Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Exactly my point.

There's an element of wanting Crowley to be amazing (because of the lack of options) that's contributing the level of hype he's getting. When in reality, how good we want a player to be has absolutely no bearing on how good he will be. And that's what I'm calling out. Just let the guy develop, before demanding he be thrown in against Australia based on one or two ok games.

We've been here before with young 10s. If they're good enough, they'll show it to the point where they demand inclusion and it won't be a case of "let's see if he's good enough".

If we had two world class out halves, there'd be nowhere near as much hype around Crowley.

I think Crowley starting with JGP, McCloskey, Aki etc around him is different to starting him in a mix n match team v tier 2 sides

A reasonably full strength pack in front of him too. There is some merit to those calls IMO

Frawley was different in that he was selected as a 12 and him playing 10 was a fairly last minute selection with H.Byrne getting injured and there wasn't time to fly someone to NZ for the first game.

But yes, you could find many posts of me saying that Burns and Carty are the two best 10s in Ireland behind Sexton and should be involved.

The biggest hype is probably coming from in camp - the soundbites about how impressed they've been with him. He's there ahead of the likes of Ross Byrne and Burns, and with it being preferable if there was a bit more depth behind Sexton some are saying it would be good if the next cab off the rank got an opportunity. Hardly that extreme.

If Sexton wasn't available it would be good to see it, but, personally, I'll be glad to see Sexton in there if he's good to go. Him pulling the strings will probably increase the chances of the likes of McCloskey and Baloucoune having good games.

Again, I'm not having a go at the coaches.

Both the Times and Indo saying that JOB will displace Baloucoune on the wing and that McCloskey will keep his spot.

Thats harsh on Baloucoune. It's very harsh if its a direct swap for JOB and Hansen is kept on the LW.

So Sexton seems to be playing coy about retirement.

How much longer could he actually go. He will be 38.

That said one of the hardest parts of a rugby season is preseason imo. I always wonder why players retire after a world cup. Maybe there's an option there to finish the season.

In the same interview he mentions that he hasn't been to South Africa yet in his life. That's a very interesting fact for an international rugby player. Maybe Leinster should send him on a tour there.

I think Balacoune is a class player but I think it's fair to say he hasn't played as well for Ireland as he does for Ulster. I don't really know why and I don't even think he's played badly for Ireland but he doesn't have the same impact. After JOB's performance against SA I think this was probably coming.

Lol.

Frawley did 'ok' against NZ Maori, 6 months ago, (Ok, as in he didn't completely sh1t the bed) but he started against the NZ A squad 2 weeks ago and was pretty poor. When he was on the pitch, Ireland essentially had 2 12s and no 10 and we got dominated.

When Crowley came on at 50 minutes he definitely looked like a better 10, but the game was lost at that stage and the team were playing in completely disjointed way

Crowley has been much more impressive than Frawley in the chances he has been given, but whatever, he plays in the wrong coloured jersey so he has to do way more to make the cut than the 4th choice 10 for Leinster.

Also, all the people saying Crowley is the 3rd choice Munster out half don't know what they're talking about.

He would have started most of those games when he was away on the EI tour, he did start the Ulster game even though Healy was available and he did very well.

He is currently about even with Carbery in the Munster Depth chart, only because of pressure from the IRFU to keep giving him more minutes.

Or it could be that the team that plays the likes of Fiji is made up of players who have never played together before and is thrown together the week before the game, while the '# team of us' is the same core 23 players that are only rotated due to injury, and even then they usually are rotated with Leinster players because of 'cohesion' so the likes of Balacoune never get a proper chance because nobody tends to look good when the whole team are struggling

Mmm-hmmm.

Sort of overlooks the fact that Balocoune also played against SA.

I can see a good case for Jimmy o Brien in the 23 as he covers a few spots. Balcoune may miss out on that basis.

I think balcoune has done well with limited opportunity to impress. What we've seen is a player who can perform at this level and he's in the mix now. Doesn't mean he will start every game.

Maybe Munster just aren't very good, as their current league table position shows.

Also there is zero evidence to suggest Crowley is 'about even' with Carbery in the Munster depth charts.