Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

It absolutely didn’t look the same. We were far more effective with Sexton at 10. The difference in the Italy game was almost night and day. And that’s the most direct comparison that we have. Carbery simply doesn’t run things as well as Sexton. And that’s probably to be expected. He’s got far less experience and his last few seasons have been badly hit by injuries.

I wouldn’t be as quick to write him off as others as I think elements of his game can improve with a good run of games, e.g. staying square, getting his positioning off pods right etc. If he’s able to address some of those issues and build some confidence off that then he could be a good option at 10. But he’s going to need games (in red mainly as there’s more time available there) to show he’s addressing that stuff.

Or here's a thought.....maybe Italy were knackered after playing the game up until then with 13 men?

I can find one instance in 6N history of a team scoring more that 24 tries in a tournament and that was England all the way back in 2001. But our "attack looks weak" apparently. Just utterly embarrassing nonsense.

With all the hype about Sheehan has it occurred to anyone that the fall in performance of the front row could in part be due to Sheehan being a weaker scrumager than Kelliher?

Currently all the blame is either the ref, or Healy, or Kilcoyne. Opinions welcome

He needs to somehow stay fit for the next 18 months and get 15+ starts between Munster & Ireland to iron out these problems, unfortunately I wouldn't put money on it.

That’s the big concern all right. Fingers crossed he can stay fit.

Nope. Carbery had a shocker in a game were it was all set up for him to pull the strings with acres of space to exploit

Sexton came on an instantly did what carbery failed to do and that's a huge issue

Ah come on, he didn't have a shocker. He was perfectly adequate, he just didn't put them to the sword like we would have wanted him to.

We spent most of the game moving from side to side making no yards. You can paint it anyway you want, that changed as soon Sexton came on. So other people dropping the ball wasn’t the issue. It was like we were playing a completely different game plan once Sexton came on.

Yeah I don’t think Carbery was terrible against Italy. But he didn’t do his cause much good at the same time. He was pretty average against a poor side who were down 2 men. A few of the issues I saw I’d be hopeful are fixable ones. He was turned towards the ruck and static at first receiver a good bit. He’d then pivot his entire body in order to pass but not move at all while doing it. So it was clear he was just shovelling it on and was taking an extra half second out of things by having to pivot to give the pass. Other times he was too deep behind the pod of forwards or up on top of them, ultimately taking himself or others out of the game.

I’d be hopeful things like that can be fixed with game time. The one thing he’s been missing. If he can sort that stuff then there have been signs that he’s well able to slot into the structure we’re working with. Our big problem now is, what if he can get the game time and not show the requisite improvements? We’re short on time, even shorter on options and we’re reliant on a guy who has spent more time injured than fit the last few years getting a run of games to iron out issues. It is far from an ideal scenario.

I swear Carbery will be on 50 caps, having still shown nothing, and people will still be like "ah he just needs game time"

As if he hasn't been given starts against Japan, USA, Argentina, France and Italy in the last year and bar an 'ok' game in one, shown very little. He doesn't attack the gainline, crabs across the pitch and fades off passes.

It's time to cut our losses and move on. Carty, R.Byrne and Healy have all been performing at a much higher standard for their provinces this season.

Personally, I like the look of Ben Healy. He's a big strong lad, has a certain cockyness about him without being arrogant. And he's been Munster's best performing 10 this season. He's got a glorious pass off either hand and his attacking game has really come on this season (watch the Wasps game in January). He has an absolute cannon of a boot and can launch it off either foot. His decision making on the gainline is superb.

I'd definitely give him starts against the Maori anyway.

You're now up to four posts berating Carbery without suggesting an alternative. That's the problem that Andy Farrell has too.

I'm not making any great claims for Carbery's display against Italy but he did not have a shocker, by any stretch.