Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Maybe a slight weakness on the bench for Ireland up front? Henderson and Sheehan are big power athletes, but POM and Bealham might be better suited to side either than this massive French one.

We'll see though. We know POM can be very disruptive to opposition rucks especially as the game goes on and they tire out. I'm hoping that we'll have a lead by the time the benches are emptied. Then ask POM to be a (legal) bollix at every ruck.

Mere slip of a lad, 6'5" and 23 stone. Porter could lift him with one finger 😉

Disagree about POM but sort of agree about Bealham, I do think overall our bench is strong though, arguably stronger than France's man for man but its hard to directly compare as they have gone for a 6/2 split. For all the talk of who's at 10 I still believe who wins the collisions and the battle upfront will most likely win this game.

Yeah Danty is a big loss, I did think Vakatawa would come straight in to minimise the loss but with Moafana while he's a great young talent and will cause us loads of problems I'm sure the big issue with the French backline is they are lacking that 1 player who can get over the gainline and draw defenders like Danty or Vakatawa can, they'll be relying alot more on width or their forwards getting a tad wider to try draw Irish defenders. Ringrose & Aki will need to have a big game here.

Cros is a more physical player than Cretin os obviously a more horses for courses selection. Yeah I agree on the power side of things, especially their 19 & 16 are monsters.

Lots of discussion about the 10 scenario again, but nothing here has changed.

Sexton is by a distance the best 10 we have in Ireland. His age is an issue and his ability to even be available for the RWC as well as his availability through it if he does is absolutely a concern. But the way he is playing at the moment is top class. He’s arguably one of, if not the best 10 in Europe right now. Certainly at Test level. How many 10s in international rugby are better? So while there is a risk with his availability next year, this needs to be considered.

The other options are a long way off. Our attack with Carbery at 10 vs Sexton at 10 in the last few months has been pretty much unrecognisable. He’s just not the same kind of player and doesn’t have near the same amount of experience. And for all the talk of Sextons potential unavailability, Carbery has been available a lot less than Sexton in the last few years. Even between November and the 6Ns, when Leinster had a few more games postponed/cancelled, Sexton played more than Carbery. We can’t rely on Carberys fitness any more than Sextons.

Ultimately Carbery hasn’t a patch on Sexton. And playing a game in Paris isn’t going to change that. Players develop through consistent training and game time that uses repetition to bring on their skills (muscle memory) and experience (improving decision making). Most of that happens at provincial level. The odd Test match here and there would have limited impact.

Beyond Carbery, Carty is starting to find a bit of consistency. At the young age of 29. He’s still got his issues though. Some of his tactical kicking in recent weeks has been very suspect. Harry Byrne hasn’t been playing. Burns and Ross Byrne aren’t at the level required.

So looking ahead to the RWC we have a world class 10 who may or may not be available, a back up 10 who is not even close to world class and who also may not be available and then we have a collection of average or below average options. Surely I can’t be the only who thinks that we need Sexton to be available for the RWC? If there’s even a chance that he can be fit and available and still playing well, at this stage we are in a position where we really have to take that chance. Because the other options simply aren’t good enough or even if they are may not be available themselves. Do we really see any of the other options developing their game enough in the next 12-15 months to guide us through a QF against France or New Zealand?

Agree with that, this is his first 6N start and by far the biggest test of his career so far. Hopefully he nails it.

Ha ha ha.

Sextons career isnt over until he decides its over. There was plenty of fawning over his performance against Bath and very little made of his errors against wales.

Add to that carberys lack of physicality especially for international level and the sexton wont be ditched anytime soon.

Its plain as day that he intends to be the starting 10 at the WC and no irish manager has not selected him when available for a game against a top 10 side so its hard to see that change now

I think I’ve worked out which Leinster player Jim’s mrs has the hots for. It’s the reason he’s here looking for attention, he’s not getting any at home.

Our biggest problem is that our young 10s aren't getting the minutes at provincial level to develop.

We've have 4 provinces, which means 4 spots to develop potential Ireland out halves. But Billy Burns (who we know isn't good enough) is starting every week up at Ulster. The IRFU need to ask themselves, are they maximising their resources? If H.Byrne, Crowley or Healy were getting the regular game time that Billy Burns is getting, would they develop and present themselves as options for Ireland? I'd say they probably would, they're all excellent young 10s.

They did it before, when they didn't let Ulster renew Pienaar's contract. If the IRFU are serious about developing the young 10s, they need to say "Cheerio Burns, you're gone. Alright Ulster, here's Crowley, or here's Harry Byrne". Then they'd get regular games in the URC and in Europe (which they aren't currently getting) and they'd at least have a chance to present themselves as options.

Because right now, every weekend 80 minutes of game time that could be going to one of our promising young 10s is being flushed down the toilet. And what we're left with is a very good, but injury prone 36 year old, an average injury prone 26 year old, and a 29 year old who is in good form but has massive question marks over his head. And 3 potentially world class u23 10s sitting on the bench for their provinces most weeks.

Yeah, it is nothing short of outrageous that Farrell didn't start Carbery when he was out injured.

Squidge Rugby reviewed Ireland's victory over Wales and made some good points about our attack. Namely that our attacking shape hasn't changed much in well over 18 months. But rather our decision making of when to run the dummy line and when to actually pass has become very good. It looks almost instinctual rather than the product of continuous drilling in training and refinement when actually on the pitch during a test match.

The system is now so embedded that if an attack doesn't work the way we want it the first time, we can reload and try again, this time with a different kink to it. Or we can make decisions in the middle of the planned attack and go a different route, like hitting VDF and putting him through a gap rather than the planned attacking of looping around to Sexton.

This is why I'm concerned about Saturdays game. All of these good performances have come with Sexton on the pitch. He's the best decision maker we have and in a game plan that puts a lot of focus on automatisms and familiarity, it's a big ask to drop in someone with relatively little experience not only with the system, but with top level rugby as a whole. I hope Carbery comes through and performs well. I just don't think it'll happen though.

Yes but he can’t stay fit for any period of time, so it’s hard to have any run of games. Your argument that he should be getting games for Ireland to build confidence. Is putting the cart before the horse.

Also his performances for Ireland have not all been good. He was good against Argentina, excellent if you include the stint at full back. He was pretty poor last Saturday though.

As Hansen getting MOTM last week proves, it’s a fairly hollow accolade. Not really a reflection of performance.