Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Ah. So probably all the staff except AF? So they'll build their working relationships with all the staff except AF and that's not good?

Everyone but Farrell I believe.

I’d say firstly having two extra tests means having a bigger squad with the extra players being sort of bag holders and secondly I’d say this is about getting players into a proper touring camp, with leadership groups and meetings based around that squad.

This is exactly the point, it's much less about he matches and much more about the environment, systems and expectations in the camp on tour. From the coaching pov it's often the case that in a tournament you end up press ganging in players to cover injuries/covid/suspensions by bringing in players not part of the original squad, they need to slot in and maybe play almost immediately in matches that are potentially WC knockouts. If this tour pays off in one or two situations like that it's well worth it, never mind the benefits to players themselves from being part of this kind of tour. I've no doubt that in the long term it benefits the provinces too.

But in reality the provinces will likely field stronger teams during this tour as they'll need frontliners to play in games they might not ordinarily play in, I'm really not convinced that this will somehow diminish the URC. But the point you quote here is about those younger players benefiting from the tour which should make them better players, and that should help the provinces longer term. Honestly people are looking for downsides here when there really aren't any.

The opposition is irrelevant here. The environment is what is important. Getting more lads time into an Irish camp with the Irish coaches in the limited time left before the WC is a great idea, considering a few of these boys might be on the bubble or end up as injury cover - they'll be able to fit right in without any disruption.

Normally when Ireland play, people want 15 brand new uncapped players under the age of 24 or else we're not building depth for the future. For those people, I thought this would be a wet dream.

But it's not extra game time. By playing three games in SA, they're missing three rounds of URC.

Net effect = zero. No?

There are extra minutes but that's not necessarily a bad thing. If those minutes go to already stretched players, then it's probably not good. If those minutes go to fringe squad players and academy players, then it's not bad at all. Might weaken the team a bit but that's always the way when trying out young players.

i think you mean cork con

I see your point but I'd still say the two issues you refer to are unrelated. Irish provinces do take the URC seriously, I've not see criticism that they don't. The criticism wrt Irish teams is that Leinster have the resources to compete in the league without having to use their frontline players often, rather than they don't take the comp seriously, they've won 5 from the last 6 afterall.

Welsh and Scottish problems with players based in other leagues is a separate problem that no-one paying attention will confuse with any Irish issues and I can't see how this proposed tour is related to those problems in any way whatsoever. As for the net affects on the provinces of this tour and their URC performances we'll just have to see who tours and how they cope, I'm guessing it won't be significant but Ill be happy to eat my shoe if it does have a big impact on results.