Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Byrne is a very good defender. He's above most 10's. Crowley looks very good too.

Wait, so ROG is dishonest/a troll in interviews?

The same ROG who is lauded, both outside Munster and France, and even outside rugby, for his forthright, no-nonsense interactions with media?

He did also see Byrne and his 9 who also plays for ireland somehow not even be on the same page in a super high pressure situation. They play together all the time and somehow never talked about a situation where they might have to kick a drop goal. Or before the lineout. Or before they kicked down a line. For a guy who isn’t a great athlete, and his point of difference is that he can lead, that’s not leading.

Also, by my count there were more ireland players on that leinster B team than on that Munster team (9-6).

I would also say that putting a on new ten doesn’t mean the other one if failing. If Leinster had of put on Frawley earlier, he would have at least had the boot to attempt that penalty. I’d say his range is longer than Byrne.

Utilizing the bench and trusting your players is good coaching.

Edit; as an aside this is all pretty simple i think. Byrne knows the system and isn’t going to make any egregious mistakes. No one is ever going to worry about him carrying the ball himself. Crowley has elite ten upside but it might be too early for him.

I’d start Byrne but Crowley on the bench if Sexton starts. Crowley can cover three positions at a pinch… and i think i’d rather have him to chase a game.

“Play well”. Exactly. Yet you’re using it as a stick to beat him here.

NO, I'M NOT. NO, I'M NOT. NO, I'M NOT. NO, I'M NOT. NO, I'M NOT. NO, I'M NOT. NO, I'M NOT. NO, I'M NOT. NO, I'M NOT. NO, I'M NOT. NO, I'M NOT.

You were claiming that his performances in the run-in should mean he gets the 22 jersey. I'm just suggesting that they'll carry less weight with the coaches than you think. As has been widely discussed here, even the Leinster seconds didn't play to their own potential. I'm not using it as a stick to beat Crowley, I'm trying to frame these displays in how i think they might influence Irish selection decisions.

You're deliberately trying to frame me as attacking the Munster player. I'm not. I've gone out of my way to repeat that over and over.

You had a go at me, I explained my perspective in great detail, you could have just let it go or -gasp- admit you were wrong but you had a go at me again.

And another dig at me.

Yeah, I got it wrong on Carbery. Pretty sure we all did. Show me the post where you said back in January that Carbery would be ditched and Ross Byrne would leapfrog everyone into second place.

I'm happy to debate selections. I'd be less inclined to do so if I'll be called out for not being interesting enough, or everything I say being dug up six months later if things change.

We have a very small sample size of Crowley playing 10 to measure that on. Yes though, he certainly seems to be no shrinking violet in defense. If anything I would say he needs to temper his physicality at times.

Crowley is the future, I’ve been saying that since the under 20’s. However I don’t think the last 3-4 games is enough to say he’s the finished product yet.

He's been a very naughty boy according to some quarters. It's great stuff!

The man was clearly trolling. Couldn't be trusting him with the big Cork grin on his face.

Reading between the lines (and I appreciate this is the Ireland thread, so I'll spin it in that direction): There's a style of attacking play employed by both Ireland and Leinster, with a heavy emphasis on forward pods and how they move the point of attack and generate space for the backs. Tire out those forwards with a lot of mauls, and the evidence (from the Heino final) is that forward dynamism greatly reduces, and likewise did Leinster's back play. So even though different reasons have been highlighted for Leinster losing, you can tie them all together, i.e., the reduced passing and poor exits. They can all be traced back to the damage done by the LaR maul. Leinster did really well to stop the maul on most occasions without conceding penalties, but I think that won them battles at the expense of the war. The ensuing fatigue hurt them elsewhere a lot more.

Ireland may have different ways of coping with such an approach, for e.g., we'll definitely compete at lineout.