Ireland squad: Winners and losers as ‘hardly surprising’ team fails to ‘excite’ while Ulster star’s exclusion is met with ‘bemusement’

Our winners and losers from Simon Easterby's selections.
Following the announcement of Simon Easterby’s Ireland squad for the upcoming Six Nations, we pick out our winners and losers.
Ireland head into the tournament looking to make it a hat-trick of titles but this time with a new head coach as Andy Farrell takes the 2025 Six Nations off to focus on British and Irish Lions matters.
Easterby has slotted into his void with his first task being the selection of his squad which includes just one uncapped player.
The 49-year-old has split his 36-man squad into 21 forwards and 15 backs while also naming four ‘development players’ for the tournament.
Without further ado, here are our winners and losers.
Winners
Caelan Doris
There is a real feeling of ‘more of the same’ with this Ireland squad as Easterby is clearly reluctant to make sweeping changes and why would he? While Ireland had few blips in 2024, they still won the Six Nations, winning four of their five matches, and drew a series with South Africa and later only lost to New Zealand in the autumn.
Not only does the squad feel largely settled but now the captaincy does too with Caelan Doris leading the side in their Six Nations defence. While there was a bit of a buzz around the captaincy last year, this year there was not. Doris is one of the most consistent high performers in Ireland colours and is really growing into the leadership role.
It was a straightforward choice at the end of the day and a real mark to how good Doris has been in the role despite being apprehensive about taking on the captaincy in 2024.
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Development players
These are becoming a staple of Ireland squad announcements whether it’s under the tag of ‘training panellists’ or ‘development players’ but effectively, it’s a group of youngsters that the coaches feel could make the step up to the senior squad.
Gus McCarthy and Thomas Clarkson benefitted hugely from this, making their debuts in November last year despite not being included in the main squad. Sam Prendergast and Cormac Izuchukwu also came through this pathway.
This time it is a huge opportunity for Hugh Cooney, Cathal Forde, James McNabney and Ben Murphy. It’s unlikely that the quartet will get their debuts during the Six Nations but the same would have been said for McCarthy and Clarkson in November.
Jack Boyle
With Tom O’Toole missing the start of the Six Nations through suspension, Jack Boyle gets his chance in the main squad after operating as a training panellist in November.
The young loosehead prop has featured just five times for Leinster this season but makes the leap into the senior squad and could very well make his Test debut during the competition.
Regulars continue to be backed
New coach, same squad. Well almost. Fans that were expecting Easterby to stamp his own mark on the team will be left sorely disappointed because, on the whole, this is pretty much the same squad that did duty in November.
It’s hardly surprising though as Ireland’s performances in 2024 were hardly shambolic. Yes, they were undone by the All Blacks but they still scrapped victories of Argentina and Australia. The new attacking systems need to be bedded in but Ireland were still able to mix it with the best teams in the world.
Sure, rewarding form or giving those deserving a shot was an option this Six Nations but how often does the opportunity to win three tournaments in a row come about? That was surely part of the rationale when the team was selected and can you really blame Easterby for that? He is performing a caretaker role this year, it’s not as if he is the top dog leading the pack into the next World Cup.
One can still question how much influence Farrell still had on squad selection but it’s also worth remembering that only one member of the coaching ticket is absent and while it is the gaffer, the rest of the staff usually have their own say on selection in their area of expertise.
Ageing stars
While Steve Borthwick dropped ageing prop Dan Cole to usher in the new generation of props, Easterby has not done the same with Cian Healy remaining in the Test squad and the veteran is joined by fellow experienced heads.
Healy is unlikely to make the next Rugby World Cup and the same could be said of Peter O’Mahony, Iain Henderson and Conor Murray too, but still, they remain in the squad.
The central contract system may very well have something to do with this but at some stage, the coaching team is going to have to make the call.
Dan Sheehan
It might not have been the most exciting squad announcement but the return of Dan Sheehan will have been music to Irish fans’ ears.
The hooker scored a stunning five tries in five appearances for Ireland during the Championship last year before his involvements in green were cut cruelly short in South Africa. While the side’s depth at hooker has seemingly got even deeper with McCarthy shining in November, Sheehan is a world-class operator a real boost for Ireland.
Easterby is not short on options with solid performers Rónan Kelleher and Rob Herring in his ranks too but if fully fit, Sheehan is the pick of the lot.
Losers
Jude Postlethwaite
The inclusion of Hugh Cooney as a development player has been met with bemusement considering the performances of Jude Postlethwaite in Ulster colours.
The 22-year-old has stepped up to the plate for Ulster who have been without Stuart McCloskey and has produced several standout performances. Meanwhile, Cooney has played just two for Leinster.
Postlethwaite looks to have such a high ceiling and as mentioned earlier, the development players are unlikely to play anyway but on balance, the Ulsterman surely deserved a look in.
Thomas Ahern
Ireland certainly have an embarrassment of riches in the back-row as Thomas Ahern is overlooked once again. Sure he has had his fair share of injury setbacks but he has been really impressive since his return to full fitness.
Ahern was involved with the squad as part of the development players last year but it looks as if McNabney has now moved ahead of him in the pecking order after his fine form.
Oli Jager
After missing the Autumn Nations Series, Oli Jager would have hoped to be back in the running for an Ireland jersey during the Six Nations, but it is not to be.
The tighthead has slipped down the pecking order with Easterby favouring the excellent Tadgh Furlong and his understudies Finlay Bealham and Thomas Clarkson, the latter debuting in November last year.
Nick Timoney
Another player who is probably thinking to himself ‘What more can I do?’
Nick Timoney is consistently one of Ulster’s best players around the park but cannot get a look into the Ireland squad. Even when he does, a shot at the matchday 23 looks unlikely. Josh van der Flier has dominated the number seven jersey with Doris another option in the role while Cian Prendergast is seemingly just ahead of the Ulster forward in the pecking order.
Irish Rugby is certainly fortunate that the tax breaks for athletes that remain in Ireland are so beneficial as Timoney could demand a rather large fee in France and attract interest before re-signing with Ulster.
Nathan Doak
With Craig Casey missing the Six Nations, there was a place for a scrum-half to snipe into the team and based on recent form one would have thought that Nathan Doak could have earned a call.
The Ulster number nine has been in red hot form and is the province’s first choice scrum-half at the moment but Easterby and his staff have instead turned to Caolin Blade and Murray to provide back-up to Jamison Gibson-Park.
Murray and Blade were excellent in South Africa last year and one can understand the reasoning behind their selections but with scope to include a younger back, it really does feel like a missed opportunity.
Tom O’Toole
A six-week suspension at the start of the year meant that the prop was always going to miss the beginning of the Six Nations.
It’s a real blow for Tom O’Toole who suffered an injury at key time in November too. He has stiff competition for the tighthead prop roles behind Furlong and this is just another setback for him.