Joe McCarthy

Joe McCarthy is the most physically imposing forward Ireland have produced in years, and he arrived in Test rugby with the attitude already fully formed.

He broke through in the 2024 Six Nations and immediately did the thing young locks are usually told to wait for: he made himself the physical reference point of the pack. The carrying is direct and heavy, the clean-out is deliberately unpleasant, and he defends in the front line rather than tidying up behind it.

The technical side is still developing. His lineout work has improved sharply but is not yet at the level of the second rows he is competing with, and the discipline that comes with playing on the edge is a work in progress.

That is the honest assessment, and it is also why he is interesting. Ireland’s second row has been an area of accumulated experience rather than raw force for most of the last decade.

If the detail catches up with the physicality, Ireland have a lock who solves a problem they have had for years.