Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

C'mere you fcuker, I want to apologise for my earlier actions

We used that strategy for at least the first half in the last game against south africa. We went from kicking long which is our typical strategy to contestable.

I'd rather any of Harry, Carty, Burns or Crowley over Frawley as throwing Frawley under the bus in a RWC knockout game could be a disaster for him, and for Ireland

The Scottish URC teams are the highest tacklers in the tournament. It's how they're coached.

It wasn't just Munster who got a load of HiAs playing them

In the IRL Scotland game, they'll likely be playing for their world cup tournament so won't be holding anything back. Won't be at all surprised to see a few HIAs

i would look at those games as 'A' games in all but name tbh, id imagine most others have a similar view on it

and i wasnt suggesting murray was a better option, just merely pointing out he has played fly-half in a full international while frawley technically has yet to. again, neither would be great options imo

Somewhat contrary to my expectations that all four SA sides are toward the right side of that distribution.

on the flip side, he only started the midweek games last summer as harry byrne was injured

That's probably correct but don't lots of players get their break like that? Come November, Harry Byrne was nowhere to be seen and Frawley was the man in the driving seat. By the same token, Crowley only got his caps when Carbery and Frawley were injured.

Again, he just wouldn't be in camp if he was as far off the pace as is being made out.

It's hard watching this and not feel annoyed

There must be a World Cup god up there that hates us

yep i completely agree, i was just countering your point that his lack of caps was due to circumstance by saying the gametime he has had is arguably due to circumstance too

and id agree with the idea that frawley would go in a smaller squad but with 33 and sextons age/injury profile, 3 proper FHs are needed in the squad

Hopefully frawley sees some game time v italy..

Who knows.. an injury to the 3rd choice outhalf for Australia could see Eddie jones call up Frawley..

Chatting to a friend today about the WC. He played for the US Eagles and Oxford and is a very good underage coach, knows the game and is a close student of it. He can't see past France and SA (Assuming as you should that they'll get a lot better). On Ireland he compared them to Argentina; capable of big performances but mentally off when it comes to being able to string dominant performances against top sides together. As we've seen countless times even struggling SA teams do that, as do the English, the French, the ABs and Oz though Australia have had some very bad days at the WC. Ireland's last top level performance in the WC was France in Cardiff 8 years ago and before that probably Australia in 2011. Those are the only significant victories Ireland have in the competition besides beating some of our 5 and 6 nations competition there.

I'd like to think the grand slam and the NZ series alongside our very good record against England, France and SH teams over the last few years change the equation but it's still the case that mentally we have the most to prove.

Was not aware of that. Thanks

Most likely part of the reason why oli jager wouldn't have trained with Ireland squad when they were short numbers before the Maori Match last year and they had to go get Bent to fill in on the bench.

I thought at the time jager could have played for ireland A in a non cap match v the Maori but still retained eligibility for the all blacks.

That’s why I’ve always felt it harsh when the argument was made that he wasn’t doing what Farrell wanted, or isn't good enough to do what Farrell asks.

In fairness to the people making that argument (i.e. me), you're looking at two different thresholds of "doing what Farrell wants".

Re: Frawley, it's whether Farrell rates him enough to give an outside chance of sneaking into a 33-man squad as third choice 10 and utility back. He only needs to outperform Byrne - who is no world beater, let's be honest - or Crowley, who is only marginally more experienced at 10 than Frawley. It's not insurmountable.

Coombes has been in every single squad for more than two years in a very competitive position, he's obviously highly rated by Farrell. However, the "not doing what Farrell wants/not good enough" argument was in relation to why he can't break the first choice match-day 23, and with the guys we have in the back-row, that's a huge ask and will continue to be, at least until POM retires.

Putting Coombes in Frawley's position, and seeing what he needs to do to go to France, he only really needs to beat out Prendergast, which is very achievable for a guy of his ability.