Only getting over last week now.
Thoughts turning to where we (Ireland) go from here and what we do to build up another wave of optimism before crashing out in the QFs in 2027!
Definitely gone:
Healy
Kilcoyne
Bealham? (32 now)
Herring
Henderson? (31 now)
Beirne? (31 now)
Conan? (31 now)
O'Mahony
Murray
Gibson-Park? (31 now)
Sexton
Aki
McCloskey? (31 now)
Lowe? (31 now)
Earls
LHP is fine, hooker is fine.
Furlong is 30, but I'll assume he'll stay for another cycle - although I am thinking his powers are on the wane and have been for a year or so now. So THP a concern with Bealham's age. Will see how Tom O'Toole develops over next 12 months.
2nd row, neither of Henderson or Beirne will have the same energy levels, but we have Baird, McCarthy and Ryan there already, so barring injury, should be OK.
Back row is fine, we've a rake of really good ones across the provinces.
Scrumhalf... not sure. The drop off from Gibson-Park is quite steep. Neither Doak or Casey have really convinced me yet they are the next big thing.
OH, with both Crowley and Prendergast there, you'd hope at least one of the two will pitch up at the level needed. The two Byrnes at Leinster need to be slid aside though to allow Prendergast to get the gametime to develop (Harry Byrne fancy a move up the road to us?).
Aki will be big boots to fill, and there would be questions over Henshaw's fitness. If he's fit in 4 years, he'd be a good 12. Although likely to be a downgrade unless someone else sticks their hand up. Frawley at 12 maybe?
Back 3 fine, if we lose Lowe, there are more than a few good wingers kicking around to step in. Maybe not with the big left boot though.
THP and half-backs would be the concern, 9 more than 10 for me as I think either of Crowley/Prendergast are good enough to replace Sexton- who I felt wasn't that great against NZ - especially in the last 30 of the match when father time seemed to catch up with him; very static and shovelling - but I don't see anyone else to replace JGP. In terms of THP, O'Toole good enough to share the work with Furlong so we have a viable option already (IMO).
Thoughts turning to where we (Ireland) go from here and what we do to build up another wave of optimism before crashing out in the QFs in 2027!
Definitely gone:
Healy
Kilcoyne
Bealham? (32 now)
Herring
Henderson? (31 now)
Beirne? (31 now)
Conan? (31 now)
O'Mahony
Murray
Gibson-Park? (31 now)
Sexton
Aki
McCloskey? (31 now)
Lowe? (31 now)
Earls
LHP is fine, hooker is fine.
Furlong is 30, but I'll assume he'll stay for another cycle - although I am thinking his powers are on the wane and have been for a year or so now. So THP a concern with Bealham's age. Will see how Tom O'Toole develops over next 12 months.
2nd row, neither of Henderson or Beirne will have the same energy levels, but we have Baird, McCarthy and Ryan there already, so barring injury, should be OK.
Back row is fine, we've a rake of really good ones across the provinces.
Scrumhalf... not sure. The drop off from Gibson-Park is quite steep. Neither Doak or Casey have really convinced me yet they are the next big thing.
OH, with both Crowley and Prendergast there, you'd hope at least one of the two will pitch up at the level needed. The two Byrnes at Leinster need to be slid aside though to allow Prendergast to get the gametime to develop (Harry Byrne fancy a move up the road to us?).
Aki will be big boots to fill, and there would be questions over Henshaw's fitness. If he's fit in 4 years, he'd be a good 12. Although likely to be a downgrade unless someone else sticks their hand up. Frawley at 12 maybe?
Back 3 fine, if we lose Lowe, there are more than a few good wingers kicking around to step in. Maybe not with the big left boot though.
THP and half-backs would be the concern, 9 more than 10 for me as I think either of Crowley/Prendergast are good enough to replace Sexton- who I felt wasn't that great against NZ - especially in the last 30 of the match when father time seemed to catch up with him; very static and shovelling - but I don't see anyone else to replace JGP. In terms of THP, O'Toole good enough to share the work with Furlong so we have a viable option already (IMO).
