Here Are The 27-Men Joe Schmidt Has Handed Debuts To Since He Took Over

Joe Schmidt isn’t just building a team with Ireland.

The Kiwi has been in charge almost three years in in that time has brought Ireland two six nations titles, beaten South Africa for the first time in their backyard and ended an 111 year wait to defeat the All Blacks.

Over the years Ireland has always had a strong starting XV but always seemed to struggle when it came down to delving deeper within the squad. That was evident last year, albeit under ridiculous circumstances, against Argentina.

Ireland suffered one of their worst injury crisis’ in history in the build up to the Rugby World Cup quarter final and they suffered. Under Schmidt however the plan has always been to build a squad, with strength in depth. The top nations who have found success over the years have always had this. It has taken time but it now looks as if the plan is finally coming together and Ireland will be a force to be reckoned with at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, regardless of injuries.

For the first time in history, Ireland now has multiple players in every position that are capable of winning matches. There’s even depth in the front-row, something that has alluded Ireland for many years.

A lot of this is down to Schmidt and his willingness to hand players debuts and see what they’re made of in an international jersey. The Ireland boss has handed no fewer than 27 men their debuts over the last three years and that is set to increase this weekend with the likes of Garry Ringrose expected to play their first game in green.

Here’s the full list.

Jack McGrath (Samoa, November 2013)
Dave Kearney (Samoa, November 2013)

Martin Moore (Scotland, February 2014)

Jordi Murphy (England, February 2014)

Rodney Ah You (Argentina, June 2014)
James Cronin (Argentina, June 2014)
Robbie Diack (Argentina, June 2014)
Kieran Marmion (Argentina, June 2014)
Noel Reid (Argentina, June 2014)
Rob Herring (Argentina, June 2014)

Jared Payne (South Africa, November 2014)

Dave Foley (Georgia, November 2014)
Dominic Ryan (Georgia, November 2014)
Robin Copeland (Georgia, November 2014)

Jack Conan (Scotland, August 2015)
Nathan White (Scotland, August 2015)

Tadhg Furlong (Wales, August 2015)

CJ Stander (Wales, February 2016)

Stuart McCloskey (England, February 2016)
Josh van der Flier (England, February 2016)
Ultan Dillane (England, February 2016)

Finlay Bealham (Italy, March 2016)

Quinn Roux (South Africa, June 2016)
Sean Reidy (South Africa, June 2016)
Matt Healy (South Africa, June 2016)
Tiernan O’Halloran (South Africa, June 2016)

Joey Carbery (New Zealand, November 2016)

Exciting times ahead no doubt for Ireland. The focus now switches to Canada this weekend and an opportunity for the new blood to shine. The following week Ireland welcome the All Blacks, no doubt out for revenge.