Injuries to Jimmy O'Brien and Mack Hansen has created a haze of uncertainty over Ireland's back three pecking order, ahead of the Six Nations squad announcement tomorrow.
One man who knows the back three as well as most is Ireland's most decorated player ever, Rob Kearney, who gave his take on who he thinks Andy Farrell will select.
Rob Kearney Discusses Simon Zebo Ireland Squad Potential
His former teammate, 33-year-old Simon Zebo, has been rejuvenated over the last few months with a string of superb performances for Munster.
However, despite the calls to get him back in a green jersey for the first time since 2017, Kearney believes Farrell will have other priorities when picking his squad.
"I think outlandish is probably a little bit of a strong word, but I think there would be a fair bit of surprise if he was announced in the squad," Kearney said.
There's no doubting he's played well for Munster over the last couple of months.
Back to my initial point when you're very much clearly trying to build a squad now for four years time, and that's what Andy is going to want to do.
I think for coaches who who have achieved a considerable amount in their tenure like he has, he's not under the same kind of pressure to pull really big results out of the out of the bag.
So I do think that he has a lot of credit in the bank that people will now want to see him start developing other players and he'll want to start developing other players too.
And it's for that reason I'd be very surprised if we saw Simon back in a green jersey again at the Six Nations.
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25 January 2022; Rob Kearney in attendance during the Virgin Media Television Guinness 6 Nations Analyst Announcement at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
The most speculated aspect of the squad has been that of the captaincy, which will be passed on to a new face after the retirement of Johnny Sexton.
Kearney has certain criteria for who he feels should be named, such as the need for them to be first choice and to be playing at the next World Cup.
This rules out the likes of Peter O'Mahony, but favours dark horse Caelan Doris, who is still just 25-years-old and has cemented him place as Ireland's first choice number eight.
"In terms of a captain," Kearney continued.
"I think again, you draw a line in the sand and you pick someone that you expect to be your captain at the World Cup in four years time.
"And there's a few candidates come to mind, but I think someone like Caelan Doris has all the attributes now to start building him up and developing in him into an outstanding captain in four years time.
"Sometimes I think it's good to have a captain that's not necessarily a provincial captain too, that they can go back to their club and just focus on their own game and keeping their own form up.
"It's unusual to see a back as a captain internationally. Yeah we see it in provincial rugby sometimes, but I think the general consensus amongst rugby communities is that your captain is much more suited to the pack.
"If they play 80 minutes, again that's another important concept to have to take into your head as a coach.
"But it's going to be a new job for someone and with that will come new pressure.
"So you want to try and pick somebody who has demonstrated over time, their ability to deal with pressure and that their form is in such a strong place that they're guaranteed selection."
Virgin Media Television’s Six Nations coverage starts on Friday 2nd February with France v Ireland live on Virgin Media One and Virgin Media Player. VMTV will also air Ireland’s home tie with Italy on Sunday 11th February, as well as their final assignment at home to Scotland on Saturday 16th March.
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