The selection for the World Cup opener could prove to be important down the line.
Murray Kinsella Reports from Tours WE MIGHT BE into September now but summer is well and truly still in the air in France.
The first thing you see in Aéroport de Tours Val de Loire is a huge poster saying ‘Welcome Ireland’ with an image of some of Andy Farrell’s players celebrating. On the chalkboard outside one city-centre restaurant is an English translation of the phrase de la semaine – ‘The Irish have arrived.’ It’s almost certain that he and his coaching staff settled on their selection strategy for their pool games at the World Cup a long time ago.They’ve had the fixture list since early 2021 when it was revealed that Ireland would start their Pool B campaign against the lowest-ranked team in the group, Romania, before facing the next lowest-ranked in Tonga. Ireland’s pool challenge is then expected to shift up a gear against South Africa and Scotland as they bid for a quarter-final spot.
The thinking here would be to send out the big guns in order to recharge their cohesion and inject major momentum into Ireland’s World Cup campaign with a dominant win before rotating key personnel out for the clash with Tonga. The other possibility is that Ireland use their wider squad against Romania, along with the likes of Sexton who need minutes, and then unleash their strongest selection against Tonga, who should be better than the Romanians. Ireland learned a harsh lesson when underestimating Japan back in 2019 and the Tongans have potential to cause an upset even if their form isn’t superb.
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