Surely Doak has to be in the mix too

Yes but I was trying to think of players who were not ‘full time’ members of the recent 6 Nations squad.  Bryn and Jude were only there briefly as ‘training panelists’ or whatever the term is.  Actually James Hume could be considered too based on form but he never seems to be on Farrell’s radar for some reason.

Mack Hansen ruled out, so Baloucoune should walk right in the the starting place ( if he wasn’t already),  and looks like Paddy McCarthy is out too so we could be seeing ToT at loose again.  Don’t see James Hume in unless there are a few centre injuries.  Stu should ok, well rested and stockdale should be on the panel too you would think. 

With only about 18 months to the world cup, I don’t see many new faces in this summer squad. So probably the same Ulster contingent that played in the last six nations.  Maybe they’ll take Bryn for the experience (Farrell seems to like him) although there’s other back rows (Jansen, Gleeson) in good form too.

The strange case of James Lowe’s (lack of) contract continues.  Assuming he does get renewed, and is fit, there might be some risk that Jacob misses out. As good as he has been for Ulster this year, it’s hard to point to a really positive performance in green. Tommy O’Brien is ahead of him in the pecking order I think.

They are also possibly in trouble at 10 with Jack Crowley having a mysterious injury that has him dropping out of a couple of Munster teams at the very last minute.  Sam Prendergast needs to stay at home to work on various things and Frawley has hardly played in that position all season.  It’s almost like Jack Murphy is the next man up but honestly I don’t think he’s ready for international rugby yet.

I would have thought that Harry Burn would have been higher up than Murphy, but yeah with Crowley maybe being out, that leave its wide open for 10.  Henderson also has a chance with Tadhg Beirne being out ( chance to get called into the squad, not the team). I agree Byrn has a good chance because of his current trajectory, he could be world class in 18 months.

Yes Harry Byrne will be in the summer squad (though he’s not playing well).  I think it’s him, Frawley (with reservations about his playing time) and one other.

James Lowe set to leave Leinster and Irish rugby this summer · The 42
Looks like Jacob will make the squad then….

so no last minute deal
Ireland and Leinster wing Lowe set to join Japanese club · The 42

Since he’s a replacement for Kolbe you wonder was the offer on the a table a good while ago and too good to turn down ( and maybe it was signed a while ago but they did want to piss off the leinster supports during the season)

Ireland Squad

Forwards (20):

Tadhg Beirne
Billy Bohan
Thomas Clarkson
Jack Conan
Caelan Doris
Tadhg Furlong
Sam Illo
Cormac Izuchukwu
Sean Jansen
Rónan Kelleher
Jeremy Loughman
Joe McCarthy
Darragh Murray
Tom O’Toole
Cian Prendergast
James Ryan
Dan Sheehan
Tom Stewart
Nick Timoney
Josh van der Flier

Backs (16):

Bundee Aki
Rob Baloucoune
Harry Byrne
Craig Casey
Nathan Doak
Ciaran Frawley
Jamison Gibson-Park
Robbie Henshaw
Hugo Keenan
Stuart McCloskey
Jimmy O’Brien
Tommy O’Brien
Jamie Osborne
Sam Prendergast
Garry Ringrose
Jacob Stockdale

Jack Murphy over looked again, no Wards,  no Henderson ( I thought Beirne  would have been out with injury)

I suppose it’s all about what your strategy, short, medium and long term is.  Do you sacrifice someone like Harry Byrne or Sam Prendergast for Jack Murphy?  I don’t see Byrne as a long term option internationally, but would you go with one option who has hardly played the position, one who has limited experience internationally most of it less than stellar, and one with no international experience?  For a long term strategy that might be the best, but short and medium term you are pretty exposed.

For Ward (B) it is slightly different in my view.  You could leave Conan at home to rest and recover hoping for peak condition at RWC while giving the youngster the experience he needs to find out if he is the real deal.  Again short and medium term it may be less comfortable, but the long term should be good.

Just to say as my career, reputation aren’t on the line I’d go long term in both cases.

19 Leinster 8 Ulster 6 Connacht 3 Munster 😮 

Didn’t realise Munster had so little in the squard

I think you might be right about Byrne, after Sam’s setback, he had the chance to become Leinster’s No. 1 outhalf, but he didn’t gab it, now Sam is starting the URC Final!

Farrel seems to prioritise wining the next match over long term development 

I forgot Jude, but apparently he’s still injured,  and I don’t think Hume has not gotten back to the level when he was challenging Ringrose 

Zac and Bryn Ward added to the squad replacing Tommy O’Brien and Caelan Doris.