Ireland's squad depth their greatest asset as they bid to retain their crown

For the first time, all four Irish teams have reached the knockout stages of European competitions, giving a perfect indicator of how things stand at the beginning of the 2019 Six Nations.

Irish rugby has never been in a stronger state and strength in depth is by far their best asset.

With a World Cup to come this year, Joe Schmidt will be looking to use the Six Nations to almost finalise his World Cup squad and give some valuable game time to squad members.

Of the provinces, Ulster have perhaps been the surprise package this season having recovered spectacularly from extreme disappointment last season to find themselves in the knockout stages of the Champions Cup.

They’ve been rewarded with six players making the Six Nations squad. The prolific Jacob Stockdale, their star man on the wing, made his Irish debut in the summer of 2017 but last year’s Six Nations performance nailed his place on Schmidt’s teamsheet.

He scored seven tries in last season’s competition and hasn’t stopped since, scoring spectacularly against New Zealand in the autumn, and he has scored six tries in the pool stage of the Champions Cup, propelling Ulster to the quarter-finals.

Connacht’s stock is rising too and they have been rewarded with three uncapped players in Caolin Blade, Jack Carty and Tom Farrell joining Bundee Aki and Ultan Dillane in the squad.

Farrell forced his way into contention with a powerful performance in their early-January loss to Munster but the Christmas period showed the potential this Connacht team have.

They were unlucky to be caught at the death by Leinster at the RDS before returning home to defeat Ulster.

While Leinster are getting back to the heights of last year’s double-winning season, Munster have cemented themselves as serious contenders for this year’s Champions Cup.

Joey Carbery’s move to Munster has brought new life to a province crying out for a top-quality out-half and his link-up play with Conor Murray has been exciting to watch.

Carbery has become a genuine challenger to Johnny Sexton for the number ten shirt and while it’s unlikely he will take World Player of the Year Sexton’s place just yet, having a player of that calibre to back up Sexton is a great problem for Joe Schmidt, especially when Carbery can also cover full-back with ease.

Carbery and Murray are among 11 players from Munster to make the squad with Tadgh Beirne perhaps the most interesting of those.

Beirne moved from Scarlets this season to stake his credentials for the World Cup squad and he could hardly have been more impressive, picking up two Champions Cup man-of-the-match awards during the pool stage and also leads the competition in turnovers with 13 in Munster’s six games.

The juggernaut that is Leinster Rugby continues to roll on and they lost just once on their way to topping pool one – even more impressive considering they were without the services of Sexton for the final two rounds. Unsurprisingly, they dominate with 16 players making the squad.

James Ryan was one of the standout players of last year’s Six Nations win, and the 22-year-old has surely already sealed his place in this Ireland team after just 13 appearances.

Ireland are in pole position to claim back-to-back titles but the World Cup will be the defining moment of this squad’s legacy.

Ireland have consistently performed to a high level in Six Nations but that will matter little if they suffer another early World Cup exit this year. Schmidt is likely to prepare his side with that in mind and experiment where possible.

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