Youth no barrier to progress in modern Ireland

There was a time when you needed to be aged 18 or older to vote in Ireland, turned 21 to run for a seat in the Dáil and, by and large, well into your twenties to be in with any sort of realistic shot of playing senior rugby for your country.

The first two of those three stipulations still hold true but the days of youth being held in the waiting room by distrustful old men in blazers are long gone and Joe Schmidt’s squad for this late international window speaks for that.