Hmmm... for some reason I find this surprisingly tough but here it goes:
1. Brian O'Driscoll- His leadership, particularly in defense, is sorely missed, as is his freakish all round ability and propensity to do something brilliant.
2. Paul O'Connell- I don't want to oversell the guy, but when he is out you really notice the difference, remember when he came off the bench against France in the warm-ups... a top class player and a talisman in the team, not sure if the captaincy suited him though!
3. Rob Kearney- Always rated him as a player, I thought he came across as a bit too arrogant a few years ago but he has really matured. Flawless under the high ball and has been driving the team on in recent games, shaping up quite nicely to become one of those players Ireland just love to implode without.
4. Stephen Ferris- Absolute beast of a man, sheer quality allied with an immense workrate, a real force of nature!
5. David Wallace- I reckon old man Wallace is possibly our most underrated player of the last decade, a calm head who often stood out against the likes of Wales and Scotland ( Two teams we are prone to not finishing off properly/playing shite against) in recent years, I also think he was better at ruck time than SOB- who looses out to Ferris in my top ten.
6. Sexton- Hasn't been top class for Ireland, for a complicated mixture of reasons, but if he can continue to improve his form/management alter the tactics then he will blossom into a world class player (fingers crossed!)
7. Tommy Bowe- Lethal finisher, skillful, and a good footballer.
8.Mike Ross- Not great in the loose, or even the tight if truth be told, but seems to be working on the poorer aspects of his game, and he is a very good scrummager who has helped fill the sizeable hole John Hayes left, even though it should have been filled long before Hayes left, has given Ireland a scrum!
9.Ronan O'Gara- If Sexton is struggling to control a game or we need to use a territorial game plan who better than ROG? Brilliant from the tee, excellent punting and brilliant reading of the game.
10. Any of Donnacha Ryan/Dan Touhy/ Mike McCarthy- Donncha O'Callaghan does believe it or not have an important role in the team as the one who's sole charge is to hit as many rucks as humanly possible and make as many tackles as possible, something which for years he did quite well, but of late he just doesn't cut it in a team with aspirations of reaching a world cup final, Ryan has displaced him at Munster where he has been phenomenal, Touhy has been on great form for the last two seasons and deserves to have more than one cap to show for, while McCarthy has frequently been a standout player in the Connacht pack but is the oldest of the three.
I've was just about to put down some notable mentions when I realized that would incorporate our whole starting XV over the last year, as well very few others players have been tried/impressed <_<
