Beirne leader - Tadhg primed to be skipper

WEEKEND BREAKDOWN

ANDY Farrell would have had mixed feelings by the time he retired to bed on Saturday night.

The Ireland head coach will confirm a Six Nations squad of around 37 players on Wednesday afternoon.

Did anything over the course of a packed Saturday of Champions Cup action move the dial or cause any 11th hour selection headaches? Not really.

An understrength Connacht going down to Lyon did not offer anything new although the performance of Irish-qualified No8 Sean Jansen was interesting.

The youthful Munster contingent of Tom Ahern, John Hodnett and Calvin Nash did their cases for inclusion no harm, but they have been mapped for quite some time.

All the Leinster big guns put on a good show in a procession against a second-string Stade Francais while Ulster failed to fire against a rampant Toulouse. Once again, Dan McFarland’s side looked less than the sum of their parts.

Farrell will be sleeping a bit more soundly safe in the knowledge that his team won’t be dealing with Antoine Dupont at Stade Velodrome on February 2. The mercurial French scrum-half is taking a sabbatical to pursue an Olympic medal with the Sevens side this year. Dupont was unplayable at times in Belfast. Les Bleus will sorely miss their halfback genius ahead of the forthcoming championship.

Farrell is planning without an icon of his own. For the first time in 14 years, Johnny Sexton will not be in the Six Nations selection picture, leaving the Ireland boss with big voids to fill in two key areas: out-half and the captaincy.

Jack Crowley’s tour de force in Toulon was timely on that front. The Munster out-half looks destined to wear the No10 jersey in Marseilles. Who will be fullback is is anyone’s guess with the Byrne brothers and Ciarán Frawley all picking up injuries of late. Sam Prendergast is going to play a big role down the line. Does Farrell bite the bullet and fasttrack him into the national set-up?

Then there’s the captaincy. Peter O’Mahony is a safe short-term bet, but it’s kicking the can down the road. Caelan Doris and James Ryan have been put forward as candidates but perhaps Tadhg Beirne (above) is hiding in plain sight as the next national skipper? The Munster lock ticks most boxes and is virtually undroppable these days. Beirne consistently comes up with big plays and commands respect within the group. It would be no surprise to see him get the armband, sooner rather than later.