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17th October 2014
02:08pm BST
@JOEdotie Healy, Best, Hayes, Cullen, O'Connell, Quinlan, Wallace, O'Brien, Stringer, ROG, Bowe, D'arcy, BOD, Horgan, Murphy.#IrelandHCUpXV — Craig Telford (@chigmeister) October 16, 2014
Kearney, Horgan, BOD, Darcy, Dowling, ROG, Stringer, Heaslip, Wallace, Quinlan, O'Connell, Cullen, Hayes, Flannery, Healy #IrelandHcupXV
— Kevin Ivers (@K_Ivers) October 16, 2014
@JOEdotie Healy Flannery Hayes Cullen POC O'Brien Jennings Heaslip Strings ROG D'arcy BOD Trimble Shaggy Kearney #IrelandHCupXV
— Gareth Jordan (@TheGarethJordan) October 16, 2014
@JOEdotie Kearney, Horgan, BOD, Darcy, Bowe, ROG, Strings, Healy, Best, Bull, POC, DOC, SOB, Wally, Axel #IrelandHCupXV
— hickey_85 (@hickey_85) October 16, 2014
One reader suggested a team of 15 Paul O'Connells but we've seen him kick and we reckon that wouldn't be a viable option. Also, he's just one man even if his performances suggest otherwise sometimes.
There was always going to be some dead certs like O'Connell, O'Gara and O'Driscoll but lots of positions were up for grabs so there was plenty to ponder over.
Introducing the JOE readers all-Irish dream team from the Heineken Cup era.
1. Cian Healy (Leinster) - ProperChurch has won the competition three times with the Blues and he's arguably been the best prop in Europe over the last five season. Easy call.
2. Jerry Flannery (Munster) - This was a three horse race between Fla, Rory Best and Keith Wood and putting our obvious bias aside, Flannery has two winners medals on the board which tips the vote in his favour.
3. John Hayes (Munster) - The gentle giant of that great Munster side who challenged consistently throughout the noughties but what he contributed at set-piece was was invaluable. A real corner stone of that team.
4. Leo Cullen (Leicester Tigers and Leinster) - The Wicklow man is in the history books as the only man to captain a side to three European Cup successes. He also played a big part in Leicester reaching the final in 2007.
5. Paul O'Connell (Munster) - There was absolutely no doubt who was going to be wearing the number five jersey. O'Connell is a legend of European rugby and he's still delivering performances out of the very top drawer. Hard to recall him playing a bad game.
6. Sean O'Brien (Leinster) - The Tullow Tank is one of the mostly highly-rated backrows in world rugby and he's built a lot of that reputation on the back of his performances in the Heineken Cup. We couldn't leave him out.
7. David Wallace (Munster) - Wallace was one of the most effective and clinical forwards of that era. His ball carrying skills were phenomenal and if he had a sniff of the line you were almost guaranteed a try.
8. Jamie Heaslip (Leinster) - There was plenty of debate on the number eight jersey and Anthony Foley can feel very hard done by not to be included. But Heaslip has been so consistently good for Leinster in Europe that he just pipped it.
9. Peter Stringer (Munster) - We'd almost include Stringer for that try against Biarritz alone but that would be undervaluing his contribution. His passing, speed to the breakdown and sniping runs made him one of the most dangerous scrum-half options around. Eoin Reddan is a little unlucky to miss out.
10. Ronan O'Gara (Munster) - It was a lot about how good ROG was as this wasn't even up for debate despite Jonny Sexton kicking Leinster to three Heineken Cup wins. O'Gara is the record points holder and was voted the best player in Heineken Cup history in 2010.
11. Tommy Bowe (Ulster and Ospreys) - This wing position was a tough call with the likes of John Kelly, Anthony Horgan and Denis Hickie all putting their hands up but we've gone with Bowe.
12. Gordon D'Arcy (Leinster) - D'Arcy has great hand, excellent passing, he can carry the ball and he's a very good defender so basically he's been an excellent all-rounder at 12 and he's been doing all of those things for a very long time.
13. Brian O'Driscoll (Leinster) - No competition.
14. Shane Horgan (Leinster) - The other wing position was difficult enough to decide on but Shaggy was nailed on to get the number 14 jersey. He always threatened the try line and his fielding was absolutely immense. Excellent in Leinster's first two Heineken Cup wins.
15. Geordan Murphy (Leicester Tigers) - The votes for the full back position were between Murphy and Rob Kearney but Murphy has just pipped it. He started Leicester's back-to-back wins in 2001 and 2002 and was one of the most intelligent footballers we've ever produced. A real class act.
Here's the team as it would line up on the pitch, pretty damn impressive.
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