Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Nor Rob Herring nor Hugo Keenan. I wouldn't read too much into some training pics.

Just thought those two were of interest since Conway may or may not be involved in the camp, and Osborne hasn't played in months.

Plenty of guys not pictured but Keenan is.

That's an excellent and very correct suggestion

others are green with envy - he has August off work.

He is basically saying Ireland wont do well at the world cup because they don't do well at world cups. Not exactly wrong, but its the same stuff you seen from kiwi teenagers in the comment section on youtube. Also means despite all trends and indicators in between WCs are on the rise they are still to be ignored, like they should have been in the past. You'd kind of hope at some point they would become pertinent.

I dont buy the Argies bit, they are way more hot and cold in general than Ireland but we caught them hot at the worst time on 3 occasions. Ireland are not a "going the well" team as much as they used be either, they dont rely on over penting themselves up emotionally like they have in the past, but the achievements have been unprecedented.

SA and France bit ya, if the games trends to proper "cup rugby" style they will be the last two left. They are the most likely to be able to control games but i dont think it will be that simple though. SA are still experimenting with their shape, they will be back to the traditional stuff soon enough.

Is it harsh? You're talking about a guy forcing his way into the first choice 23 for the best team in the world. "Not good enough" is another way of saying "the guys ahead of him are better", maybe that's less evocative?

You could make the same statement about Stuart McCloskey - very good player, shown that he can do a fine job at test level, but not good enough to disrupt the Henshaw-Ringrose-Aki axis. Rob Herring is an excellent player and has produced the goods for Ireland even more than McCloskey - but he won't get ahead of Kelleher and Sheehan. It's not a slight on these guys, it's a reflection of how well stocked Ireland are and nowhere is that more true than in the back row.

Yeah, maybe he just needs a break, an injury to POM or Doris or Conan - but when that happens, he needs to be the first name on Farrell's list to come into the 23, and he hasn't done that yet. Like, Coombes got his caps in summer 2021. Since then, Timoney, Prendergast and Deegan have all picked up senior caps that could have gone to Coombes.

This is all so reductive lol.

Ireland play a specific style and system. Max Deegan is absolutely a better fit than Coombes. He should be way ahead based on that. The only reason its a contest is because coombes is so much better.

Prendergast and Timoney are different types of players.

Coombes role for Munster in the loose isn’t really a backrow role for Ireland. It is an awkward fit if he is supposed to do the same things as conan or doris. Deegan can do a good impression of either.

I can't believe we've had 2 days of this nit picking and tone policing. Roll on the warm ups.

Triple f. Prepare for the agony of Gleeson! When he destroys the hopes of all the other pretenders.

I think you are milking it.....😉

World cup squad won't be announced until end of August