WITH THE NOVEMBER Tests now in the rearview mirror, there are only a handful of games remaining before Ireland open their World Cup campaign against Scotland in Yokohama on 22 September 2019.

Joe Schmidt used the recent international window to inspect the depth of his wider squad and with the competition as intense as ever in the national team, the Ireland head coach will face a number of tough selection calls in the coming months.

Schmidt will have to whittle his options down to a 31-man panel for the tournament in Japan, and on this week’s Heineken Rugby Weekly podcast, Murray Kinsella and Andy Dunne were set the task of picking a very early squad.

Have a listen from 36.30 below and let us know what you think of our selection, as well as who you’d have in the squad.

Andy Dunne and Murray Kinsella’s World Cup squad:

Props:

Tadhg Furlong

Andrew Porter

Cian Healy

Jack McGrath

John Ryan

Hookers:

Rory Best [captain]

Sean Cronin

Niall Scannell

Second rows:

Iain Henderson

James Ryan

Devin Toner

Tadhg Beirne

Back rows:

Peter O’Mahony

Sean O’Brien

Dan Leavy

CJ Stander

Jordi Murphy

Scrum-halves:

Conor Murray

Luke McGrath

John Cooney

Out-halves:

Johnny Sexton

Joey Carbery

Ross Byrne

Centres:

Garry Ringrose

Bundee Aki

Robbie Henshaw

Back three:

Rob Kearney

Jacob Stockdale

Keith Earls

Jordan Larmour

Will Addison.

Source: Heineken Rugby Weekly on The42/SoundCloud

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