It may not be especially radical, and the latest squad announcement is again short on surprises, but one of the Irish team’s strengths for some time has been its settled nature. Success generally comes hand-in-hand with consistency in selection and so it is that on his return to the day job Andy Farrell has stayed true to this maxim.
Despite three centurions with 376 Irish caps riding off into the sunset, it tells us much that the 34-man Irish squad for the upcoming autumnal games against New Zealand in Chicago and at home to Japan, Australia and South Africa, features only one uncapped player, namely the 22-year-old Paddy McCarthy, a huge man with a huge talent like his older brother Joe.
The only other real “promotion” per se is the late blooming Tommy O’Brien.
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