Ahead of the Ireland vs England fixture this weekend, who makes our combined XV of the two teams?
15. Rob Kearney (Ireland)
Had Mike Brown been fit, he may well have edged this one. As it is, Kearney strolls in, on the back of not having done a great deal so far this championship. He’s been solid as ever, and his left boot remains a sizeable weapon in Ireland’s considerable tactical kicking armoury.
14. Tommy Bowe (Ireland)
Bowe’s kick chasing prowess has been of greatest use to Ireland recently, as their reticence to play much attacking rugby has dulled his attacking spark. He’s still one of the best finishers around when given the chance, however.
13. Jonathan Joseph (England)
An absolute no-brainer. Joseph has been the revelation of the Championship so far, the three tries he has scored all involving superb individual finishes. He takes this spot comfortably ahead of Jared Payne, undoubtedly a top class player but one who still doesn’t look comfortable in the Irish 13 shirt.
12. Robbie Henshaw (Ireland)
Luther Burrell has been somewhat overshadowed by his centre colleague so far, and while Henshaw has done very little with ball in hand, his defensive excellence has seen nothing get through the centre channels in either of Ireland’s games.
11. Anthony Watson (England)
Watson has insatiably fast feet that see him beat the first man more often than not, and with Simon Zebo out of sorts and not seeing much ball on the Irish flank, this was an easy choice.
10. Johnny Sexton (Ireland)
Sexton is comfortably the most vital player to the Joe Schmidt gameplan, his tactical kicking having been instrumental in their nine game winning run over the past year. George Ford has become the bona fide first choice for England, but has yet to prove himself against the best in the way Sexton has.
9. Conor Murray (Ireland)
Ben Youngs seems to be finding some of his best form again, but for sheer tactical brilliance Murray takes the scrum-half berth in this team. His partnership with Sexton has blossomed into one of the best in the world, despite the two only coming together in international periods.
1. Joe Marler (England)
Cian Healy – on his day one of the best in the world – will likely start this weekend but has hardly any game time under his belt. Marler, though, is rapidly elevating himself into the world class category. In both games so far his power in both the tackle and the scrum has been simply immense.
2. Rory Best (Ireland)
Best sneaks in ahead of Hartley thanks to his much improved lienout throwing this championship. Ireland’s set-piece has been running at an average of nearly 90%, and when you add that to the value he brings at the breakdown, you can’t leave him out.
3. Dan Cole (England)
Mike Ross has held up his side of the scrum much better than most expected, but Cole has been part of the best front row of the Championship so far. A strong scrummager, with the potential to be a nuisance in the loose. England must just hope they can keep him fit.
4. Dave Attwood (England)
Attwood has assumed the mantle of the experienced lock so well that it’s easy to forget that this time last year he wasn’t a starter. Has added a huge amount of mobility to his considerable power.
5. Paul O’Connell (Ireland)
It’s tough to find new things to say about O’Connell, such is his consistent excellency in an Ireland shirt. A talisman in every sense, his lineout work is superb and his work rate around the paddock puts many a younger man to shame.
6. James Haskell (England)
Haskell is in the form of his life right now, so much so that no-one really batted an eyelid when former Lancaster favourite Tom Wood was sent back to his club earlier this week. His carrying has been powerful, and on the opposite side of the fence O’Mahony has failed to hit the heights of last year.
7. Chris Robshaw (England)
Sean O’Brien is only one game back from injury and is as a result a long way from the consistency Robshaw has shown for the past couple of years. He has started this Six Nations looking like the leader England need him to be, and his tackle count is the highest in the championship.
8. Billy Vunipola (England)
With Heaslip injured this one was a no-brainer. On current form, Vunipola probably would have made it anyway – his work ethic over the duration of 80 minutes in both games so far has been immense, usually finishing as second top tackler to Robshaw on top of his usual powerful ball carries.
Final count: Ireland 7, England 8
N.B. this is a composite team of the two (predicted) starting line-ups, any injured/non-selected players weren’t considered.
By Jamie Hosie
Follow Jamie on Twitter: @jhosie43
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
As you know by now, we are hilarious, and you should be following us on Facebook and Twitter. 
Kearney would walk in for me even if Brown was fit – really rate him.
I’d also have Hartley in over Best, but then I’d also lean towards O’Mahoney even though Haskell has been brilliant.
So many tight calls shows how tight this game should be.
I had Hartley and O’Mahony written in, but at the last moment switched them both out! Really are so many tight calls – could make arguments for 12, 9, 7 and 4 to all be reversed too, I’d say. Going to be a hell of a game.
Definitely agree there could be a fair few! I’m sure some would want to see Healy in there too!
This game has the potential to be a cracker – just hope it lives up to it. Can’t argue with any of the selections, so many tight calls to make.
It’s going to be a dingong! Looking forward to Healy coming on to play pat-a-cak pat-a-cake with Cole.
DDD
Ah yes. Fond memories of 2012
Sorry for going off-post, but just reading the reasons for Sexton over Ford has made me realise how valuable Goode could be if he starts on Sunday. Goode’s ability to step up to first receiver could be invaluable for Ford, and with two other FB’s in Nowell and Watson it means England shouldn’t lose out in defence.
I don’t know how you can say “O’Mahony has failed to hit the heights of last year”, when even though Sexton was awarded motm, he was clearly Ireland’s best player last week, and had a good game against Italy the previous week.
Bit one eyed about Billy V there Jamie. He’s been good for 40-50 minutes in both games. Still needs to work on fitness and application. If fit Heaslip would have made this composite team purely by dint of the fact that you get 80 minutes from him in every game.
This is going to be a humdinger of a contest. Can’t wait!
How can his fitness and application be a concern when his tackle and ruck counts are so high?
I am actually not sure at all about this irish team and the whole schmidt era, There is a real air of another ‘eddie o ‘sullivan era’ beginging to develop around this group and that worries me a lot. Players speak about how intense and thorough the training sessions are and how schmidt demands perfection all time in training sessions which on the surface appears to be great but it can actually lead to a siege mentality and a sudden loss of confidence when things go wrong on matchday. It also leads to a lack of opportunity for fringe players as the coach usually won’t trust them to deliver, i.e darren cave who is the top try scorer in the country right now but no where near the squad at present. Exactly how o ‘sullivan treated several players during his tenure. Succesfull irish teams over the years have scored loads of tries and played positive rugby i.e. 3 championship wins in the eighties, 2009 grandslam when we scored 14 tries and 2011 and 2012 hein cup finals leinster scored 12 tries in total.
I just fear that one bad performance could bring the wheels off the over-hyped schmidt bandwagon and end up like the disaster of the dying days of eddie o sullivan era i.e. lucky to beat georgia and namibia in w c. Anyway fingers crossed for sunday but i am not brimming with confidence that we can beat england just worried that we have no go -to game if england meet us head on and we may not score tries to easy . Time will tell if i am right or wrong.