Joe Schmidt should again select Robbie Henshaw at fullback for this weekend's game against Scotland at Murrayfield believes Ronan O'Gara.
Henshaw was a surprise choice at 15 for the weekend's defeat against England. Though Henshaw has played rugby there, including regularly during his time with Connacht and on his debut for Ireland six years ago, the 25-year-old looked rusty.
"We didn't see him in his best light, no doubt about it," O'Gara told Virgin Media on Sunday night.
"Has he played enough there? No. Once you've played him, you stick with him.
"It's so ruthless, professional sport, and at that level, he got exposed in his positioning once or twice. If you take him out what message do you send to him? Maybe he features in the centre, which he could easily do."
O'Gara feels there will be calls for Rob Kearney's reinstatement at fullback.
He's been Ireland's best full-back for 10 years. He consistently performs for Ireland. He just needs to get his body right.
I'm not in the camp but it seems to me from the outside looking in that he probably hasn't presented himself fit enough to feature in Joe's thoughts but maybe now, as a reassessment of what happened (against England), he might say 'I want him, I want to base my team with Rob at 15.'
Alan Quinlan, who was also on the panel, felt Tom Curry's first half yellow card for a late tackle on Keith Earls was a harsh punishment.
However, Quinlan thought Maro Itoje should have been punished, perhaps with more than a yellow, for his clash with Earls in the 18th minute.
"Itoje's one is different because there's a knee there Jerome Garces should have looked at that.
"You can clearly see that there's a knee into Keith Earls, he's injured. He's nowhere near the ball and it's a minimum yellow card. It could be more and people might think I'm exaggerating."
England certainly played on the edge at the times v Ireland. 👊
Alan, Shane & ROG look at a couple of the incidents at the Aviva.#VMTVRugby #GuinnessSixNations pic.twitter.com/2sQCDh4I7L— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) February 3, 2019
