Heading into the November internationals, Irish rugby is in decent shape again.
The provinces are tipping along nicely in the Guinness PRO14 and both Leinster and Munster are in good shape in the Champions Cup. Ulster can tee themselves up for the knock-out stages by doing a December double over Harlequins and Connacht are two-from-two in the Challenge Cup.
Such is the strength and depth of Ireland’s player pool that Joe Schmidt named a 38-man Guinness Series squad and still managed to piss off a dozen players.
The big controversy is Simon Zebo missing out despite the fact that he is not moving to France, from Munster, until next June. Other familiar names not included are Tommy Bowe, Andrew Trimble, Sean Cronin, Tadhg Beirne, Tiernan O’Halloran, Jack Carty, Ian Madigan, Finlay Bealham, John Cooney, Sean Reidy and Tadhg Beirne.
Jamie Heaslip, Jared Payne, Garry Ringrose, Niall Scannell and Josh van der Flier are all injured. In short, Ireland are stacked for options and you’ll never please everyone.
What the past month of rugby has proved, as Ireland and Lions stars filtered back into their provinces, is that this country possesses a number of players at the very top of their game. Two players in particular now stand as the best in the world in their chosen positions, and a third is definitely up for consideration.
CONOR MURRAY
By far the best scrum-half in the northern hemisphere, the only man that comes close is Aaron Smith but Murray shaded it in the Lions’ Test Series draw with New Zealand. The clincher here is to talk to Kiwi journalists about Murray – they rated him as the very best.
Murray, like Ireland and Lions teammate Johnny Sexton, has that innate ability of upping his performances as the stakes get higher. On so many occasions, the Limerick native has stepped up with crucial plays in attack and defence. He has four Test tries against the All Blacks and crucial scores against South Africa, Wales, England and France. He even stepped up and nailed a penalty for Ireland in the Chicago victory over New Zealand.
To watch him at Thomond Park and the Aviva Stadium is to observe a lord surveying his lands. This is his home turf and he exudes such confidence and poise.
Kieran Marmion and Luke McGrath are good but Murray is a couple of levels ahead. Should make another Lions tour and surpass 100 Test caps. Class operator.
TADHG FURLONG
“Ultimately, you want to be in the same team as Tadhg because Tadhg was the one that was guaranteed to start – as long as he didn’t have some absolute shockers, you just knew with his form, the way he was playing and just the type of player he is.”
The words of Ulster and Ireland captain Rory Best on The Hard Yards podcast.
The three-time Six Nations winner and holder of 104 Test caps was watching Lions’ team announcements like a hawk to see if he was in the same team as a man with less than 10 Test starts. That’s how good Furlong has been since August 2015 and that’s how rapid he has risen to the best in the world.
Rugby is ever-evolving and the latest bonus from your solid-scrummaging tighthead, aside from 10+ tackles a game, is the ability to play ball and get involved in set-plays. Furlong is a gem of a prop. He can do all the dirty work and still finds the energy to take the fight to opponents with ball in hand or as a tackler in the loose and a breakdown demon.
Owen Franks has long held the title as best No.3 in world rugby but Furlong surpassed him during the summer and has not slowed down since. To see him make dummy runs and set up tries with his soft hands, in predominantly backline moves, is to see evolution in action.
Ireland’s two other candidates for best in the world are, in order, Sean O’Brien and Johnny Sexton but their cases are not quite as clear-cut and they are up against the likes of Sam Cane, David Pocock, Owen Farrell and Beauden Barrett.
We’ll take two and be happy with it but the upcoming internationals may throw up some fresh contenders.
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