So our strongest possible team during the World cup is looking like
1. Ed Byrne
2. Tracy
3. Bent
4. Toner
5. Fardy
6. Deegan
7. Penny
8. Doris
9. JGP
10. Ross Byrne
11. Lowe
12. Conor O'Brien
13. O'Loughlin
14. Adam Byrne
15. Cian Kelleher
16. Bryan Byrne (although he could be pushing to overtake Tracy, same goes for the rest of the front row subs)
17. Dooley
18. Abdaladze
19. Molony (will be looking over his shoulder at Dunne and Baird)
20. Connors
21. O'Sullivan
22. Frawley (could see him moving back to 12/15 to let Harry Byrne feature though)
23. Dave Kearney
That's a class team, it's full of quality. It won't play though, we'll presumably see a lot of rotation. On top of that, we have guys who'll be pushing hard, of the top if my head we have:
Hooker: Kelleher (earmarked to replace Cronin as first choice, now is time for him to start pushing Travy and Byrne)
Lock: Dunne and Baird, both who have the potential to be future international starters, they don't need to be rushed though, Fardy is leaving at the end of the year and whether Toner will actually get over the injury that probably cost him his world cup place is uncertain. Either of them pushing Molony as 4th choice this year would be satisfactory.
Backrow: can't think of anyone other than the guys I've got up there but given that there are potentially three future Lions in that backrow (decent chance they won't all reach that level but they have the talent) and another decent talent in Connors, not to mention three guys in Japan and Leavy if he ever recovers from his injury, we don't really need any.
Actually now that I think of it Moloney was good for the U20s, don't know if he'll be playing senior rugby this year considering the guys ahead of him but he has a bright future.
Scrumhalf: Presumably Patterson will see some time as well, has never been our strongest position though and that doesn't look like changing in the near future.
Outhalf: Harry Byrne is seriously talented, hope he sees a lot of gametime, it'll be hard to leave his brother out though. I'd hope to see Frawley tried at 12/15 because he could be really good in those positions and being a new dimension to them, and I can see the Byrne brothers squeezing him out in the 10 stakes.
Centres: Frawley? Gavin Mullen as well. Forgetting someone probably but Reid going in going to leave a bit of a gap here
Back three: Daly, McFadden and others are options here, no shortage of options. Hope Jimmy O'Brien gets some time at fullback, but he could also be an option at 13.
With that and 14 players at the world cup, we're absolutely stacked overall.
Edit: Forgot about Tomane. Wasn't as bad as some made out last year, but O'Loughlin has done a better job of what Tomane was brought in to do. He'll he a decent option but can see him being left behind overall.
