You may have seen a Rugby World XV by the New Zealand Herald doing the rounds which failed to include a single Irish player.

Jonny Sexton for example was left out in favour of South Africa's Handré Pollard, with one journalist claiming the Racing Metro player has "no bottle when it counts".

But what did ex-Leinster second row Malcolm O'Kelly, former Munster man Alan Quinlan and the Irish Times's Gerry Thornley make of it?

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The lads were on Off The Ball's Wednesday Night Rugby at Sam's Bar tonight and had their chance to give their take on the New Zealand press's attempts to stake their own claims after a similar attempt by the Telegraph which had included many Northern Hemisphere players.

"I think it's crazy that your man picked Pollard but it's not surprising coming from New Zealand. They tend to like themselves a lot," said Quinlan, while Gerry described New Zealand rugby as "a bubble living within a bubble and their media living within that bubble, viewing players through the prism of matches against the All Blacks."

Quinlan also feels that any disrespect from New Zealand is a product of their media rather than the players, with Gerry adding an interesting point about the All Blacks.

"They don't watch the opposition at all. I would say they do the least research on the opposition. They concentrate on their own game. They reckon that whenver they play to their best, they win."  

The lads went on to preview the upcoming European Champions Cup matches from the Irish provinces' perspective.