Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

VdF nominated for player of the tournament, other 2 nominees are Dupont and Alldritt. Personally I think Alldritt deserves it, he's a ridiculous player.

Yes, we're f**ked without Sexton but we're f**ked sticking with him for the W/Cup as well. I feel he's going to leave it too late to exit on a high which is a pity considering all he's done for rugby in Ireland.

Whether Carbery is the solution depends on the question.

Is he a replacement for Sexton? Absolutely not.

Is he the next best we have? To be honest, I don't know but this 6N seemed to confirm that the coaches definitely think he is. Carbery was decent against France, but still Carty only got two minutes. Even after the Italy game, it was never a possibility that he wouldn't bench in Twickenham. Other guys just aren't on the radar at all.

I know coaches aren't infallible but I just don't understand how Farrell has done a really good job of identifying and fast-tracking talent in every other position but could have this mad blind-spot at out-half. He can't be unaware of Carbery's flaws but still picks him.

So in a way, our biggest issue isn't that we don't have something to compete with Sexton, it's that we don't even have someone to compete with Carbery.

(BTW I really don't think Carbery was hauled ashore against Italy because he was playing badly, IMO it was planned because Sexton needed minutes.)

Carbery or whatever out-half we want to move forward with as back up to Sexton needs lots of game experience. That's just an example.

You really don't know how good anybody is until they play alongside starters. There's often a case that two or three players are better together than the sum of the parts and you'll never find that out by only picking the same fifteen.

You wouldn't have given Dan Sheehan a game ever before and wouldn't have gotten that performance against Scotland.

It absolutely isn't too late to change. We have 18 months and probably 13 or 15 matches before the World Cup. That is loads of time, even assuming Sexton plays a good chunk of them. It took Dan Sheehan about five months to go from uncapped third choice to rivalling for first choice.

The problem is that we have no-one to step up. Carbery is the answer until someone better comes along. We're nearly six years waiting for that someone to emerge. Like, in two posts (correctly) pointing out Carbery's flaws, you haven't named another OH because there isn't one.

We have to put someone in the 22 jersey. Unless we see someone improve significantly soon, that's likely to remain Carbery.

I think the problem statement for Johnny Sexton's replacement should be:

"Who will be the best placed to steer the team from outhalf in the next World Cup."

To me, the answer to that at the moment is Joey Carbery.

He has shown he is a good goal-kicker, particularly under pressure, and he has a great temperament, he will link well with people around him.

The solution to the overall problem of how does the team adapt to not having Johnny Sexton at out-half, is make the out-half less important to the strategy. There are lots of ways to achieve that, and I think we've probably already seen that going on, decisions being made by other players, calling moves without Sexton's input.

Uncapped players who might get a chance to break into the summer tour squad:

Joe McCarthy

Cian Prendergast

Nathan Doak

Ben Healy / Jack Crowley ( who ever plays more for Munster in between)

Niall Murray / Gavin Thornbury

Jack Boyle if Leinster fast track him.

Josh Wycherley

If the summer tour has 5 games as has been suggested then it could be a great opportunity to have a mock World Cup. Keeping the squad reasonably tight numbers wise with a small bit of rotation for the tests and getting a good couple of runs for a weakened team as would happen at group stage, might be the making of the squad.

Is there any point for taking Healy, Sexton, Murray and Earls to NZ? Would we be better off including fringe players and some lads playing well for the provinces?

An opportunity is calling for someone like Carberry or Ben Healy. What better place to earn the caps than NZ.

I would like to see one of the tests with a side that is green, so to speak. Maybe starts for Lowry, Hume and Ben Healy in the backs and a pack with Timoney, Coombes and T.O.T starting.

I think players like Prendergast and Kendellen should travel. If the squadvis to be 40 or so, then I think there could be 6 or 7 new players included.

There is a point to bringing them if they are likely to be in the WC squad. Otherwise it’s just handing out caps to people that aren’t getting time with people like Sexton on tour. Now Healy and Earls may well miss out on the WC but the other two will be picked if they are fit, so not bringing them would be pointless. Endless lists of players who should be looked at are pointless, those players have to muscle their way into the starting 15 for their provinces and earn the look at, not be given it because everyone is keen for the next shiny thing to come along.

Personally I'm not sure there's much difference between Carberry and Sexton, at this stage.

Our attack looked weak against England with 14 men and, again against Scotland. We did alright against France with Carberry. The issue for me is Lowe is not as good as Hanson at loop plays, other than that I don't think 10 matters too much in this system. Sexton makes plenty of mistakes, but it seems that guys here are blind to the fact.

Who else posts, expecting people to see what they themselves admit to not reading? Note, I've left context out of this so you'd read it :D

It basically looked the same with Carbery as it did with Sexton, unless there's other issues people are slating Carberry for? Have a look at the previous posts for context.