The major talking point to come out of Joe Schmidt naming his Ireland squad for the upcoming Six Nations was not the naming of a new captain in Rory Best, but instead the fact that a university student was omitted from the squad is what has dominated headlines, and raised eyebrows from the likes of Brian O'Driscoll upon hearing the news.
Congrats @RoryBest2 on captaincy. Well deserved. Good squad. No POC & Hendy = light in the row! Shame no Garry Ringrose.
— Brian O'Driscoll (@BrianODriscoll) January 20, 2016
Granted, "university student" is doing the next great hope of Irish rugby no justice at all, but at just 20 years of age the idea that many people have been upset to see him excluded for the Six Nations (at least initially) is a testament to just how well Garry Ringrose has been performing in the centre for Leinster.
One of those who was unhappy with the decision is George Hook, and he was really unhappy. Hook has gone as far as to claim that leaving Ringrose out of the squad shows that the IRFU have learned nothing from the 2015 World Cup 'debacle' in his column in The Independent:
New Zealand are world leaders in [allowing young players to explode onto the scene], but their southern hemisphere counterparts in Australia and South Africa are beginning to catch on. In Ireland, however, an old-fashioned, hob-nailed approach leaves us stuck in the mud.
In the aftermath of yesterday's Ireland squad announcement, I read and listened to many of the arguments against including Garry Ringrose for the forthcoming Six Nations Championship and each one was as ill-informed as the decision that preceded it.
Hook then continued to call Schmidt's decision 'inexplicable' and suggested that fans of the sport are who will miss out:
This season, despite excelling in the limited opportunities given to him at Leinster, Ringrose has inexplicably been overlooked by Joe Schmidt. In the space of two years, Ringrose has apparently gone backwards in the mind of the Ireland head coach.
Ringrose's omission should be a massive disappointment for fans of the game, though I am not surprised that Schmidt has overlooked Ireland's brightest young talent.
Strong words from Hook, who is not shy when it comes to using strong words in fairness.
Ronan O'Gara suggested during the week that Ringrose should not be in the squad unless he is going to start, and that he would have reservations about putting someone with his experience into a test environment, so it's clear that this is a very divisive issue in Irish rugby.
