English newspaper names only three Irish players in 31-man Fantasy World Cup squad

No room for some extremely talented Irishmen.

For all the drum-banging scandal that such subjective selections usually bring, we secretly love a good squad selection debate. Ireland's 31-man squad for the World Cup appears to be said and done. Only a couple of backline positions - wingers and fullback - appear to be up for argument. The real selection drama, today, comes from The Daily Telegraph's Fantasy World Cup squad. The English newspaper has went heavy with Southern Hemisphere names and selected only eight from the Northern Hemisphere. Ireland have only three inclusions, despite being currently ranked second in the world. The lucky Irish players, Steve James contends, are Paul O'Connell, Johnny Sexton and Conor Murray. No room for the likes of Rob Kearney, Tommy Bowe, Cian Healy, Sean O'Brien or Jamie Heaslip. Here is the newspaper's dream RWC squad:

BACKS: Halfpenny (Wales), Folau (Aus); B Smith (NZ), Savea (NZ), Ashley-Cooper (Aus); Nonu (NZ), Kurindrani (Aus), Toomua (Aus); Sexton (Ire), Carter (NZ); Murray (Ire), A Smith (NZ); Webb (Wales). FORWARDS: Marler (Eng), Ayerza (Arg), Mtawarira (SA); Cole (Eng), Mas (Fra), Franks (NZ); Creevy (Arg), Coles (NZ), du Plessis (SA); Retallick (NZ), S Whitelock (NZ), Etzebeth (SA), O'Connell (Ire); McCaw (NZ), Read (NZ), Kaino (NZ);  Vermeulen (SA), Pocock (Aus).