McCloskey: 'If I don’t get selected because I just play 12 then that’s just what it is'

Andy Farrell will announce his World Cup squad on August 28 and will be looking for players who are able to cover a number of positions for the tournament. 

Bank of Ireland Nations Series, Aviva Stadium, Dublin 5/8/2023

The air is starting to get thin now. New Zealand and England have just named their World Cup squads and Gregor Townsend has trimmed his working group to 37 with four players sent back to their clubs after Scotland’s weekend win against the French.

Joe Schmidt took a similar approach to Townsend four years ago when paring away at the preliminary group he had called up over the summer but Andy Farrell was non-committal when asked how he would handle the reduction in numbers this month.