Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Ardillaun

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119363271#Comment_119363271

Why pick Adams at 14 over Rees-Zammit?

molloyjh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119366041#Comment_119366041

They didn’t. That was a big narrative going into the games and while they struggled a bit they never got dominated in the way that some expected. Leicester was the toughest day out of the three, but overall we managed well enough.

TRC10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119366261#Comment_119366261

It's a 50/50 call to be honest. Both top class wingers with different strengths. if it were me I'd probably go with Adams too.

TRC10

..

https://www.planetrugby.com/andy-farrell-ireland-head-coach-regarded-very-highly-by-england-as-chief-executive-bill-sweeney-discusses-eddie-jones-successor/

Inevitable I suppose!

brokenangel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119366633#Comment_119366633

Lots of images etc going around about Ireland peaking :-)

To be honest I don't care at the moment. Maybe at WC I will but for now happy days

sydthebeat

id be delighted to have our RWC opponents thinking we've peaked a year early.

i expect a tough game against aussie and SA in nov. One win from those two with a bit of squad building / tactical experimenting would be a successful nov window imo.

6N 2023, anything can happen. We've england and france at home which will be winnable but very tough games, and i fully expect to win the 3 away games without too much bother.

the big question is over sextons form, can he continue for another 14 months at this level?

phily2002

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119371534#Comment_119371534

Can see us tripping up in Cardiff, haven't won there in the 6 nations in a while. We've the better team but they are always up for us at home

Dubinusa

We struggled versus Scotland. Hogg dropping the ball by the try line and blowing a 2 on 1. Wales can be up or down. I think Wales will be happy with their tour to S.A

England are the team that I think can get it all together for the world cup. They were gash a couple of years out from the last world cup and turned it around. France are a great side atm.

I doubt there's a grand slam on this coming 6nations for anyone. We do have a great chance and should be in the mix. England will be my dark horse.

stephen_n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119372381#Comment_119372381

What England do or don’t do, will entirely depend on Tualagi’s fitness. Jones doesn’t have any great grand plan to reinvent the wheel. He has blooded some young players to have cohesion but England only know one way to play.

TRC10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119372422#Comment_119372422

It's not Tuilagi, it's any powerful centre who can get them over the gain line. It doesn't have to be a player of the calibre of Tuilagi. They've had success with Luther Burrell and Ben Te'o in the past. There's a dearth of powerful EQP centres in the premiership and that's a huge problem for them, as can be seen by Jones trying to get Guy Porter to fill that role.

Farrell at 12 with Slade or Marchant at 13 is seriously lacking in power. Jones has tried to compensate for that by playing a high tempo, expansive game with varying levels of success. And as you said, it doesn't come naturally to England.

Ollie Lawrence is a guy who could be that player for them. I think he was injured last season but he's young and has a great blend of power, pace and footballing ability. He's like a cross between Tuilagi and Jonathan Joseph. If he comes back and hits the ground running I think they could be in business. Dan Kelly is another one potentially.

It's ironic that two years ago Nick Tompkins went to play for Wales because he couldn't get a look in with England, but he's a player that England would love to have now.

brokenangel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119372381#Comment_119372381

Hogg dropping the ball over the line was the first game of the Farrell era and the first game after the 2019 WC. THe entire team was lacking in confidence plus the game changed in the first few mins when Doris was taken off with a knock so game plan out the window.

It was a win at the end of the day.

England last cycle had an excellent 2016 and 2017 season, didn't they win both 6 nations and only came unstuck in Ireland to miss out on the record for most games unbeaten?

Then 2018 came and the wheels came off very quickly, then the SA tour and totally fell off. Mitchell was hired in then and it all changed right up to the WC. They ran NZ close that Nov in a down pour before Ireland beat NZ.

Even with all the talk of England 2019 they won nothing. Wales won the Grand Slam and England lost in the final.

England are not a dark horse in any competition. They have too much money and too many people to be a dark horse. Even in the WC they have a very easy run to the final

TRC10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119373060#Comment_119373060

Even in the WC they have a very easy run to the final

They have Wales or Australia in the quarter final and Us, France, SA or NZ in the Semi. I wouldn't call that easy.

South Africa's run to the final last time was as 'easy' as it gets.

I see a France v NZ final.

If we can win our group and then turn over NZ in the quarters, it's Wales, Australia or Argentina in the semi.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119373158#Comment_119373158

Yeah, but by far the softest group to emerge from, so they shouldn't need to over-exert themselves to get to the QFs. They're in a group with the current world #9 & #10 who they'll be confident they'll account for without much trouble.

TRC10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119373225#Comment_119373225

If Argentina and Japan have proven anything, it's that they can be a bit of a banana skin at World Cups. We should know this better than anyone.

