Here's the fresh batch of young guns preparing to cement their Ireland places in new World Cup cycle

We're still in a weird rugby limbo at the moment.

The World Cup has been and gone. The United Rugby Championship is back up and running. It's three rounds into the competition but, in truth, it has yet to fully engage Irish fans who are still reeling from what transpired against the All Blacks at Stade de France last month.

The majority of the frontliners have spent the best part of a month decompressing after the tournament. A few fringe members of Andy Farrell's squad have returned to action in recent weeks. Players like Craig Casey and Jack Crowley.

Most of the heavy-hitters are set to pitch up at training at their respective provincial bases this week. Things are beginning to simmer on the domestic front. Munster v Leinster at the Aviva looms large in round six on November 25. None of the big guns will want to miss that blockbuster clash in the capital.

All the provinces need to be firing on all cylinders by the time the Champions Cup rolls around in December, too. So, you should be seeing the likes of Andrew Porter, James Ryan, Caelan Doris and Bundee Aki back on duty sooner rather than later.

For Leo Cullen, Graham Rowntree, Dan McFarland and Peter Wilkins, having their Ireland stars back available will be a major boost. In the meantime, this window has afforded the respective provincial coaches the chance to drill down into their squad and take a look at a host of rookies.

And last weekend was informative on that front.

Farrell, his backroom team and David Humphreys - the incoming IRFU performance director in 2024 - will have been heartened by the performances of so many of the young brigade.

It bodes well for the 2027 World Cup. After all, the next wave will be the foundations for that tournament in Australia. Because a large swathe of the squad which carried the fight over in France will be on the final laps of their career by then.

Johnny Sexton and Keith Earls have retired. Peter O'Mahony, Conor Murray and Aki will surely do the same at some stage during this next World Cup cycle.

Tadhg Furlong will be 34, as will Robbie Henshaw. Tadhg Beirne will be 35. Same goes for Jack Conan. Ditto James Lowe.

The likes of Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Ryan, Josh van der Flier, Doris, Garry Ringrose and Mack Hansen will all still be in their prime when the next global showpiece rolls around. Up-and-comers like Casey, Crowley and Jimmy O'Brien should be well established internationals by then.

But you get a real sense of how much Farrell's Ireland need to rebuild in the coming years. And the Ireland head coach would have been more than pleased with what he saw across the weekend's URC action.

First to Cork where a youth-infused Munster made light work of the Dragons, cruising to a 45-14 on Musgrave Park's slick 4G track.

This is unquestionably the most exciting crop of youngsters the province have produced in a generation. The standard of the opposition on Leeside must be taken into account, of course. The visitors from Rodney Parade have been Welsh cannon fodder in this tournament for decades.

Be that as it may, the performances of Edwin Edogbo, Tom Ahern, Alex Kendellen and Tony Butler were so encouraging.

Munster have a pair of World Cup-winning locks to come back into the equation in the coming weeks, with Jean Kleyn and RG Snyman back in the selection mix. Beirne, too. But Edogbo and Ahern will be hard to dislodge as a second-row pairing. Long-term, they look like a potent combination at lock, perhaps the most balanced and effective since Paul O'Connell and Donncha O'Callaghan were packing down in the Reds' engine room all those years ago.

Edogbo, the powerful forward from Cobh who honed his craft with UCC, is a serious customer while Ahern has already been invited to train with the Ireland senior team in Abbotstown.

Both were superb at the weekend. Crucially, they complement each other. There are the perfect blend of tight-quarter grunt and athleticism in the loose. Both are excellent lineout forwards, too. Kendellen, meanwhile, is continuing to build on his promise while Butler, on his first senior start, looked scarily composed.

There is a lot of excitement about this former Clare minor hurler and, with the news that the luckless Joey Carbery is going under the knife to repair a wrist injury this week, Butler looks set to ride shotgun behind Crowley in the Munster out-half pecking order in the coming months.

And there are more exciting prospects coming through the system. The sight of Ruadhan Quinn, Brian Gleeson and Ben O'Connor arriving from the bench for final-quarter cameos was hugely encouraging.

Quinn and Gleeson, a pair of dynamic backrow forwards, were standout performers for the Ireland U20 side which made it all the way to the World Cup final over the summer, while O'Connor, a former Cork hurling underage prodigy, is a serious prospect.

It will be fascinating to see their career trajectories in the years ahead. Securing starting spots at Munster is the first goal but we feel all those mentioned above will be in the international picture in the not-too-distant future either.

There were also a few bright lights on display in Galway as the hosts recovered from a 17- point deficit to seal a third consecutive win in the league. Young midfielder Cathal Forde, who only turned 22 last week, once again underlined his growing status as one to watch in the Connacht midfield while 23-year-old Ulster flanker David McCann was superb in a losing cause.

Meanwhile, Leinster, as ever, continue to churn out young players with bright futures. Jamie Osborne was the pick of the bunch in their thrilling 36-27 victory against Edinburgh on Saturday.

The 21-year-old centre is another player who has been knocking around Ireland camps for a few seasons. The Naas product was involved with Ireland for the entirety of their pre- World Cup preparations before he missed the cut for the tournament.

Time is on Osborne's side, however, and he is another break-out star who looks set for a big season in a blue jersey. Jack Boyle's emergence at loosehead is another welcome sight while James Culhane - another Ireland U20 star - has made the transition from raw academy product to seasoned senior player look seamless.

The loosehead and No8 already look like early Six Nations bolters. There was yet another promising second-half cameo from Sam Prendergast to boot.

Many of them are now set to play back-up roles with the big names returning to the fray in the coming weeks. It won't always be this way, mind you.

There is a new generation emerging on the scene and it is only a matter of time before they are centre stage, at club and international level. Watch this space.