half, midfield and whether or not Ireland cannot afford to be without Devin Toner. To our mind, for a match of this magnitude, they cannot. Toner steadied the lineouts when he came on and the All Blacks will be targeting that set-piece after messing up England’s at Twickenham.

Leavy gets the No.7 jersey with Josh van der Flier in reserve and Jordi Murphy unlucky to miss out. It is hard to see Conor Murray having enough of a miracle training session to be parachuted in after almost five months out of action. Kieran Marmion gets the start but, as good as he is, this may be the deciding factor on the night. Aaron Smith vs. Marmion has only one winner, although we would love to be surprised.

That leaves fullback – Rob Kearney, if fit, over Jordan Larmour – and midfield. If Henshaw is not 100%, reunite Bundee Aki with Garry Ringrose and have Will Addison in reserve.

OUR IRELAND XV

Cian Healy
Rory Best
Tadhg Furlong

Devin Toner
James Ryan

Peter O’Mahony
Dan Leavy
CJ Stander

Kieran Marmion
Johnny Sexton

Jacob Stockdale
Bundee Aki
Garry Ringrose
Keith Earls

Rob Kearney