Being the 6 Nations Champions two years running, and having a (technically) better winning percentage than the All Blacks, you might assume that a place in the Irish starting XV is pretty much guaranteed. This could not be further from the truth, just ask Simon Zebo. Ireland are totally spoiled for wingers at the moment, but one of the most pressing cases for inclusion comes Ireland’s Northern Province, Ulster. Craig Gilroy has been in flying form, and there are many reasons for Joe Schmidt to have him on speed dial.
Ireland boast talent in spades on the wings. Tommy Bowe, Simon Zebo, and Luke Fitzgerald, are the favorites, and all are well respected finishers all over the world. All are British and Irish Lions, and two of the three have been test starters for the Lions. Dave Kearney, Keith Earls, Andrew Trimble, Fergus McFadden, Andrew Conway, Darragh Leader, and indeed, Gilroy saw no time during the 6 Nations despite remarkable form in the past and present (although some were unavailable due to injury). Gilroy in particular was in flying form for his province during the 6 Nations, and continues to impress with tries like this.
In addition to leading the Pro12 in tries scored Gilroy has already played and scored for Ireland. Whilst he can’t boast the international pedigree of Luke Fitzgerald or Keith Earls, everyone is new at some point. Irelands fairly static play for four of the 5 games in the 6 Nations has fans screaming for a bit of life and excitement, and an x-factor player like Gilroy could provide just that. As to the argument that he has never played in a international of any significance, well Gilroy scored against Argentina in 2012, and scored against Scotland in the 2013 6 Nations. Also, its worth mentioning that Gilroy has also played in a Heineken Cup Final, showing that he has what it takes to compete at the highest level. With the World cup warm up matches and the early pool games giving Joe Schmidt some time and space to experiment with, I wouldn’t be surprised if Gilroy was given another shot in the green shirt.
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