“He’s a big horse of a man,” declares Joe McCarthy of a young player that may soon be lining out with him in the green of Ireland. James McNabney is holding court with a dozen reporters not far away, at Ireland’s High Performance Centre in Dublin. The Ulster back-row played for Ireland Under-20s with McCarthy’s younger brother Paddy, and has already made an impression. Ireland head coach Andy Farrell describes him as “some specimen”.

“He’s a great lad,” McCarthy adds. “He’s very funny and he’s definitely got that kind of farmer strength. I think he is a farmer. He’s definitely got that farmer strength in him.” In Ireland, that ranks highly in the list of sporting compliments. Interestingly, it was McCarthy that was described as having “farmer strength” by his old coach at Trinity Rugby, when he was first breaking into the senior Irish set-up.

McNabney was all set to make his Ireland debut in the summer of 2025. That was scuppered by an ACL injury that also scratched his entire 2025-26 campaign. As soon as Farrell could get the 23-year-old back in, he did. “James had a real rough year last year, he was out with his ACL, and he just comes back straight away… it shows the character of a player,” McCarthy states. “He has these big, powerful arms. I know my brother Paddy loved playing with him anyway, at 20s. He was a real asset for them. I’ve been in camp with him a couple of times. He’s an impressive player.”

McNabney and Jamie Benson, his versatile Ulster team-mate, are the only new additions to Ireland’s squad for the northern swing of the 2026 Nations Championship. Ireland are definitely without the services of Jack Crowley, Caelan Doris, Jack Conan, Calvin Nash, Jack Boyle and Paddy McCarthy for the upcoming games. Garry Ringrose is likely to miss out too, after suffering a hamstring injury, while Tadhg Furlong is in danger of missing some, if not all, games after being cited for a questionable clear-out against Munster.

Ahead of any Furlong hearing, Leinster scrum coach Robin McBryde and Ireland assistant coach Johnny Sexton are talking up the veteran prop’s character. Sexton says, “I know Tadhg as a person, first and foremost, and I don’t think that’s something he would have done. So I just have to back him in that regard, but we’ll see what happens with the disciplinary hearing.”

Sexton copped a three-game ban, back in 2023, for being “confrontational and aggressive” towards Champions Cup final referee Jaco Peyper. Asked about what steps would be involved in that Furlong hearing, Sexton replied: “I’m not really sure, in terms of the process. I wasn’t in too many disciplinary hearings myself, so I don’t really know.” That line, delivered with as straight a face as possible, elicits some barely supressed chuckles from the press pack. Mirth aside, it must be noted the former Ireland captain accumulated only five yellow cards in his 17-year professional career.

To judge someone properly, you need to see them playing games in a team that they are used to… Ciarán [Frawley]’s done done well so far. It puts him right in the frame now to play for Ireland.

Sexton is hopeful Sam Prendergast, who is nursing a dinged-up wrist, will be cleared to play against Argentina next week. Still, he has been impressed with Benson and is pleased with Ciarán Frawley’s positive start to life at Connacht.

“Well, even selfishly, from an Irish point of view, I thought (his move from Leinster) was a great thing for us,” Sexton reflects. “Obviously for Leinster, probably not so much… when you turn into a coach, you get selfish and having another option is great. Let’s say Ciarán didn’t go to Connacht this year and we found ourselves in this scenario (with Crowley and Harry Byrne injured), he may have been playing 15 or 12. To judge someone properly, you need to see them playing games and playing in a team that they are used to. That’s certainly what Ciarán has done, and he’s done well so far. It puts him right in the frame now to play for Ireland.”

Ireland wrapped up their 2025-26 campaign with a 40-21 defeat by New Zealand, at Eden Park. This week, when the bulk of the main squad assembled, Farrell and his backroom team had them watch back elements from that chastening loss. If there was any, remote danger of players forgetting the enormity of the 12 months ahead, that replay was a sore reminder. While there have been broader chats around defence and attack, the forwards have been in the lab with John Fogarty and Paul O’Connell to work on honing set-pieces.

“A lot of (the review), I know for the forwards, was the speed of thought and speed of movement being a big thing against New Zealand, and led to us getting punished,” says McCarthy. “Maybe not seeing pictures quick enough, foot speed not being quick enough, and they scored quick tries off the back of it. That was a big thing.

