The battle to inherit Brian O’Driscoll’s mythical No.13 Ireland jersey looks set to be a two-horse race between Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne.
O’Driscoll, whose last act in a green jersey was to help them to the 2014 RBS 6 Nations title, has retired from rugby meaning head coach Joe Schmidt has a hole to fill this autumn.
Connacht’s Henshaw appears the front-runner after the province’s impressive start to the season but New Zealand-born Payne, who qualified for Ireland via the three-year residency rule, has impressed for Ulster this season and was also included in the squad that Schmidt announced this week.
“I think he (Henshaw) has started the season very, very well for Connacht. I think he’s more ready than he was last year,” said Schmidt.
“There’s two players there right now with Robbie and Jared and those two players are likely to get some time there, providing they come through fit this weekend.
“That’s where we’re looking at the moment. On our radar remain Darren Cave and Keith Earls, or adapting somebody else to the position, but the first bite of the cherry is likely to go to those two guys.”
Schmidt’s 37-man squad for the autumn clashes with South Africa, Georgia and Australia has been deprived of some key names through injury.
The likes of Cian Healy, Sean O’Brien and Andrew Trimble are all missing but Schmidt has called on his troops to claim a big scalp on home soil in the coming weeks.
“If you offered me one (win) I’d grab it,” he added. “Without a doubt, we’d love a result.
“It does add confidence. In a funny way we did get confidence out of the performance against New Zealand (last season), we didn’t get the scalp but getting as close as we did… I’d love to get one of those two results. I think it would be fantastic for us as a rugby nation.
“If we get one or t’other, if we don’t get the first one I’ve just put myself under the hammer – I know but what you want and what you get are not necessarily the same thing.
“What I am saying is that we don’t need to get those to keep growing our confidence, but it would certainly help.”
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