There are layers of promise below Ireland's ageing core

Three of the replacements against Japan were key players for the national U20 side that reached the final of the World Championship in South Africa in the summer of 2023

Tue, 11 Nov, 2025 - 06:49

Brendan O'Brien

Halfway through Ireland’s November Test window and, for all the changes to the selection against Japan, the expectation is that we will see a side preserved in aspic when Andy Farrell shows his hand for Australia and for the Springboks seven days later.

The fear is that there simply isn’t the same quality coming up through the ranks to take on the baton from players who have done so much for so long at the top level, but who are now a good stretch down the final leg of their careers.

The average age for Ireland’s starting XV against New Zealand in Chicago was touching 30. That came down to just north of 27 against the Japanese but neither collective effort impressed and few enough stamped their mark as individuals seeking permanent promotions.

Ireland’s best stretch was that final quarter at the weekend when, by Eddie Jones’ own admission, Japan made things far too easy for the hosts. The other side to that coin is the impact made by a bench brimming with a rare degree of youth.

Three of the replacements were key players for the national U20 side that reached the final of the World Championship in South Africa in the summer of 2023 and then came within a whisker of a Six Nations title eight months later.

Sam Prendergast added real zip and a forceful kicking game. Gus and Paddy McCarthy slotted in to the front row and claimed a try apiece. That’s a trio that has just 21 caps between them and all are still aged just 22.

Encouraging.

“Yeah, it's great,” said Gus who captained a very different Ireland U20s team to a Six Nations title earlier in 2023. “It's really, really positive, and it brings such joy seeing lads you've played with come up around you.

“I'm sure there'll be more in the years to come, plenty of lads in our age group, a lot of the lads [played for Ireland ‘A’ in Spain], even some lads that aren't, that are really, really good players that I'd say we'll see, hopefully soon.”

Evan O’Connell, Diarmuid Mangan and Ruadhan Quinn all played in that 61-24, nine-try demolition job on the Spaniards in Leganes, and it’s worth noting some of the other names of note to have emerged from that star-studded 2023 U20 vintage.

Munster’s Brian Gleeson was due to join Andy Farrell’s squad this term until injury scuppered that plan, but he is just one of a number who have already made deep impressions with their provinces to date.

James McNabney is highly-rated at Ulster, John Devine and Hugh Gavin have embedded themselves with Connacht’s first-team squad and Andrew Osborne, Hugh Cooney and Fintan Gunne have all banked good time with the Leinster firsts.

If Tom Farrell’s Test debut at the age of 32 has been the feelgood story of this window then the emergence at prop of Paddy McCarthy, Big Joe’s brother, on the back of just ten caps with Leinster might be the most meaningful long-term.

“Very good,” said his namesake. “You see he's such an explosive talent. He's a big, big man, like his brother, I don't know what they have in them. They just have some crazy strength in them and he's a very, very exciting player.

“I've played with him since we were about 11 so I know exactly what he can do. It's really, really special to be out there together. We've played as a front row together for a very, very long time, so it's great just having him there now, I can trust him.”

All the signs are that Ireland will continue to lean on the worryingly large band of thirtysomethings for much, if not all, of this World Cup cycle but there are different layers of players below them.

One is the half-dozen or so who already have over 20 caps. These are your Jack Crowleys, Ryan Bairds, Dan Sheehans and Mack Hansens. Players who have navigated the steep incline that comes at the start of a Test career.

Some of them still have some ground to cover, but not so much as the other cohort: the crew still yet to reach or barely into double figures. The Gus and Paddy McCarthys, Tom Clarkson, Jamie Osborne and Tommy O’Brien.

Even Sam Prendergast still has just 11 caps. Most Test careers don’t take flight from the off. Not everyone is Dan Sheehan and Gus McCarthy touched on this learning curve after his impressive cameo against Japan.

“I still feel like I'm still relatively inexperienced and kind of want to prove myself, but the lads are so accommodating to new lads coming into the group. We saw that there [on Saturday] with Tom Farrell.

“New lads coming into the camp fit in so seamlessly because the squad of lads we have are such an excellent squad. All the leaders and all the older lads are so accommodating and make you feel welcome and help you as much as they can when you come into the squad.”