Caolin Blade and Jack Crowley appear to be the prime beneficiaries of Conor Murray and Ciaran Frawley being ruled out of the Autumn Series due to the groin strain and twisted knee they suffered respectively last weekend. Based on the “A” selection against the Maori All Blacks last Friday, Blade and Crowley were next in the pecking order and they now clearly rank above the other halfbacks in the country who are outside the squad.
Considering this includes internationals such as Ross Byrne, Billy Burns and Jack Carty at outhalf, as well as Luke McGrath, Kieran Marmion and John Cooney at scrumhalf, that looks all the more significant less than a year out from the World Cup.
Whether or not Blade or Crowley will feature against Fiji at the Aviva Stadium next Saturday (kick-off 1pm) remains to be seen. The “A” squad drew the short straw last week in many ways, and no player really enhanced their claims, but Blade and Crowley did have some nice touches off the bench, with Blade making a key offload and two sharp passes in creating Max Deegan’s late try in tandem with Calvin Nash.
[ Conor Murray ruled out of Fiji and Australia TestsOpens in new window ]
Andy Farrell and co have presumably targeted this game to start Joey Carbery as well as others among the replacements from last Saturday’s 19-16 win over South Africa. Even so, the Emerging Ireland tour appeared to be very much with Frawley and Crowley and the outhalf depth chart in mind. It was also noticeable that Crowley was with the senior squad on Saturday at the Aviva, when relaying instructions on to the field as a water carrier.
Although Jamison Gibson-Park played longer than expected in an eye-catching and influential first appearance of the season, they would presumably like to have him play more minutes as well. Plus, this would seem an ideal game to continue the investment in Craig Casey.
Many of those on the bench against South Africa made a positive impact and may start against Fiji. Although there was a relatively positive update on Tadhg Furlong, as well as Johnny Sexton, Stuart McCloskey and Robbie Henshaw, it would be no surprise to see Finlay Bealham given a start and for Tom O’Toole to be involved. The same may apply with Kieran Treadwell.
The relative wellbeing of Henshaw and McCloskey is demonstrated in neither James Hume nor Jamie Osborne being retained from the “A” squad. Then again, of course, the midfield stocks have added a different option given the seamless way the versatile Jimmy O’Brien played outside Garry Ringrose in a memorable Test debut after McCloskey’s unfortunate departure. This was all the more remarkable given O’Brien last started in midfield for Leinster in March 2021 against Zebre Parma.
Farrell and co will need to find the balance between retaining an experienced core next Saturday while also delving further into their squad. After all, they will want to make full use of their 33-man squad at next year’s World Cup and this game is akin to the pool meeting with Tonga, albeit that comes a week before Ireland’s third match against South Africa. Furthermore, with Australia to come next, followed by the Six Nations, opportunities such as next Saturday to expose fringe players to Test rugby are becoming scarce.
For example, last Saturday’s game was only Robert Baloucoune’s third Test, while Ireland need some kind of proven back-up to the remarkable Hugo Keenan, who also defied his long lay-off against the Springboks. To that end, Michael Lowry has still only played one Test, although another option would be to recall Jacob Stockdale at fullback, where he was tried against Georgia and Scotland in the 2020 Nations Cup.
With Joe McCarthy and Ryan Baird also back with Leinster to continue their return-to-play protocols, three players who were added to the squad last week for the “A” game and remain among a 39-man squad in the IRFU HPC this week are Gavin Thornbury, Scott Penny and Deegan.
The inclusion of Deegan, who captained the Emerging Ireland team twice and also made a positive impact after replacing Gavin Coombes, also suggests he has moved up the pecking order after the latter’s surprisingly low-key display on Friday night.
Ireland Squad
Backs (16)
Robert Baloucoune (Ulster/Enniskillen) 3 caps
Caolin Blade (Connacht/Galwegians) 1 cap
Joey Carbery (Munster/Clontarf) 36 caps
Craig Casey (Munster/Shannon) 5 caps
Jack Crowley (Munster/Cork Constitution) uncapped
Jamison Gibson Park (Leinster) 21 caps
Mack Hansen (Connacht) 7 caps
Robbie Henshaw (Leinster/Buccaneers) 60 caps
Hugo Keenan (Leinster/UCD) 24 caps
Michael Lowry (Ulster/Banbridge) 1 cap
Stuart McCloskey (Ulster/Bangor) 7 caps
Calvin Nash (Munster/Young Munster)
Jimmy O’Brien (Leinster/Naas) 1 cap
Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD) 45 caps
Johnny Sexton (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 109 caps CAPTAIN
Jacob Stockdale (Ulster/Lurgan) 35 caps
Forwards (23)
Finlay Bealham (Connacht/Buccaneers) 26 caps
Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Lansdowne) 34 caps
Jack Conan (Leinster/Old Belvedere) 31 caps
Max Deegan (Leinster/Lansdowne) 1 cap
Caelan Doris (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 21 caps
Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Clontarf) 61 caps
Dave Heffernan (Connacht/Buccaneers) 7 caps
Cian Healy (Leinster/Clontarf) 119 caps
Iain Henderson (Ulster/Academy) 68 caps
Rob Herring (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 29 caps
Jeremy Loughman (Munster/Garryowen) uncapped
Mike Milne (Leinster/UCD) uncapped
Peter O’Mahony (Munster/Cork Constitution) 88 caps
Tom O’Toole (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 3 caps
Scott Penny (Leinster/UCD) uncapped
Andrew Porter (Leinster/UCD) 47 caps
Cian Prendergast (Connacht) uncapped
James Ryan (Leinster/UCD) 47 caps
Dan Sheehan (Leinster/Lansdowne) 11 caps
Gavin Thornbury (Connacht) uncapped
Nick Timoney (Ulster/Banbridge) 2 caps
Kieran Treadwell (Ulster/Ballymena) 9 caps
Josh van der Flier (Leinster/UCD) 44 caps
Bank of Ireland Nations Series Fixtures:
IRELAND v Fiji, Saturday 12th November, 2022, Aviva Stadium, KO 13:00
IRELAND v Australia, Saturday 19th November, 2022, Aviva Stadium, KO 20:00
