Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Re.. France v Scotland

What surprised me the most was how effective Scotlands attacking maul was against the French. They made a fair amount of ground each time.

The most recent Lions tour when Dan Biggar was the starting 10?

I get that you’re a Scottish fan, so will defend him strongly.

Did you watch the Racing V Leinster game in Le Havre? It’s excellent example of how people are so willing to overlook the flaws in Russell’s game. For the moments of brilliance. He was absolutely muck for nearly the entire game. Pulled off one brilliant pass and the commentators rave about it.

That pretty much sums up Finn Russell though as an outhalf. Capable of moments of brilliance in every game. A flair player but overall a poor outhalf. Who is inconsistent in the extreme. He’s as likely to throw a beautiful pass, as he is an intercept.

As for Finn Russell playing for himself. I think maybe you should ask Gregor Townsend what he thinks about that.

I disagree. There has been an effort, but any effort to build a RWC winning squad that results in relying on a 37/38 year old Out Half who has injured almost as much as he has been fit over the past few years is clearly not good enough. When Sexton pulled out at the last moment before Australia in November, Crowley was thrown in at the deep end and JGP hadn't a clue how to work with him. If Sexton had been give time to recover instead of declaring himself fit all the time, then Crowley or Byrne or Carbery would have had the full week to prepare for that game and would have had a fair shot.

Carbery ws suppsed to be the reserve 10. Farrell stuck with him for 2 years even when he was playing poorly for his province, and then, despite returning to form for his province and playing well for Ireland, on the back of one penalty kick he was dropped out of the squad entirely in favour of Byrne (who is nowhere near good enough IMO and had a poor game this weekend)

It wasn't one penalty kick. That's ridiculous.

Byrne is the 2nd choice and rightly so. His defence, kicking and vision are great. Do I think he's the best thing since sliced pan, no. But it does what it says on the tin.

Byrne's defence is not great, He has a vulnerabilities, I think Russel will have a field day chipping in behind him in 2 weeks. his pace is very very poor. Look at the line break last weekend, He was beaten for pace by Andrew porter and if it wasn't for Casey making a huge effort to track back and gather the ball, it would have been a try.

It literally was 1 penalty kick. He came on in that game for the last 8 minutes, made several errors and kicked one kick to secure the win. After that the narrative was all Byrne, Carbery was dropped from the Irish squad for the 6 nations and Crowley went to 3rd choice behind Byrne.

After that the narrative was all Byrne

The narrative?

Do you think what gets said in the media or on social media has any impact on team selection? Spoiler: it doesn't.

It's very likely that the far more mundane reality is that Byrne isn't good enough (I personally don't think he is tbh) but that Crowley isn't either.

Byrne makes complete sense without Sexton. BUT he needs JGP, Ringrose, Lowe, Keenan and prob Henshaw around him. (+ the 7,8,..9 Leinster forwards)

Park and Ringrose were big losses for his game (familiarity) . That wasn't part of the Farrell plan.

Byrne coped grand considering.

Agree about Carbery. He shouldn't have been dropped from the squad.

I'm biased and even I don't think Carty has found the kind of consistent form to bring himself back into the international conversation. He struggled returning from injury and is still only settling back into the role. He'd need to raise his game significantly to be in contention for a summer internationals opportunity imo. His goal-kicking is always going to be seen as a significant mark against him and he hasn't really tightened up that shortcoming.

Here we are banging the drum of Sexton is too old and too brittle. Yet, he's still the man. It's not ideal, it's not guaranteed to work and his form could fall off a cliff.

But why is he still picked? Why are Carty and Carberry out in the cold? Farrell has selected a slow cumbersome unathletic option as the back up. Why?

What has Carberry done to demand selection? Or Carty? Why were they trying to get a look at Frawley at oh?

The answer is most likely that the lads mentioned aren't good enough. Imagine, 37 caps and the best we can say about Carberry is "he was ok". Preparations for the world cup are difficult. Depending on a 37 year old to steer the ship is not great and the fact that nobody else is even in his rear view shows that he's either that good, or that the others are only at a urc level.

It remains to be seen how Ross goes. He deserves his chance and time to bed in. Carberry had plenty of time and opportunity and here we are.

From twitter:

Ireland coach Andy Farrell expects to have Tadhg Furlong, Jamison Gibson-Park, Johnny Sexton, Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose back for Ireland’s final push for a fourth Grand Slam.

Carty has been persona non grata on the Irish setup for close to 4 years. When he was going a period when he was the best outhalf in Ireland Farrell pick Burns and Byrne for Irish setup.

Farrell does a fine job and he wins, so not complaining but he picking the players he wants not necessarily the best players. He definitely gives a Leinster player and opportunity before Ulster or Connacht, but he is succeeding doing that.

Marmion is the player I really feel has been hard done by... Casey is a joke in comparison...

As for Scott Penny coming before other players... Penny has only played 10 min of Heineken Cup in his whole career and that was when Leinster were 14 points up with 10 min left against Racing. It is understandable that Munster feel that their back rows are get looked over... Personally I think we have very invested in JvF, he back up is way behind...

Perhaps relevant to the OH discussion...

27 players kept in camp. Of the 23 who played on the weekend, only Crowley is released. They must be reasonably sure that Sexton will be fit.

Bealham's 6N is over.

Healy, JGP, Henshaw, Sexton, Ringrose and Furlong all in camp.

Irish Rugby | 27 Players Retained For Ireland Mini Camp And Aviva Open Session