WHEN THE STRENGTHS of the Irish pack are analysed, the back row is usually the first area identified – and it’s not hard to see why. There is so much depth across six, seven and eight that Tommy O’Donnell went from making a very impressive cameo against England to dropping out of the matchday squad entirely the following week.
But while the back row gets most of the plaudits, the front and second rows have also developed similar levels of depth.
Cian Healy, Rory Best and Mike Ross made up Ireland’s starting front row in the Six Nations finale and each one had a very strong replacement waiting to come in for them.
And with the return of Iain Henderson and Dan Tuohy from injury, and the recent strong form of Mike McCarthy, Joe Schmidt will also have some tough decisions to make when selecting his World Cup second rows.
McCarthy, in particular, has shone recently, and has probably been even more consistent than Devin Toner over the last six weeks. His European knockout performances were especially noteworthy, with the second row showing real desire to fly out of the line and level opposition forwards.
McCarthy modestly downplayed his recent displays, merely focusing on keeping his work ethic high.
“I’m not sure if I’m playing any better than I was,” McCarthy said in relation to how he is going now versus earlier in the year.
“I’m just going out to try and work as hard as I can. I just keep working hard and I’m enjoying my rugby.”
Leinster’s Pro12 finale away to Edinburgh on Saturday will be McCarthy’s last chance to make an impression on Joe Schmidt before Ireland’s World Cup warm-up matches, whereas in years past the team would have had the Pro12 semi-finals and final to look forward to.
McCarthy knows that with his World Cup rivals playing similarly well at the moment, he has to maintain a high level of consistency.
“We would obviously rather be in the playoffs and in that shop window but we’ve got Edinburgh to play and hopefully I just keep playing as well as I can and keep myself in the shop window,” McCarthy said.
“Other locks in other provinces are playing well too and it keeps us in a good position.
“You keep an eye on your opposition to see how they are doing. I can see that all the locks in all the provinces are playing well at the moment,” he continued.
