LONG READ All but two positions locked in for Ireland’s starting XV for England

Irish rugby writers will be thanking their lucky stars for ‘development players’ as Simon Easterby’s 2025 Six Nations squad selection had all the usual suspects. Before he stepped away to take up the British & Irish Lions brief, Andy Farrell left Easterby, Ireland’s interim coach, in no doubts on the direction he wanted for 2025.

Farrell will not be back at the helm until after the Lions’ summer tour to Australia, with Easterby leading Ireland through the Six Nations and an end-of-season tour to Eastern Europe. Farrell capped Thomas Clarkson, Cormac Izuchukwu, Gus McCarthy and Sam Prendergast last November, with Prendergast starting the final two November Tests in the 10 jersey.

Easterby is not for boat-rocking, as evidenced by the announcement of a 36-man squad that features only one uncapped player, Leinster loosehead Jack Boyle. Clarkson, Izuchukwu, McCarthy and Prendergast are still fresh faces, as is Jamie Osborne. They are the exceptions in a vastly experienced squad (11 of the players are aged 32 or older).

Few would have put money, following the 2023 World Cup, on Peter O’Mahony (35), Cian Healy (37) and Conor Murray (34) making a 2025 squad, yet the veteran trio keep on keeping on. O’Mahony, Healy and Murray have made a combined total of seven starts, so far, this season. Healy may yet flip the script, in his 17^th senior season, thanks to Jacques Nienaber. In recent weeks, Leinster have deployed Boyle and Healy as starting looseheads, only for Andrew Porter to enter the fray, midway through the first half. The idea is for Porter to make that initial bench impact, and stay relatively fresh to play the full 40, after the break. If Easterby follows suit, you can rest assured that Farrell will have been consulted, at some stage.

One of the stand-out aspects of this Ireland squad is the swathe of Leinster players. This season’s URC and Champions Cup pace-setters locked up 23 of the 36 slots.

Ireland do not always name development players but have opted, with one eye on that tour to Romania and Georgia, to bring some prospects in for a closer look. We have Leinster centre Hugh Cooney, Ulster back-row James McNabney and two from Connacht – scrum-half Ben Murphy and Cathal Forde, who can play out-half or centre. Murphy must have been close to a full call-up but Easterby, leaning on the familiar, called in Caolin Blade for the spot left vacant by the injured Craig Casey.

One of the stand-out aspects of this Ireland squad is the swathe of Leinster players. This season’s URC and Champions Cup pace-setters locked up 23 of the 36 slots. Connacht and Munster have five apiece while Ulster have a paltry three. Once you drill down to a likely matchday 23 for the championship opener against England, it is even more blue-tinted. The following selection is based on Dan Sheehan and James Lowe hitting all their return-to-action markers after respective knee and calf injuries.

A fortnight out from the start of their Six Nations title defence, Ireland look to have only two positions with uncertainty over them – hooker and left wing. This mainly stems from Sheehan coming back from a bad injury picked up on last summer’s tour to South Africa, and the form and fitness of Lowe.

Ireland’s lineout has been an ongoing concern for the past 18 months. It remains to be seen whether World Rugby’s newly introduced lineout laws (quicker set-ups and throws, and crooked throws allowed if the opposition do not contest) will help or hinder. Ireland are notoriously ponderous when it comes to getting through their lineouts, to the visible annoyance of some match officials. The optimistic way of looking at World Rugby’s latest designs to speed up play is that Sheehan and Ronan Kelleher may benefit from the lack of committee meetings before they attempt to hit their targets.

As it stands, Kelleher is the man in possession of the No.2 jersey with Sheehan expected to be eased back into action. It makes sense to spring him from the bench, for the opening two rounds, at least. It is remarkable, in itself, that Sheehan is almost ready to rock again, just over six months from a rough ACL tear in his knee. Ulster’s Rob Herring is in the squad as a safe option but Gus McCarthy has more of a chance of earning decent minutes.

Lowe had a similar stretch on the sidelines last season and returned to score four tries in the Six Nations

Easterby has named four hookers and eight back-rows, yet there are only four wingers in his squad. Mack Hansen bumped Calvin Nash out of the starting XV when he returned to Ireland duty last November. His three-match ban for criticising match officials hurts Connacht but means he will be raring to go for that England game. Lowe has not played since the tight win over Australia, seven weeks ago, and has just one try in six starts this season. He has proven himself as an excellent international winger but was under-par in the autumn. Lowe had a similar stretch on the sidelines last season and returned to score four tries in the Six Nations, including an excellent double against England.

The wildcard Easterby has been left with is Jamie Osborne. Evidenced by his spinning carry and pass for Joe McCarthy’s try against La Rochelle last weekend, the 23-year-old has something special about him. Injury in November prevented him from building on his hugely positive tour in South Africa.

Easterby, Andrew Goodman and Paul O’Connell will be looking at ways, in the coming weeks, to incorporate Osborne in different looking backlines. He played on the left wing in win over La Rochelle, but that was more down to late Leinster injury issues rather than pre-planned tactics. Osborne has only three senior starts in the 11 jersey but that looks a better shout, for the England match, than him wedging into that three-into-two situation – between Aki, Ringrose and Henshaw – that Ireland have when handing out jerseys 12 and 13.

The other option, should Lowe miss out, may be switching Hugo Keenan to the left wing, where he made his Test debut, and having Osborne at full-back. It will likely be Lowe and Hansen on the wings, with Keenan at full-back. That would leave Osborne dicing with Ringrose or Henshaw for the 23 jersey. Jimmy O’Brien and Calvin Nash have also proved capable of slotting seamlessly into the backline.

Easterby, as you can see, has been handed a basket of glistening, ripe lemons and told to make lemonade.

If Farrell is not taking between 16 and 19 Ireland players to Australia with him, this summer, something will have gone badly wrong under Easterby’s watch.

PREDICTED IRELAND XV (vs England)

Hugo Keenan, Mack Hansen, Garry Ringrose, Bundee Aki, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Ronan Kelleher, Tadhg Furlong; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Tadhg Beirne, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris ©.

Replacements: Dan Sheehan, Cian Healy, Finlay Bealham, Ryan Baird, Jack Conan, Conor Murray, Jack Crowley, Robbie Henshaw.