Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

There shouldn’t be any talk of moving Doris out of position to accommodate Coombes. 

To be fair, I don't think I've seen any suggest as much.

And while I do think there is something to your analogy, I also think there's an element of people seeing Coombes' try-scoring record from short range and assuming he's just all about power. That's never been the case; his passing and especially offloading has always been a huge part of his game.

I do think there is something to what you're saying tho. For example, under Schmidt you used to hear that POM and VdF couldn't play in the same back-row. You don't really hear that any more and I think that's a) partly because of the game we're now playing and b) partly because we now have more power elsewhere in the pack, specifically from our front-row options.

And you could have said the same of Conan, until he got his chance in that England game due to injuries elsewhere, and then established himself as first choice 8 for a season. I think there's a chance Coombes could force his way into the 23 if he got a chance.

Ultimately, Coombes wouldn't be in the squad if they felt the stylistic difference was so profound that he had nothing to offer this team in this system; he clearly does. (And I would argue he's not as poor a stylistic fit as is sometimes made out).

That was always likely tho, and I'm not sure we can read too much into it.

For example, last season we had Italy in Round 3 as well. Casey, Hume, Treadwell were all sent back and played for their Province but were then named on the bench vs Italy the week later.

I'd like to see something similar with Coombes this year.

Is this to keep Munster happy so they don't have to pay him

No.

It's not just domestic form tho; he's playing brilliant in Europe too against teams of the calibre of Toulouse.

He's obviously not in the 23 because the coaches prefer Conan at the moment; it's axiomatic. But coaches decisions aren't infallible. And as I said, it was the same with Conan; he was outside the 15 until he wasn't. And he needed a bit of luck to go his way with injuries, Coombes might need something like that to go his way too.

Genuine question for you; do you think there's a credible argument for Coombes to be in the 23? There clearly is imo.

For what its worth, I would have Coombes in the 23 this weekend. That being said this:

is very much true. The game at the weekend was a nice run out for him, but utterly meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

I'd agree. But if there's an element of familiarity winning out involved (and I think there could be and understand that), that weakens the "he isn't doing what the coaches ask of him" argument.

Logically, he could be doing exactly what the coaches ask of him, and familiarity could still be winning out.