LONG READ Injuries to key Ireland stars pave way for bold pack to start France opener

Ireland’s cough has been softened. The 2023 Grand Slam winners and 2024 champions have been brought back to earth in the past 12 months. They have been wounded by France and South Africa, on their home turf. Their men-on-a-mission aura, from past championships, has evaporated.

Ahead of the November internationals, I spoke with Dan Sheehan and found him buoyed by a successful British & Irish Lions tour to Australia. Sheehan and 17 of his Ireland team-mates returned home with a Test Series victory to their name. “We have that sense of winning and that taste for it,” he told me. “You always look to build on it in the November matches, then back with Leinster, on to the Six Nations, and see where we are.”

During the November outings, Ireland lost to a New Zealand side that have since done away with their head coach, Scott Robertson. They beat Japan then pummelled Australia, only to have their scrum dismantled in a 24-13 loss to South Africa.

Heading into this Six Nations, former Ireland stars Conor Murray, Rob Kearney and Andrew Trimble all predicted a third-place finish. “There’s an acceptance now,” said Kearney, “that we’re not at the level France are. Everyone here can pretty much agree on that. England can surprise a lot of people. They’ve just been playing ugly rugby but very effectively for the last 18 months. That will be a tough place to go.”

Jump forward three months after Sheehan spoke with such optimism and the mood has shifted. The Leinster and Ireland hooker was speaking at a PR event, on Wednesday, when he commented, “We need to prep well and get the energy going because we’re no longer the favourites for anything, now. We’re almost at that sort of underdog mentality, we need to show up and make sure we’re counted.”

It is safe to say few in Ireland are getting ahead of themselves for this Six Nations campaign. Across a dozen leading sports bookies, Andy Farrell’s men are third favourites. Les Bleus are backed to the hilt. With either France or England in a state of flux, for the past 20 years, this is unfamiliar territory for Ireland supporters under the age of 30.

The only news cheering Irish fans, this week, was Fabien Galthié jettisoning Gregory Alldritt, Gaël Fickou and Damian Penaud from his Six Nations squad.

Unlike some of the other leading Test nations, Ireland do not hold a press conference on squad announcement days. Tickets have long sold out for the home games, against Italy, Wales and Scotland. The opportunity for blanket press and social media coverage is eschewed. Farrell keeps his distance until he is mandated to face the cameras and microphones.

Ireland’s squad release was accompanied, on this occasion, with a stark update on the players the head coach did not have available to him. “Cormac Izuchukwu is not currently available,” it stated, “while Robbie Henshaw, Calvin Nash, Jimmy O’Brien and Andrew Porter are also injured. Ryan Baird, Shayne Bolton, Mack Hansen, Jordan Larmour and Paddy McCarthy are ruled out due to injury.”

Five men likely to miss the championship, while another five may return in time to play some part in Ireland’s campaign. The only news cheering Irish fans, this week, was Fabien Galthié jettisoning Gregory Alldritt, Gaël Fickou and Damian Penaud from his Six Nations squad.

Injuries at loosehead and blindside are a headache for Farrell and his coaching staff, but they pave the way for what could be a bold pack selection for the France game.

Jack Boyle was the ascending star, heading into last summer’s tour to Georgia and Portugal. The 23-year-old had two sub appearances in the 2025 Six Nations and started Ireland’s two summer Tests under Paul O’Connell, but did not see a minute of the November games as Paddy McCarthy leapfrogged him. With McCarthy’s season now in doubt after sustaining a ‘significant foot injury’ and Porter not expected back for another month, Boyle is back to the front of the queue.

Interestingly, with veteran Tadhg Furlong often playing through niggles and pain, Leinster and Ireland had been mulling Porter switching back to tighthead. The 30-year-old made the 2021 Lions squad in that role, before switching over to loosehead (where he began his professional career).

Boyle is likely to get the No.1 jersey for the championship opener. He will take confidence from a solid, 70-minute shift in Leinster’s Champions Cup away win over Bayonne. Farrell then has Jeremy Loughman and Michael Milne (seven caps, one start between them) as loosehead back-up. Finlay Bealham can cover both sides of the scrum, and is a more experienced option.

