After a bruising encounter against Samoa in Bayonne, Andy Farrell was finally able to announce his 33-man World Cup squad.
As expected, there weren't many surprises, other than Cian Healy’s late exclusion through injury.
Other nations have been hit with high-profile injuries too, so Ireland aren’t going through anything unique. Although Healy isn’t the starting loosehead, his absence is a huge blow to Ireland’s squad strength and experience.
With Dave Kilcoyne also enduring some injury struggles, the Irish loosehead position feels considerably weaker after the weekend.
The front row in general will be a talking point considering Rónan Kelleher’s lack of game time as well as Dan Sheehan’s latest injury concerns.
Between the lineout and scrum, any fragilities in the front row could have a serious impact on Ireland's game, especially when they play the likes of South Africa, France or New Zealand.
"When you get drawn in a pool with Tonga, South Africa and Scotland, a fresh and fit pack is a necessity."
The biggest surprise in the squad announcement is that Farrell went with 18 forwards as opposed to 19. It means both Stuart McCloskey and Keith Earls retained their places in the squad when many thought that one would be sacrificed for an extra forward.
The reason for bringing an extra forward really comes down to the physicality in the game at present. You can see how attritional the game is with all the injury announcements after warm-up games. When you get drawn in a pool with Tonga, South Africa and Scotland, a fresh and fit pack is a necessity.
However, you can understand the reasoning behind needing McCloskey in the midfield. I wouldn’t be surprised if Farrell has picked McCloskey for the Tonga game and with an eye on South Africa. Whether the Springboks play Damian de Allende or Andre Esterhuizen, McCloskey is able to match them all when it comes to physicality and robustness.
The unfortunate one within all of these selection decisions is Cian Prendergast. He’s been excellent whenever he's been given a chance to play. His work rate and versatility gave him a real shot at making the squad, even with the strength and versatility that already exists within the Irish pack.
Due to the specialist role that Joe McCarthy plays and the flexibility of Ryan Baird and Tadhg Beirne, it’s a good decision to free up a position to bolster other areas of the squad. Still, it still feels harsh on Prendergast.
Jacob Stockdale [above] hasn’t hit a consistent level of performance, but he did show up in the Samoa game when the chips were down.
He sparked Ireland into life, chipping ahead down the left hand touchline for Conor Murray to get Ireland back in the game. The Ulster wing has been unlucky at times, but Ireland’s squad depth has also made it very hard for Stockdale to make the team.
James Lowe and Jimmy O’Brien both kick well off their left foot and therefore one of Stockdale’s unique characteristics isn’t so unique anymore.
Jack Crowley’s form and ability to cover multiple positions made it tough for Ciaran Frawley to get another look-in. His lack of game time, mainly through injury, and his non-selection at out-half with Leinster have gone against him in this World Cup year.
When Ireland travelled to New Zealand last summer, Frawley would have almost been a certainty to follow that trajectory to the World Cup, but things haven’t worked out in his favour. He’s another player that has been around the camp for quite a while, and might have a role to play in France yet.
It is expected that teams will need closer to 40 players ready to play a part in the World Cup; Farrell has alluded to that himself. Any nation that goes deep into this tournament is going to need some luck with injuries.
Hopefully nobody has to return home in the middle of the tournament, but Farrell has prepared a big enough group that there’ll be a ready replacement that knows the system and will fit in easier than they would have in the past.
Now that the selection has been made, we can focus closer on the game plan and strategies going into the tournament.
While the team wouldn’t be giving much away for others to analyse, the lineout is something that needs to be ironed out if Ireland want to go further than they have ever gone in this World Cup.
Romania will give Ireland a soft entry into the tournament. Johnny Sexton will start that game and you’d assume that his presence alone will lift Ireland. Selection for Tonga will be the most interesting.
You don’t want to disrespect Tonga by making too many changes and the team will need consistency for when they go into battle against South Africa the following week.
Ireland will be Tonga’s opening game of the tournament so they’ll be fresh and mad to impress. Ireland will need to dominate early, gain control in the set piece and force the pace in unstructured phase play.
Last weekend's match against Samoa showed how difficult it can be to pull away from weaker teams if you don’t find cohesion early on, although the weather was heavily involved in that disruption.
Doing the hard work early on in the Tonga game will allow Ireland to build confidence and make their substitutions early enough to keep their starters some bit fresh. The South Africa game is pivotal in this pool if the tournament will be successful for Ireland.
The plan to manage the squad might have changed in the last week or so with more players carrying niggles. From those selected, O’Brien, Earls, Sheehan, Kelleher, Kilcoyne, Conan, and Lowe are trying to overcome varying levels of injury.
We can all predict Ireland’s first-choice 15, but each head coach will have different ways of using combinations within the squad so the starters will be at the peak of their powers when needed the most.
Farrell has gained a lot of trust with how he manages the squad. This will be his biggest challenge to date.
Listen to live coverage of all of Ireland's Rugby World Cup games on RTÉ Radio or follow our live blogs on RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News app.
Watch live coverage of Ireland v Tonga (Saturday 16 September) and South Africa (Saturday 23 September) on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
