Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Farrell has looked at a bunch of other 10s, including fast tracking Harry Byrne despite a very badly disrupted season where he probably didn’t really earn the opportunity he was given in the summer.

He can’t magically make any of these players better than they are. He doesn’t get to spend enough time with them to do so. He’s doing what he can with very limited options. He has to balance the short term with the long term.

We may argue that he could have given a bit more time to certain players at certain times, but there really isn’t much in it and I don’t know if it would really have made any difference anyway. He’s getting a good look at these guys in training too which we aren’t seeing. If he wasn’t bringing them into camp and/or wasn’t giving them any game time then maybe we could cry foul. But he is working to find a replacement. There just isn’t one there right now. Playing guys who aren’t good enough in games now won’t change that. And it’ll just lead to pain now for no reward.

Have the Autumn series tickets gone on sale yet or have i just totally missed the boat?

I'm not arguing he needs to play them to make them better players (though it would likely help). I'm arguing that regardless of their ability, one or more of them will play in the next world cup so we should be preparing them accordingly. Not doing so is sticking your head in the sand as much as pretending they're great players.

I think maybe I should probably say what I think should happen rather than try and address any specific points. We may find we’re closer to one another’s opinion than we thought. Before I do, I’m not wedded to this specifically. A variation on the theme would be totally fine. But it gives a good sense of where my head is at with this stuff.

Sexton is our first choice 10. For big games he starts until there is at least a comparable option. And right now there isn’t. Obviously Sextons age and injury profile means that we need at least 1 reliable back up. So….

Carbery has been the heir apparent for a few years. We’ve invested a good deal of time in him and we know he can do a job at Test level. I’m not convinced he’s much more than that, and his form right now is poor, but I think he needs to be in the frame as his form can turn around and we aren’t blessed with options.

Burns is our best performing 10 right now other than Sexton. He has his limitations and is playing in a side that plays through 9 more than 10, which may not be the case with Ireland. But given that he is playing fairly well at the moment and has proven week to week consistency he too should be in the frame.

Carty for me shouldn’t be in the frame. He has shown no ability to find that week to week consistency to the point that you simply don’t know what you’re going to get from him from match to match.

Behind our starters at provincial level we have Ross Byrne, Ian Madigan, Conor Fitzgerald and Ben Healy. The first three aren’t in the picture at all, nor should they be (Mads is injured anyway). Ben Healy had a good game vs a very weak Scarlets. But he also was being tipped for big things 12 months ago before that all died down as the season progressed. He has a lot more to do to be a real option. But then, we are stuck so maybe he’s worth a look now.

Behind those guys there is really only Harry Byrne. He’s been in Ireland camp a good bit under Farrell and got capped during the summer. But similar to Healy, Harry Byrne probably still has more to do given his injuries etc. We have invested time in him to date though so he’s worth sticking with if available.

That means Sexton, Carbery, Burns, Harry Byrne and Ben Healy could all be considered live options. Given no league games in the AI window I’d see no issue getting all 5 into camp. Then it’s a case of who plays and when.

We’ll want to have a crack off NZ. There’s no point in that game otherwise. So that probably means a strong team vs Japan. Probably Sexton and Carbery involved there. Maybe start Joey and give him 60 mins. For NZ then it’s going to have to be Sexton to start and probably Joey on the bench. Although Burns on the bench would be very much worth it depending on how Joey does vs Japan. Against Argentina I’d look at Burns to start with Harry Byrne on the bench.

That’s a good look at 3 options (other than Sexton) with Ben Healy getting valuable time in camp as well (similar to Harry Byrne previously). Across 3 games that’s a decent effort, with Carbery and Burns both getting a start each. When you consider the 2 games over the summer as well that’s a decent bit of game time to the back ups over 5 games.

That's the point when you say "I dont think", noone actually knows for definite and noone will until he's thrown in. If he has assets that we could do with then its worth the risk.

I hate this take. Players shouldn’t be getting Test caps so that you or I can tell if they are good enough. Farrell should already all but know the answer to that himself before handing out any caps. If he doesn’t then he’s not doing his job right.

I mean you don’t know if I’d be any good at driving a bus or not. But we don’t find out by putting me behind the wheel of a full Dublin Bus at rush hour and saying “go for it there and we’ll see if you can do it or not”. Because that would be really stupid.

The biggest issue is we seem to have no plan for if he's unavailable, either A. Give another 10 some proper minutes in the jersey or B. Alter the gameplan so we arent as reliant on him being fit. It seems the plan is persist with him until he retires and just throw the towel in if he's out. That's tier 2 level of planning for the future and deservedly will end in failure.

That I agree with, the game versus Japan and Argentina is a game for the back ups to impress. Its our own fault for not having the top level 10s as we pretty much ruined both Ross Byrne and Joey Carbery with how we handled their development. All I know is anyone with two eyes and a brain can see that Harry and Ben have what it takes to make it at international level, they just need consistent game time at 10 to add the consistency to their game to help reach their potential, Argentina and Japan are the games to try them out if they are impressing in training, games like the US and arguably Italy is no better than a Champions Cup match imo, to see if they can make the next step Argentina and Japan are the perfect games as we should be good enough at home regardless but potentially if the two excel we might even learn about how good they can be at this level.

No player is complete at 22, the point here is he has good attributes and is possibly the most mentally strong 10 we have produced since Sexton, its the sort of temperament we need at 10 badly. The main point is afford him the game time required in order to help him get to the point of being a complete player.

Sexton should and will start versus NZL, I dont think anyone is disputing that. But starting him against Japan and Argentina is quite frankly a waste of time as we will learn nothing. These are the games what the autumn is for, you could make a case for the 6N as we have a trophy to win but in the autumn we need to use these games wisely.

Carbery I'm willing to be patient on as he is still coming back from long spells out with injury thanks to being mismanaged and played when he was injured.

Guys like Harry and Ben who have a big upside should be the ones we focus on as the other options (mainly Ross and Billy) arent going to get significantly better by 2023 so its questionable if we would get out of what we put in if we put all our eggs in that basket.

NZL I would ofcourse go full-strength as lets face it, the overall impression of this autumn will be based on how that game goes so the wise move is go all out there but the others should be used to balance both being competitive with looking at the wider squad. Joey & Ben/Harry are the one's we should look at

“The point is call up Joey,Ben and/or Harry and see how they run things at training and if they do so successfully give them a go to see if they can handle test level”

I mean this is exactly what has been happening, so……….

Ah awecs not that bad! :D