By Barry Coughlan

Warren Gatland still has his supporters in Ireland despite his tendency to have a swipe at the style of rugby being played under Joe Schmidt and the mind games he plays from time to time.

A survey by Ulster Bank reveals Gatland would be well received to come back in as Irish coach if Schmidt moved on.

Gatland received 40% of the votes and even Eddie Jones appears to have been forgiven for his recent high profile comments prior to Ireland’s game against England; he earned 32 per cent approval.

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Forgiveness didn’t end there and England full back Mike Brown got the backing of a good number of fans as one of the non-Irish players most respected.

One in ten fans would like to claim the player for Ireland.

However, topping the poll was Welshman Leigh Halfpenny, who would be hugely welcomed if he was to declare for Ireland.

Favourite moment of the fans in relation to games against England was the playing of the anthems prior to the 2007 Croke Park clash, won by Ireland.

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Irish supporters indicated their preference to interact with Scottish (44%) and Welsh fans (38%) and favourite grounds were the Millennium Stadium and Murrayfield, arguably because of Ireland’s good results there over the last couple of decades!

In one of the more light-hearted moments of 2015, Luke Fitzgerald’s ‘fresh-air’ golf shot in front of the world’s number one golfer, Rory McIlroy, during the Rugby World Cup was voted as our favourite social media moment of the year. With almost half a million views on YouTube the Irish back had over 40% of the votes while the priceless image of Paul O’Connell enjoying a rollercoaster ride at Alton Towers made second place.

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Rory McIlroy also featured in the survey but claimed last place when fans were asked what Irish person from another sporting discipline would make a good addition to the Irish rugby team. Rory received just 2% of the votes while Dublin GAA star Bernard Brogan beat off both Conor McGregor and Mayo’s Aidan O’Shea with a third of the votes. If McGregor was to ever take up the sport respondents thought he would make a great scrum-half (43%).

When it comes to the love of Paul O’Connell, his recent retirement has only cemented his place in history. O’Connell managed to claim two titles in the Ulster Bank Rugby survey; retired player from the past five years to make the best coach (48%) and the forward we would bring back from the last 20 years (54%), beating off Keith Wood (23%), Stephen Ferris (8%) and John ‘The Bull’ Hayes (5%).

Unsurprisingly Brian O’Driscoll was voted as the back we would like to see return to the team with two thirds of the vote and even though Ronan O’Gara also featured on the list with 13%, he fared better in the coach’s stakes with a fifth of fans thinking he would make a great addition to that ticket.

Irish fans were also asked what they thought of the rising talent in the country with four players claiming the title for their respective provinces; Jack O’Donoghue (Munster), Garry Ringrose (Leinster), Stuart McCloskey (Ulster) and Ultan Dillane (Connacht).

For more information go to Ulster Bank Rugby’s Facebook page.