Donal Lenihan: Height and experience to swing it for Ireland

Looking ahead to tomorrow's mouth-watering Six Nations contest in Dublin, one thing that really sticks out is the depth of options available to interim head coach Simon Easterby.

We have the most experienced squad in the Six Nations, averaging 42 caps a man.

When you look at someone like Robbie Henshaw starting on the bench, that shows the quality of the strength-in-depth.

The Ireland bench has 509 caps. To put that in context, the entire Welsh team that starts tonight against France has 482 caps.

Much has been made of the battle for the 10 jersey, with Sam Prendergast getting the nod over Jack Crowley.

Prendergast will be making his first Six Nations appearance, never mind start. He did brilliantly when he was introduced in the November series and has played really well for Leinster in a dominant team.

His Munster rival had an indifferent start to the season, but he showed his true colours in European action against Saracens and Northampton.

I’m sure it was a very close call between the two in the end, but the capacity to spring Crowley off the bench, it is not a bad place to be in.

The selection of Ryan Baird in the backrow, with former captain Peter O’Mahony failing to make the matchday squad, is a nod to the future.

I think Ireland would have gone with a backrow of Baird, Josh van der Flier and captain Caelan Doris even if England hadn’t named their team early in the week with the Curry twins, Tom and Ben, in the backrow.

There’s a fair chance that if England win tomorrow, one of them will be man of the match.

They are about 6’ 1" and Number 8 Ben Earl is 6’ 2" so Ireland have a massive height advantage in the backrow. Baird at 6’ 6" is a massively athletic lineout performer and with Caelan Doris in there, it gives Ireland an