Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

So you want to punish the referee for Sextons bad behaviour?

Agreed.

His one man show against Northampton remains a truly phenomenal performance.

Plenty of salty Irish people too.

Loving it.

jesus there’s some bitterness going on here.

They didn't really have proof, Sexton admitted it himself, which is the reason why the suspension was halved.

He apologised to the EPCR guy Tony Spreadbury because he had shouted/"sprayed" at him too. There was no indication that Johnny was also apologising for his actions towards the refereeing team.

Such is indicated in TS's statement: "I received a text message from Johnny Sexton explaining that he wished to apologize for the way he had spoken to me during the match... Sexton did not mention the match officials during the call, so I took his apology as being solely to me personally; rather than as a general apology to the match officials"

Though the report does indicate that Johnny is going to apologise directly to the ref team too.

Interesting from the legal perspective if nothing else!

You wouldn't be shocked if the outhalf cover is in the 33 man squad is

Sexton, Byrne Frawley

or

Sexton Crowley, Frawley?

ok

If Sexton was ready to go 100% I wouldn't be surprised to see a utility back who could cover 10 (if one was good enough I don't think Frawley is. I mean Id class him as Leinster's 6th choice Centre and maybe 4th choice 15).

Unless Harry Bryne is playing out of his skin, it's Sexton, Bryne and Crowley. I imagine Harry and Crowley will split 2 of the warm ups, with Ross starting vs England

Sexton saying that he went towards the officials to apologise for his initial reaction to them. I hope the posters that couldn't accept Kleyn's word will be more understanding here as it would be awful of them to attempt to tarnish the reputation of a great Irish player and our captain.

Hopefully people have regained consciousness now. To be clear, I meant "I wouldn't be shocked" in its literal sense.

I think Byrne and Crowley will go, but I absolutely don't think anyone else will be brought in ahead of Frawley if it came to it. I can't see any way Carbery (or anyone else) takes no part in the training squad but is parachuted back into the middle of the tournament and Frawley rides the pine. That really doesn't fit with Farrell's MO.

I also think people have forgotten just how highly Frawley is (or was, anyway) regarded at out-half by Farrell despite a negligible body of work for Leinster.

Maori tour - Frawley started both games at 10

Emerging Ireland tour - Frawley identified by the mgmt pre-tour as a key player they wanted to look at (as an out-half)

New Zealand 'A' game - Frawley started at 10 (then gets injured...)

Six Nations - Frawley is brought back into the Ireland squad for rounds 4 and 5, only a couple of days after his first game for Leinster in 5 months (since the NZ A game).

If Frawley is doing the business in training, I don't think it's out of the question that he goes in the 33-man squad tbh. He is clearly very highly rated by the Irish coaches, they have backed him to a greater or lesser degree at every turn.