Joe McCarthy will definitely start, so Beirne could join him there for what would be Ireland’s best second-row offering… The riskier route, but one that Farrell will be tempted by, is moving Beirne to blindside.

On the other side of the front row, prayers, incantations and easy midweek workloads will hopefully get Furlong to the starting line. Bealham, again, is a back-up option, though Thomas Clarkson may get that task.

‘What of this bold pack?’ you may ask. Well, it comes with the lock and back-row selections. Baird and Izuchukwu missing out reduce Farrell’s selection flexibility but, in Tadhg Beirne, he possesses a player that can cover jerseys four to eight.

There are a number of ways Farrell can go for the 5 February opener at Stade de France. Joe McCarthy will definitely start, so Beirne could join him there for what would be Ireland’s best second-row offering. Ireland could then start Jack Conan at blindside, Josh van der Flier openside and Caelan Doris at No.8.

The riskier route, but one that Farrell will be tempted by, is moving Beirne to blindside. That leaves a spot in the second row beside McCarthy. He could go with James Ryan or take the bolder route – handing Edwin Edogbo his Test debut in a starting role. The 6ft 5in, 20-stone Munster lock would already be an international by now, had it not been for an Achilles injury, sustained in December 2023. The road back was long, and Munster have been careful not to overburden him, but each appearance offers clear signs of his thunderous potential.

Edogbo’s two-try impact off the bench last weekend in Munster’s Champions Cup loss to Castres is likely to be his last piece of competitive action before the Six Nations gets underway. He misses this weekend’s game against Dragons due to failing a head injury assessment following the Castres game. Munster are away to Glasgow on 30 January, when Farrell will have the Ireland squad in Portugal for warm-weather training.

“We’re very lucky,” former Ireland hooker Bernard Jackman told the RTÉ Rugby podcast. “We haven’t had that profile of player for quite a while, and now we have Big Joe [McCarthy] and Edwin. Both of them are very similar, very powerful. Edwin would be great coming off the bench. But I actually think, with the injuries to our props and our last game being against South Africa, that France will sense weakness there.

“I wouldn’t be against both Edwin and Big Joe together, to start, with Tadhg Beirne at six. Then you have James Ryan and Jack Conan on the bench.”

To Jackman’s mind, with those Springbok scrummaging lessons still raw, gaining early parity – or even gaining a slight advantage – sets the tone for referees. If a side struggles in the first few scrums, he believes the dye is often cast and no amount of replacements can sway it with match officials.

POSSIBLE IRELAND PACK (vs. FRANCE)

1. Jack Boyle (Leinster)
2. Dan Sheehan (Leinster)
3. Tadhg Furlong (Leinster)
4. Edwin Edogbo (Munster)
5. Joe McCarthy (Leinster)
6. Tadhg Beirne (Munster)
7. Josh van der Flier (Leinster)
8. Caelan Doris (Leinster)

In the backline, Farrell will be relieved to call on Jamie Osborne and Hugo Keenan after their extended spells rehabbing respective shoulder and hip issues. Both players, along with James Lowe, will be well short of meaningful minutes though before the championship begins.

Three players racking up the minutes, this season, are out-halves Sam Prendergast (745), Harry Byrne (633) and Jack Crowley (839). At Virgin Media’s Six Nations preview, Murray backed Pendergast to get the nod in Paris from Farrell. Trimble and Kearney would start Byrne. Crowley’s stock has dropped after his, and Munster’s, fast start to the season tailed off in the bleak mid-winter.

There is a strong chance Ireland – mindful of last year’s punishing clash with Galthié’s big units – go with a 6-2 bench split. Squad selections for Tom Ahern and Cian Prendergast – who can cover second and back row – make such calls easier for Farrell.

If he rolled the dice on McCarthy and Edogbo to start, the bench could include Ryan, Conan and possibly Prendergast, with Craig Casey and Crowley (who can cover 12 and 15) as reserve backs.