Strength in depth in Irish rugby means World Cup places are already at a premium

What’s evident is that the door has closed appreciably for those not named in the Ireland RWC training squad announced on Tuesday.

BIG CALLS: Ireland head coach Andy Farrell names training squad ahead of World Cup.

It’s a sign of the strength in depth in Irish rugby right now that seats on the plane to France this coming autumn are already at a premium even with squad numbers bumped up from 31 to 33 since the last tournament in Japan.

Cast an eye through the certainties, or damn-certainties, on the published list and you could make a case for as many as 30 men who could be reasonably sure of their plans through the next four months – more if Ireland should break the glass ceiling that is the last eight.

In a way, it’s surprising that Andy Farrell has opted only to call up 42 players. A number closer to 45 was expected. Then again, everyone is different. Scotland have kept it to 41, Wales have hoovered up 54 for their initial get-togethers.

What’s evident is that the door has closed appreciably for those left on the outside.

Hopes that Munster’s successful charge towards the BKT URC title last weekend would prompt a belated min-surge of players into the reckoning have largely come up short although Calvin Nash is rewarded and Keith Earls recognised on his return from injury.

The flip side comes in the form of John Hodnett, Jean Kleyn, Jeremy Loughman and Shane Daly, all of whom might count themselves unlucky not to receive some reward for their individual displays in red in recent weeks and months.

Joey Carbery’s absence, sad to say, is less debatable.

Munster aside, there are other clear trends. Leinster still dominate while Ulster’s contingent has been falling away from contention throughout the season and they will have just half-a-dozen players on call when the squad convenes in Dublin in mid-June.

Among them is Kieran Treadwell who impressed in New Zealand last summer, played in November and got seven minutes at the back end of the Six Nations. He seems to have got the nod in the second row ahead of Kleyn.

Also included is Jacob Stockdale whose only appearance in green this season was with a disappointing ‘A’ side that was beaten out the gate by their Kiwi counterparts in the RDS six months ago. Robert Baloucoune and Jordan Larmour are others to fall shy.

How Farrell utilises the extra two spots when the final draft is cut will be interesting. Does he opt for a ninth front rower and/or another back row given the attritional nature of those departments? Versatility will again be key.

At least 15 of those included here offer a viable alternative in a position other than their main gig. That includes most of the back rows, the hybrid pair of Ryan Baird and Tadhg Beirne, and even props who can hunker down on both sides of the scrum.

The likes of Jimmy O’Brien is an example of this highly-valued commodity in the backline and it may be that Ciaran Frawley’s ability to plug different holes lands him higher in that queue than Stuart McCloskey who was so central to the Six Nations campaign.

Needs must, after all.

Like Nash, Frawley is uncapped but he was fielded as part of a de facto ‘A’ side against the Maoris last summer and again in the RDS disappointment. Injuries have stalled his progress and, let’s not forget, allowed Jack Crowley and Ross Byrne make their moves.

Crowley’s ascent is interesting, not just because of the speed of it and its import given the need for a bona fide successor to Johnny Sexton, but in the fact that he is one of three players in this squad who got their first shot on the Emerging Ireland tour to South Africa.

Assistant coach Simon Easterby voiced the hope before the trip that the coaches would unearth a handful of candidates for bigger days to come and both Nash and Leinster’s uncapped Jamie Osborne have joined Crowley in making that leap. (Ulster’s Stewart Moore, by the by, is a fourth uncapped inclusion).

Andy Farrell’s investment in that trip, in the ‘A’ game, and in the two uncapped meetings with the Maoris was a brave and innovative shift from the norm and the trio of O’Brien, Frawley and Joe McCarthy have all been promoted from last summer’s shadow side.

Many of those latecomers are good shouts for the final list and that alone makes all that extra work more than worthwhile for a national brains trust that, thankfully, seems to have very few injury issues to concern them during the current recess.

That said, fitness issues will intrude on this World Cup kicks off. They always do, whether that be in training, in the three warm-up games against Italy, England and Samoa, or during the tournament itself.

The final squad is to be named after the last of them.