Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118432895#Comment_118432895

how could a player bed into a completely new system when hes not available for all the training camps?

thats always been the issue when picking players from abroad

thomond2006

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118432895#Comment_118432895

It isn't precedent.

dublin49

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118432908#Comment_118432908

how so?

Former Former Former

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118432929#Comment_118432929

Because it's nine years ago that Sexton went to Racing.

salmocab

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118432929#Comment_118432929

The rule was brought in after Sexton to try stop others doing the same, not sure it’s even a rule more an understanding.

dublin49

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118432969#Comment_118432969

I suppose the embargo won't get broken for Roux so its academic.

I am a huge Baird & Beirne fan but have watched many an Irish defeat in Paris commence with a retreating scrum so I would be worried that with the two athletic Locks playing we would get pushed around.Think Kleyn comes into the reckoning if Ryan /Henderson are unavailable.

aloooof

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118433179#Comment_118433179

The last time I can remember us having major scrum issues was that England game back in 2012 when Tom Court came on, unless I'm forgetting something more recent? We've generally done ok in Paris since then.

Beirne and Baird would be a small cause for concern in terms of grunt, but I'd hope we'd have a game plan to try limit the amount of scrums and amplify those players strengths.

stephen_n

There is always Toner.

TomsOnTheRoof

There's two kg between Beirne and Ryan according to their IRFU bio's. That hardly translates to a lack of grunt. Personally I think Beirne is currently our best lock anyway. Granted if Henderson is also missing we may find ourselves in a bit of bother.

TRC10

I'm pretty sure Ryan is fit and hopefully he'll play v Montpellier and Bath and be ready for Wales.

Even if he's not, we'd get away with Beirne and Baird v Wales. We wouldn't v France though.

It'll be interesting to see which lock gets called up now that Dillane has ruled himself out. Farrell appears to value skilful, athletic locks who can play rather than having big lumps for the sake of it. Hence why Kleyn has never been involved, even last summer when the Lions were away.

You'd have to think Ryan, Beirne, Henderson and Baird are certain fitness permitting, leaving room for one more. Wycherley came on v the USA in the summer. Molony was brought into the squad. You'd think it would be one of those. I'd probably go for Molony, he's improved a lot this season and he's got a bit more size than Wycherley.

Or perhaps he just selects 4 locks and has someone like Coombes to cover in an emergency.

Murray could be an interesting shout as 5th choice lock. I'd be a big fan of selecting players who are actually playing week in week out for their province and Murray is doing that for Connacht. So I'd have him over Wycherley or Ahern.

aloooof

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118433921#Comment_118433921

"I'd be a big fan of selecting players who are actually playing week in week out for their province and Murray is doing that for Connacht. So I'd have him over Wycherley or Ahern."

This isn't accurate for Wycherley.

He has 5 starts and 1 sub appearance out of Munster's 8 games this season, with 406 total minutes.

Murray has 5 starts and 1 sub appearance out of Connacht's 9 games this season, with 361 total minutes.

Zeugnis

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118432895#Comment_118432895

In fairness, Quinn Roux is not the second coming of JC. Were the IRFU to waive the rule in his case, it would be evidence that they have become collectively unhinged.

Zeugnis

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118432891#Comment_118432891

Actually I mostly agree with that as regards Connacht, the Murrays, and most importantly that this is a hypothetical situation. But there is a bit of schizophrenia to the second row discussion, where people talk about the shortage of the tight head lock physique in Ireland etc, but when one qualifies on residency and plays for Ireland they are let go (and he'd played well for Ireland in his last caps). Now whether a player like Quinn is compatible with the new style of play is another question, but the depth chart there is shallow. Baird is full of promise but has been very prone to error of late, hope for Ahern based on his u20s form, or Dillane.

Anyway, hopefully this problem doesn't arise, and there is time to allow the colts to develop and bring more depth.

OneLungDavy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118433287#Comment_118433287

Yeah honestly can't remember a game since where our scrum was a clear weakness.