Even still, I fully expect England to win that group and beat Wales/Australia in the quarters. But I can't see them getting past a likely Semi final v France.

It's funny that England have been fairly dreadful for the last couple of years, yet we fully expect them to make the semis. We're probably as strong as we've ever been, yet very few see us making the semis. I know it's partly because of the draw, but even if we had England's draw, I'd struggle to see us beating Wales or Aus in a quarter final.

Dubinusa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119373253#Comment_119373253

A lot of luck would be nice! Good referees in particular. I think we can win the world cup. But, I believe our route could be a little too much. We will see.

Lost Ormond

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119373701#Comment_119373701

What specifically do you want in terms of luck from officials. I wouldnt be thinking about winning a world cup even with how well we've done recently. getting through 1 round of knockouts would be great. gives us 2 more games guaranteed. that first. wouldnt be talking about winning a world cup at all.

Dubinusa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119373720#Comment_119373720

We should be going into the tournament believing we will win it.

Luck plays a part too. Avoiding particularly poor refs would be ideal. Not sustaining injuries would be good luck.

Ardillaun

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119373253#Comment_119373253

I think England and France have a harder time bringing their greater resources to bear on international games between World Cups than we do. The domestic leagues are a bigger distraction.

Lost Ormond

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119373837#Comment_119373837

You say avoid poor refs. You get whats appointed. there is only 12 officials(refs - there is more there but who'll only be ARs/TMOs) and if we manage to get an official at a game that reduces number again who can do our games especially South African game as they'll likely have a ref or 2 selected

We will sustain injuries and most likely at least 1 tournament ending one over the course of the warm ups/tournament itself. Nature of the sport.

sprucemoose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119373720#Comment_119373720

for me, id like to get the luck of the draw when it will come to referee selection for the games, especially any potential games against france. a 'hometown' ref in such a game could basically be game over, as it was in the last rwc. as poor as ireland were against japan, they would have still won if there had been a fair(ish) ref

salmocab

Surely if it’s just from the point of view of the winning or losing of a game then he’s as likely to win you a game as lose it.

redmca2

Has the number of players permitted in each WC squad been decided yet?

Clegg

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119374587#Comment_119374587

This is from an article dated February 2021. Squad size has been increased from 31 to 33. Extra rest days have been built in as well.

https://m.independent.ie/sport/rugby/bigger-squad-sizes-and-more-rest-days-new-rugby-world-cup-measures-confirmed-40118527.html

Must love hardship

Ireland have a lovely gap between the South African game and the Scotland game in the world cup.

Allows plenty of time to recover and prepare for Scotland too.

Shehal

Do some people on here not think before they comment?

We literally played NZL 3 games in 3 weeks, we play 3 games in 3 weeks in the autumn and in the 6N we play 5 games in 7 weeks...all of that = No Problem

Playing SA & Scotland in 3 weeks at a RWC = Problem

Can someone please make that make sense and please save you're breath saying the difference is its a Rugby World Cup as that's nothing but a complete cop out.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119375780#Comment_119375780

In fairness, we brought 40 players to New Zealand and are limited to 33 for the World Cup. We also have 4 pool games, not just 2.

Yes, 2 should be walkovers but we don’t have a squad big enough to field a 2nd 23 so game time needs to be managed carefully.

You also need to manage game time with an eye on the 5th match the week after, again with the same 33 man squad.

it’s totally different to summer or autumn tours.

Autumn games have no squad limitations.

AbusesToilets

What is the purpose for a limitation on squad size for the WC? Is it to try and even the disparity in resources between Tier 1 countries and the rest?

Lost Ormond

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119381734#Comment_119381734

Same as any tournament. you need to put a limit. Partially to counter that and also it standardizes squads for everyone. Nearly any team sport will limit squad size for tournaments like this

Shehal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119381494#Comment_119381494

Well yes it does but at worst in those cases some of the first choice players will need to play 3 pool games which isnt much considering 1 is a walk over and the 2 others have a 2 week gap between them, if anything that's probably a good thing as having our players going into SA in match 3 without playing any rugby in the previous 2 games will almost be a worse scenario especially when you consider SA will have already played Scotland at this point so will definitely be battle hardened. Yes there are some differences but I dont think the difference arent big enough that the fact its a RWC is a valid excuse, it might be a factor but its a minimal factor at best if we manage our squad well enough.

Also at the end of the day the other 19 team have to go through the exact same situation so we can hardly say its a factor that specifically hurts us and if we are being honest while its a shitter of a fixture list potentially from an Irish perspective we actually haven't done too badly in terms of the fixture lay out.