"You can't NOT start Robbie, whether it is at 12 or 13."
Similar conversations to the one going on in the House of Rugby studio, on Sunday, have been taking place all over the country in recent days. It must be Six Nations season.
Ireland are currently over in Portugal for some warm-weather training, and will return on Wednesday night to finalise their preparations for Saturday's championship opener against Wales.
Andy Farrell will name his match-day squad for that Wales game on Thursday afternoon and, from the outside, looking in, there look to be only four jerseys properly up for grabs.
On the latest
House of Rugby URC episode [
LISTEN from 58:15 below] Leinster and Ireland scrumhalf Luke McGrath joined the team for a Six Nations preview, and hashed over some of Farrell's big selection calls.
[caption id="attachment_248211" align="aligncenter" width="640"]
Jonathan Sexton, left, and Peter O'Mahony during Ireland Rugby squad training at IRFU HPC at the Sport Ireland Campus in Dublin. (Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile)[/caption]
Big Ireland calls in second row and midfield
When Andy Farrell announced his Ireland squad for the opening rounds of the 2022 Six Nations, last week, we took a shot at predicting the team he would select to face Wales.
When it all shakes out, the only change we would make -
to our predicted team - is with the centre partnership. Our combination would be Robbie Henshaw at inside centre and Garry Ringrose beside him. If Ireland are going for this quicker tempo, attacking team, we feel Ringrose is the better pick at outside centre.
Our suspicion is that Farrell will go with Bundee Aki at 12 and Henshaw at 13, leaving Ringrose to possibly cover centre and wing on the bench.
On the left wing, we are going with Jordan Larmour to start in the No.11 jersey, now that James Lowe is out of the start of the championship, at least. The closest to Larmour, we reckon, is now Rob Baloucoune but the steady Keith Earls can never be ruled out.
The only other real dilemma for Farrell is which second row, short of minutes, will start alongside in-form lock Tadhg Beirne. Iain Henderson is about a week behind James Ryan in terms of getting close to full fitness, so he goes on our bench.
Our Ireland team to face Wales
15. Hugo Keenan
14. Andrew Conway
13. Garry Ringrose
12. Robbie Henshaw
11. Jordan Larmour
10. Johnny Sexton
9. Jamison Gibson-Park
1. Andrew Porter
2. Rónan Kelleher
3. Tadhg Furlong
4. James Ryan
5. Tadhg Beirne
6. Caelan Doris
7. Josh van der Flier
8. Jack Conan
Subs: Dan Sheehan, Cian Healy, Finlay Bealham, Iain Henderson, Peter O'Mahony, Conor Murray, Jack Carty, Keith Earls.