“We also talked about evolving our attack a bit, so we’re working on bits of that to try and show different pictures, and make it more unpredictable. They are the big things, and then obviously as a forward pack, we’re trying to really nail down that set-piece dominance. ‘Fogs’ and Paulie are all over that. I feel very positive about the team. I think our set-piece is going to become a real weapon.”

Supporters of the four provinces may be miffed to see their sides going into this weekend’s games without a host of key players. Farrell and the IRFU have called their shots and the bigger dogs will be watching on as the URC plays out. Tuesday saw players go through their paces with a gym session, before heading to the indoor pitch for drills and set-plays. When the media filed in for late afternoon interviews, Fogarty was overseeing 3 v 3 and 5 v 5 scrummages.

As soon as the final whistle blew in Dublin last November, Irish fans were already talking about the 2026 rematch. The Boks scrummaged Ireland to smithereens and only truly dogged defence kept it from being a blowout.

McCarthy, up for media rotation, was spared that but insists there was no easing-in period for the players. “Johnny Sexton was putting the challenge to us,” says McCarthy. “Can we be ready to play a match on Friday? That’s basically the end of this (first) week, we’ve got to be match-ready for Argentina. That’s how he would like to approach it, as a player, to make sure we’ve got all the detail down, ready to play a Test match on Friday. That way, we can spend next week getting our mindset right, enjoying the time together and making sure you can play with a bit of your instincts. Do your homework now, and then have fun next week.”

Ireland lie fourth in the Northern Hemisphere table, ahead of their three Nations Championship home games. They are only two points off table-toppers France, but may need to win all three of their Aviva Stadium matches to have a chance of going to finals weekend in London with the top prize in sight. Argentina and Fiji, respectively eighth and ninth in the world rankings, are up first and second before a 21 November date with South Africa that has been circled red for a long time. As soon as the final whistle blew in Dublin last November, Irish fans were already talking about the 2026 rematch. The Boks scrummaged Ireland to smithereens and only truly dogged defence kept their loss from being a blowout. There is real bite to the Irish rivalry with the reigning, back-to-back, world champions.

“That’s the stuff the coaches tell you – not to look too far ahead – isn’t it?” McCarthy says. “But yeah, that’s definitely really exciting. Obviously, Argentina and Fiji are the ones we play first but I think South Africa are the benchmark of where you’re at, as a team. All teams around world rugby see how they are when they go up against them. I love that challenge. You want to play against the best, if you want to be the best. I can’t wait. It’s going to be awesome. Scrums and mauls, even with the new laws and everything, are going to be even more of a challenge. That will be something we need to build towards well, the next few weeks, and rip into that. That will be a class game.”

It is going to be a big challenge but I like the maul rules, so far. They haven’t stung me yet! I’m enjoying it.

McCarthy, who proclaimed ‘I love mauling’ earlier this year, has been keenly watching how teams are using mauls as real attacking weapons, and not just from inside the 22. His eyebrows raise when I mention South Africa’s zig-zagging maul, in the third Test of the Greatest Rivalry series against New Zealand, before Malcolm Marx sheared off for a try. “Yeah exactly,” he says. “I think we’ll have to get creative with how we defend mauls. Obviously, there’s a bit of just brute force that goes into it as well, so I’m looking forward to that.

“It’s going to be a battle more than ever. We had [referee] Andy Brace in again. He was our referee (for Leinster v Munster) at the weekend but he was in at training today. He was making sure to get us up [to speed] around the maul laws. He was taking us out in training (for mauls). It is going to be a big challenge but I like the maul rules, so far. They haven’t stung me yet! I’m enjoying it.”

We had Andy Brace in again. He was our referee (for Leinster vs. Munster) at the weekend but he was in at training today. He was making sure to get us up and around the maul laws.”

The only thing McCarthy was not enjoying was the grief coming his way from Munster scrum-half Craig Casey. “I tried to run into Craig at the weekend and he chopped me,” McCarthy concedes. “He was like a speed bump and he got me down, so he slagged me about it. Thankfully, we won.”