It was a pretty weird Six Nations for Sean Cronin. The Ireland hooker yo-yo-ed in and out of the matchday squad. He had a very positive impact deputising for Rory Best against Italy but was out of the team for the Scotland game. In the same way that Joe Schmidt can't seem to make up his mind on Tommy O'Donnell, the Ireland coach still seems pretty unsure who his second best hooker is.
[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/254858312" params="auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%" height="450" iframe="true" /]
Of course, it isn't just Schmidt who seems a bit unsure about Cronin. We were particularly startled to see one stat from ESPN's statdump on the 2016 Six Nations: that Cronin, despite winning his 50th Ireland cap against Italy, has never actually started a Six Nations game for Ireland.
As ESPN notes, Cronin is now the most used substitute in Six Nations history, which is quite an achievement, as well as a testament to both Rory Best's longevity. He earned 50 caps one match before Keith Earls, though the two men have experienced vastly different Ireland careers.
