World cup 2027. Were do Ireland go?

Was the team already just Leinster & project players .

Peter O mahony who’s time is now up and Henderson the only others started last night . Tadhg Beirne is from Leinster.

Australia

I think we are too focused on building a first team and we don't do enough to build a squad. Same story at previous WCs, the 15 best players have been decided upon well over a year in advance and they get all the game time regardless of form. We are too loyal to certain players, we make them indispensable which is a self-fulfilling issue, if nobody else gets a shot then nobody else can be considered good enough. If we dont have enough depth, that's because we don't do enough to develop it.

Look at NZ, SA and France, they have handled injuries much better than we could have (we were lucky in that regard). They also used their squad players more than we did. Continuity is important but we take it too far. We also need to stop relying on aging stars, they can of course bring a lot but there is a limit to what guys in their mid 30s with a lot of miles on the clock can do. Look at how NZ use Whitelock.

We need to switch things up the next 6N. Guys like JGP, Herring Aki and Murray may have something to offer in the short-term but we should be actively looking at replacing them with younger models. Apart from JGP, I wouldnt have the others in the 6N unless there is another player injured. Get Doak, Stewart and Osborne involved instead. Similar goes for Henderson and Conan to an extent although they have a couple of years at international level in them yet. They should be part of the next squad but need to be replaced well before the next WC.

Furlong should be left with Leinster to try find some form. He's not the player he was and Bealham and TOT can do much the same job. Bring in a young TH and try to develop him. Doris needs a kick in the hole, should be part of the 6N squad but shouldn't start, has to play his way back into a jersey. Bring in Coombes and give him some game time, he's at least as good a player as his opposite number would be for all 6N opposition bar France.

To be fair there would be plenty of the corporates who would go and pay those prices for 6 nations and November tests regardless of what happens on the pitch so that isnt the reason.

You are very naive if you think every other team bar Ireland are going to be looking to 4 years ahead bar Ireland in feb

I think Doris is a good example of the issue I was referring to earlier. He played his way into the starting jersey but his performances 12+ months ago meant he held onto the jersey despite his form having dropped off significantly. Once he got the jersey, there was no pressure to keep it.

The other no.8 in the squad being injured meant Doris had to start but bringing Conan when he was already injured is another example of sticking with a guy when we shouldn't have. He was injured and only plays one position, a position where we already had someone else starting. Prendergast got a run out but in truth, I think there was little chance of him getting picked over an established player despite the added flexibility.

I think we might see a dip for a year, but I'm confident it will be temporary.

I don't think there'll be massive change for the 6Ns. Obviously there's a gap at 10, but other than that the team could quite easily be the same it was last night with maybe Ryan coming back in and Healy on the bench. I'm not saying it will be, but there is never massive change in the immediate aftermath of a WC.

We'll probably see some newer faces in the wider squad like Osborne, Hodnet, C.Prendergast and Stewart.

There's absolutely no need to have a clear out and equally there's no need to (it wouldn't happen anyway) not to target a 6Ns, that's our bread & butter.

They need to bring in your man Stephen Kenny as manager/coach.

(Obvious not a serious statement. But a point being that the rugby lads made a decent effort. I wouldn't be beating myself up over not winning a tournament. 4 years is a long time until the next one)

need to build a 30 man squad for the next world cup.

Our last few u20s side's have been very strong so I would expect the next squad to be alot younger at the very least.