If there's 4 locks going it'll be Ryan, Toner, Beirne and Henderson if fit, then it becomes a 4 way battle between Roux, Dillane, Treadwell and O'Connor (if Henderson isn't fit), none of whom have done themselves any favours recently, I'd punt for Roux based solely on him playing in the six nations, while Delahunt has been great he's played too few of our games and Scannell has that 3rd place based on what he did last season, Herring and Tracy are arguably more likely to get the nod from Joe also, Bealham has had a better season and for me it'd be between him and Archer, I have yet to see what John Ryan offers on the field. TOH will likely miss out to Larmour and Conway, with the likes of Healy, Adeolokun, Gilroy, Wootton, B Daly and Sweetnam also missing out to them, I reckon if an injury or two occurred in the back row we could see SOB2 or McKeon sneak in, I think they're better than any of the Ulster back row, and JOD still doesn't inspire me, we may even see Copeland get in, but as it stands it'd most likely be Stander, Leavy, O'Mahony, Ruddock, Murphy and Conan. If Henshaw is now injured again and potentially given the summer off, does it bring Tom Farrell into play, or will we see some of the Ulster contingent brought back, my bet would be on Sam Arnold based more of Joe's liking of him than anything he's done on the pitch itself.

For what it's worth (which is very little) this would be my predicted squad
C Healy J McGrath
R Best S Cronin N Scannell
T Furlong A Porter F Bealham
J Ryan I Henderson
D Toner T Beirne
P O'Mahony R Ruddock
D Leavy J Murphy
CJ Stander J Conan
C Murray K Marmion L McGrath
J Sexton J Carbery R Byrne
B Aki R Scannell
R Henshaw G Ringrose
J Stockdale
K Earls J Larmour
R Kearney A Conway

Joe.ie have picked 8 uncapped potential players for the upcoming matches. They suggest 2 Connacht Players. Dennis Buckley and....Tom Farrell. With Mr Henshaw looking well dodgy wouldn't that be sweet......

Betty Swallocks wrote: Delahunt is a possible bolter with Bealham surely ahead of Ryan now on form. .

On form Robin Copeland is not far at all. Won't be probably though because of Conan...

Can't see Dillane touring. Roux and Beirne would surely be well ahead of him.

Edit: but of course Henderson might not go so hopefully Ultan will. What price Thornbury as a bolter?

If Ryan is selected ahead of Bealham it's laughable to be honest.

Delahunt is a possible bolter with Bealham surely ahead of Ryan now on form. Roux might squeeze past Dillane into the fourth second-row spot, and I'm afraid TOH has very little chance of making it.

Dillane probably as 4th choice.
Bealham maybe if there's a 3rd choice TH in the plane and he's back ahead of John Ryan
TOH this time?
And as Ireland squad is short for n°2, Delahunt as an outside surprise!

Also the likelihood is that the tour team to Australia will be named later this week, here's to hoping we have more than Marmion and Aki involved, but in all honesty other than maybe Bealham sneaking in I think it's hard for anyone to get in based on Joe's current pecking order.

Peter Sullivan is worth keeping an eye on from a Connacht POV. Unlikely to get a Leinster offer and is the sort of physical winger we could really use.

Bazzo wrote: We should really be aiming to have more than one or two lads in the squad though, it's been a fairly disappointing year for it. And I've all the respect in the world for young fellas from wherever who come to join the Connacht academy but it would be nice to have some local fellas involved too.

Anybody in the younger brackets with a good chance?

Niall Murray (2nd row) is our best u19, been starting on Irish age grade teams when fit. Dylan Tierney, Colm Reilly, and Cian Huxford all have a good shot, the first two will have a year in the academy under their belt which should help them. Michael Milne from Roscrea is rumoured to be joining our academy this summer, he'd almost certainly make it as well.

We should really be aiming to have more than one or two lads in the squad though, it's been a fairly disappointing year for it. And I've all the respect in the world for young fellas from wherever who come to join the Connacht academy but it would be nice to have some local fellas involved too.

Anybody in the younger brackets with a good chance?

Bazzo wrote: Not a single Connacht player named in the preliminary u20 squad...

Well if rumors are believed, we can keep eye on Conor Dean at out-half (probably be back up 10 to Byrne)
Séan Masterson injured unfortunately

Not a single Connacht player named in the preliminary u20 squad...

Shelflife wrote: When you see them listed like that you can see that they are in deep shit, bar Cooney stepping up to the mark they could easily have been out of the HC equation already.

He's great, 2nd best scrum half in Ireland at the moment in my opinion. They can still put a good starting team but their depth is non-existent. Jordi Murphy should have come to us.

And now Robbie Diack is going back to SA. Someone get the lights.

When you see them listed like that you can see that they are in deep shit, bar Cooney stepping up to the mark they could easily have been out of the HC equation already.