Zeugnis

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118433921#Comment_118433921

Gavin Thornbury has been forgotten here, I guess because he has been injured since May. But before that he was in top form and Farrell stated that if not for injury he would have been selected in the summer squad. He's back training again and is expected to on the team sheet over the next month. Obviously, it will take him a while to sharpen up, but he is athletic, superb in the lineout (see his dismantling of Munster last spring), a big turnover threat on the ground, and a hard worker. Looking forward to seeing him back on the field.

Must love hardship

Id love to see Jack mcgrath force his way back Into the squad.

Hopefully gets through the next 2 weeks injury free.. and his performances keep improving.

Still relatively young in prop terms with not a lot of mileage on the clock.

Would have loosehead with an abundance of depth with Porter, healy, mcgrath & kilkoyne

Mr Burny

I wonder how a practical Leinster XV being the Eire XV will impact the morale of the other provincial teams? I don’t recall a period when one province dominated the Eire selection as much as now.

salmocab

Everyone watch out the edge is too sharp

sydthebeat

Anyway....

jimdemp

Doesnt matter these days as players move around, even the Leinster team have 2 connacht men in Doris and Henshaw. At one point 1/3 of the Irish team werent even Irish. They are not provincial teams anymore they are Professional Club teams

Red Silurian

What do we think the chances of Ireland/Wales happening at the Aviva are? I'm hearing Tottenham Stadium and St James Park are being touted to try and get a crowd in

TRC10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118451577#Comment_118451577

Where are you hearing that?

Podge_irl

Considering Tottenham are playing in their stadium on the day of the Ireland/Wales match I would suggest whoever you are hearing that from is talking through their arse.

Lost Ormond

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118451577#Comment_118451577

No chance of either of those happening.

It'll only be played in the Aviva

aloooof

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118451577#Comment_118451577

You seem to love a good, unlikely “move the match to another venue” rumour, RS. 😉

sydthebeat

https://www.thenational.scot/sport/19838812.celtic-vs-rangers-fan-latest-nicola-sturgeon-set-major-covid-crowd-announcement/

NICOLA STURGEON is set to confirm later today that full crowds can return to stadiums across Scotland.

The Scottish Government took the decision three weeks ago to limit attendances at outdoor events to 500 for “up to three weeks”, from Boxing Day until January 17, in a bid to slow the transmission of the Omicron variant of coronavirus.

The move effectively placed the country’s top-flight football and rugby behind closed doors and prompted the Scottish Professional Football League to bring forward the cinch Premiership’s winter break to coincide with the crowd caps.

Interested Observer

Dunno if this has been discussed but BOD on OTB saying the IRFU had a very strong external candidate for CEO, could have been transformative for the IRFU, and seemed very disappointed that they went for a very safe option of going for the sitting COO.

Teferi

Did he name or indicate who the person was?

El_Duderino 09

Malcolm o Kelly did his second d row depth chart on off the ball and had Henderson, Beirne and then Ryan.

I have to agree. I think the narrative is that Ryan is brilliant and a natural leader and the first name on the teamsheet. It's become the narrative and now its completely unrelated to the on-pitch performances. The fact that he wasn't picked for the Lions was a huge surprise to lots of Irish people and the assumption was that he'd definitely be the first call-up if there was an injury. And when he wasn't called up, that too was a huge shock. I think it should have been a wake up call and a time to reassess how well he's playing.

The captaincy side is baffling to me. I know he captained the u20s side or St Michels SCT or whatever it was. But I always think he looks like he's completely consumed by doing his own job. Rarely seems to be taking a leaderships position (outside of the things like lineouts). Maybe he'll spring to life with the leinster captaincy on Sunday.

No harm to try something different, but the notion that he should play for Ireland in the six nations is a 2019 idea. He's not our best second row at the moment and shouldn't be picked as if he was our best second row.

I suspect he will be picked regardless of performance level, but I think they should go with the best 2 of Ryan, Beirne and Henderson, regardless of which 2 that is.

Clegg

Ryan is playing better this season than last so the Lions tour is now not as much a point of reference as it was. He was our best performing second row during the recent Autumn International series. Was going great guns until his concussion against Argentina.

I think his poor performances last season, which were also overblown, has led to a massive overcorrection now where he's actually being underrated.

If everyone's fit for the opening game I'd choose Henderson and Ryan.