Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

I think we have had our fill of this tbh

You can say that but he is playing better than he was when he made the team in the last RWC...

I don't think you will find much in Connacht that would take Byrne over Carty... Think is, if your pack doesn't dominate then Byrne doesn't impose himself in the game... He has really little exposure to that.. Other provinces don't have the Leinster scrum and need there backline to preform..

We need a outhalf that brings the ball to the line in pressure situations.. O'Gara has clearly stated that Out Halves have to play the postition week in week out... So we really should be only looking at players with 800+min a season at out half...

If you are not getting that then goto a Province that will give you that. Burns and Carty places are there for the taking. They have 3000mins of rugby a season between them...

He was ... Fine. I really wish Farrell had given more than 2 mins to the other 10 on the bench, especially as we were 2 scores ahead for most of the last quarter and Byrne wasn't generating much attacking threat or defensive value.

I think Byrne did contribute to Ireland's 1st try when he carried the ball to the line and delayed his pass, but for the rest of the game he was very deep and static.

It doesn't matter how he played compared to his own form when he made the last WC. It matters how he's playing compared to other players now. And evidently, even if you can't see it, he's not playing to the other's level consistently or to a degree Farrell and co want.

It also doesn't matter what fans of a team think about their fly half over another either. Even if you ignore that a team's fans are massively biased both in terms of preference and familiarity, it again only matters what the coaches think. And again... they seem to think Carty isn't to the level of the other fly halves ahead of him. Even if we accept the premise, there's also plenty of evidence that Carty also doesn't impose himself on teams when his pack is on the back foot.

It also doesn't matter (bit of a theme here) what O'Gara thinks about fly halves as O'Gara isn't coaching the Irish team, nor is his word gospel when it comes to fly halves ... except for the team he coaches.

It especially doesn't matter because, to pick the one you chose, Byrne has 876 minutes for Leinster so far this season, which is ... carry the one ... yep, over 800. To compare, 964' for Burns and 950' for Carty.

(Going back the last two seasons, Byrne 1,204 and 1,225, Burns 1,760 and 845, Carty 1506 and 1,247 - pretty close range across the course of those two seasons say, as well as this one)

Maybe if you watched Top14 rugby you would be more enlightened - his team mates love him.

He should be put on a pedestal.

You need to be called out on this invention of yours that 'he plays for Russell'. His team mates, Racing and Scotland, appear to disagree with you - I wonder who we should listen to?

He's quite clearly the best fly half in the world at the moment, as any person with any knowledge of rugby has acknowledged in recent weeks.

He's a massive threat but if you are convinced that all that's needed is turning up at Murrayfield in 2 weeks for the GS and all will be fine, that's grand with me. I am old enough to remember England trundling up there as much stronger favourites for the GS and getting turned over.

That is just infantile.

I think I'll listen to some of the great fly halfs of the world from the last few decades when I'm forming an opinion on Finn Russell if you don't mind.

Out of interest, presumably if you were Andy Farrell in 2 weeks you'd be saying something along the lines of:

"..nothing to worry about this lad Russell - everything he's done has just been for himself. Ignore him and concentrate on........."

Infantile. Curious turn of phrase.

Edit: I'd be putting him and the scrum under pressure. Let him do his thing.

Comparing Russell to Madigan is very obviously infantile - however I suspect I’ve been ‘trolled’ or whatever you like to call it while thinking I was having a genuine conversation.

For what it’s worth I don’t actually give a monkeys about your minority views - I enjoy great rugby and Russell makes me smile.

I accept its a small minority view but I think Carty is a better 10 than Byrne and has more credit in the bank than Crowley.It is too easy to dismiss the difference playing behind the Leinster juggernaut than the relatively flimsy resources out west.Byrne is definitely a better place kicker but I think Carty is a better all round 10.Dont think it matters much as Carty is unlikely to get a go now but I think he goes in the hard done by category with John Cooney.

It would be a very small minority.

Carty is a fine player, but to where international standard.

Yea Finn Russell is a top class 10. I prefer Sexton but other than that he’s miles ahead of any Irish 10.

I’m no Sexton is god fundamentalist but you are completely exaggerating Russell’s value here. If he was anything like the best ten in the world Scotland would have beaten France handily. He kicked away decent attacking ball 3 times in the French 22 when the French line out was humming. He tried and fluffed several less than 50/50 offloads and between himself and Tuipoloto they undermined several other Scottish attacks. He also set a tone among the Scottish backs late in the game to play high risk rugby when a steadier hand would have Led a controlled fight back that might have won the game. With him at ten Scotland will lose more games than they win but score occasional magic tries that keep people believing. He’s a bluffer.