Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

So tell us your better 3 OHs in Ireland at the moment...

Ross Byrne plays way too deep.. He adds nothing to the game... Played England twice and it is wonder how Aki didn't end up hospital been double tackle by man and ball..

Billy Burns is just poor... Very average player...

Carberry is coming back from injury and is clearly not up to the pace yet... He is going to need time and games to get there... He has talent but he needs to prove it one the field... Last time there was a Carty v Carberry, Carty won MOTM on the loosing side...

Harry needs game time anywhere, Leinster 'A's would be good enough... Healy interesting but not there yet..

Crowley, bring him as a development player... I see Blade or Doak being with Crowley as or post RWC pairing... Those guys should be just getting as much gametime as possible...

The England game which got him selected for the Lions over Ringrose.. Aki is a Test Lion, Ringrose has never made the tour...

The RWC sending off was considered quite unlucky at the time..

Hume was ran over as a speed bump playing against Connacht earlier this season... Actually the Ulster pairing were absolutely outclassed that day by the Connacht second choice pairing... No one is shouting for Tom Daly to be selected..

Ringrose doesn't have close to the speed to play 14......

At present, Connacht have probably the strongest SH pairing in Ireland...

You could equally argue they have the weakest SH pairing

Did you miss the part where is said carthhy is playing the best rugby of any OH in ireland currently?

Jim you know you can be dishing the blue eyed boy from Blackrock wearing No. 13.... He is the Golden Child chosen as the special one...

Honestly I play Aki and Henshaw, reason not to pick Henshaw is if he is injured... Henshaw is probably Ireland's best player and he plays best with Aki... I don't think they rigid on who is 12 and 13 that much... they both can take two tacklers if the crash ball and they have both got good hands and very solid knowledge of space...

Ringrose completes the top three and in honesty is very close call... I think Hume is further back, better than Chris but I would say has tougher competion from Arnold (who is discounted now) and Tom Farrell(who injury prone around International section time).

Sorry Henshaw is the best 13 in the squad... Ringrose was pretty terrible most of last year, Henshaw might have been the best back in Europe... Henshaw is better at 13 than 12... But really excels when he gets the dual role with Aki

We have no shortage of wingers.

Lowe, Earls, Conway, Ballycoune, Larmour all available, and stockdale who will be back.

Your trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, or use a 6 nations to develop a utility back when we have other options or at least should use a club game for such experiments.

A far more pressing matter is who is sextons backup, and who is third in line and is there anything resembling a plan to develop those players exposure to top teams, because thats a much bigger issue.

Nearly 140 senior caps is some going for a player always injured

Or you’re just refusing to consider any other perspective other than your own. Have you considered that option?

Looks like the Aviva will be full for the Welsh game, that'll be some atmosphere.

You do realise how flawed this logic is?

They have roughly the same number of caps because they made their debuts a year apart. Ringrose has 3 more because yes, he has had injuries.

The age Aki was when he made his debut is literally irrelevant.

Nice moving of the goalposts, going from "injury prone" to "overhyped"

Luke McGrath is not good enough to play for Leinster at the higher games that was shown in the first Saracens game... Honestly Leinster biggest weakness against big packs is at SH, they don't know how to play behind retreating packs... This is where I think Cooney should have been brought in...

I think Doak could be the guy going forward post RWC and possibly before hand... i would like to see him get quicker and moving the ball quicker but he has a lot of fine attributes...

Crowley should have been brought in as a development player as I could see him accelerate quickly into a senior role...

Hume I think deserves the call up but I think he is a good bit behind Ringrose.. Frawley is the opportunity missed, if he got game time at 10 I think he might be the one and a move to Ulster would be best for Irish Rugby.

Picking Marmion and Carty is not a surprise as they are playing week in week out like the Irish team is attempting to play for years. They are the ones playing competitive rugby behind a less dominate pack... I am sorry but Leinster dominate pack has created half backs that paint by numbers in many games.

In International games against the major sides we don't enjoy that type of dominance.. Half Backs need ability to understand and take risks, Sexton is a master at that.. That is why he is so good... His risk management is world class just astounding...

And in fairness Conor Murray is a great general with waning powers... This is why I say Leinster understudies don't have the same experience as the other provinces...

As Munster... They have the Van Grann game plan, it is truly terribly and only saved by some exceptional players who show great leadership qualities...

Ringrose starts. Then A.N. Other.

If Ireland can add another string to their bow it would be getting Lowry in at FB.

15 Lowry

14 Baloucoune

13 Ringrose

12 Aki/Henshaw

11 Keenan / 23. Larmour/Conway

with both Keenan and Lowry in the XV you could even have Aki/Henshaw at 23.