Munster and Ireland legend Keith Wood joined Wednesday Night Rugby to discuss Andy Farrell's Ireland squad and Simon Zebo.
22 matches until the World Cup. That is what Andy Farrell has to look forward to.
Farrell announced a 38-man Ireland squad for the November Internationals on Wednesday. Simon Zebo returns. Leinster duo Dan Sheehan and Ciaran Frawley are included for the first time, while Munster's Thomas Ahearne is a notable development player.
Ireland play four games next month. The USA, Japan, New Zealand and Argentina will all visit Dublin.
The diversity of opponents gives Farrell opportunities to mix and match his squad. Younger players such as Sheehan and Frawley will hope to play against the USA, but who will Zebo play against? This is his first call up since June 2017. He wants to play for Ireland again but playing against the USA likely does nothing for him.
So the question is, should Zebo start for Ireland against Japan, New Zealand or Argentina?
Keith Wood appears to be leaning towards starting Zebo in the biggest games.
"Zebo had to come into it because he has the x-factor," Wood said.
"Yes, he's pushing on and we often want to look for change but he also has a huge level of versatility about him. He has the capacity to play at fullback or on the wing. If we're being honest, fullback has been a slightly awkward position for Ireland for their last period of time.
"We've tried a few people in there and none of them have quite ticked all the boxes."
Hugo Keenan has been Ireland's primary starter at fullback since Rob Kearney retired. Keenan has been consistently impressive and is widely considered one of Ireland's nailed-on starters.
While Wood is a fan of the young Leinster fullback, he's not convinced about Ireland's competition at the position.
"I love Hugo Keenan. I love watching the way he plays, I love the fact that he has been very, very secure but I would have said we tried Larmour and Jacob Stockdale there for a period of time. And we are only ever one injury away. I'm very happy to have Zebo back in the squad to know that we have a different threat.
"He's incredibly good under the high ball. He offers a huge sense of security in the fact if Hugo Keenan is the man in the jersey, if he has an injury we're not going to be grasping at somebody who doesn't play there all the time.
"For me it's a security thing, it gives us a far greater wealth of depth."
With Zebo, Keenan, Joey Carbery and Jordan Larmour in the squad, Ireland have lots of options at fullback.
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