Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Yeah it was awful seeing Ireland winning a Grand Slam having scored more tries than any other team in the competition by a distance (we scored 20, England came 5th and were next best on 14). It was awful winning a series in Australia for the first time in my lifetime and then backing that up with an unbeaten November where we out scored our opponents on tries in every game by a total of 12 to 3. Terrible it was. Terrible.

Don't think it's complicated. Some people are positioning themselves so that if they don't have the joy of watching their team excel, they at least have the pleasure of saying "I told you so".

Finn Russell is flaky. The best example was actually for Racing against Leinster back in December. He created a lovely try for Racing and commentators were waxing lyrical about him and his ability. The problem was that he was nowhere to be seen for the vast majority of that game. At one point they got Leinster on the back foot and were deep inside our 22. Cue the Racing 10 taking the bull by the horns and picking out options that put Leinster under more pressure to eventually put Racing in a scoring position. Finn? Finn? Where are you Finn? A couple of phases later Leinster have regained their shape and pushed Racing back beyond the 10m line. Finn did the sum total of nothing with that promising passage.

The Scotland game in the 6Ns was the same. Ireland in a bad way and the line out a real area to be targeted. Did Russell start putting balls in behind to try and do that? Nope. What did he do in that second half? Again, very little really.

Its all well and good being able to do the sexy stuff. But it’s a professional sport. His job is to play his role in getting his team victories. And when the going is good he can look great at that. When the going isn’t so good he can all but vanish. Or worse, start throwing Hail Mary balls and making mistakes left and right. Again, the French game in the 6Ns epitomised that. Great one moment, awful the next.

I wouldn’t have Russell within an arsed roar of any team I supported. If he can get his head right and apply himself better he could be a generational talent. But right now he’s a guy who can look wonderful but ultimately fall short when it matters. A bit like Scotland themselves.

From Murray Kinsella, The42: 'I had a conversation 18 months ago to try to stop him from retiring' (the42.ie)​

'I had a conversation 18 months ago to try to stop him from retiring'

​IRELAND BOSS ANDY Farrell has revealed that he had to dissuade Keith Earls from retiring 18 months ago.

35-year-old Earls was yesterday named in Ireland’s final 33-man World Cup squad, having been convinced not to hang up his boots at the end of the 2021/22 season.

Rather than calling it a day at that stage, Earls signed an extension to his IRFU contract until the end of the upcoming World Cup.

And while he had an injury-hit 2022/23 season, Earls returned for Munster towards the end of their URC-winning campaign and has now secured his place in Farrell’s squad for the World Cup in France.

Yesterday, after Farrell discussed some of the younger players who made his squad or pushed hard for places, the Ireland coach hailed Earls’ remarkable journey.

“You go to the other end of the scale and Keith Earls… I had a conversation 18 months ago to try to stop him from retiring,” said Farrell.

“He’s certainly come through the other side. He’s been outstanding over the last nine weeks as regards giving to the squad his whole self, his experience, etc., but at the same time being as fit and excited as I’ve ever seen him. You go from one extreme to the other.”

Earls will play in his fourth World Cup having recently become a centurion for Ireland, marking his 100th cap with his 36th Test try against England two weekends ago.

The Limerick man pulled out of Saturday’s win over Samoa due to a “minor niggle” but Farrell said Earls would have played if it was a bigger game at the World Cup. He can look forward to a few of those now.

On the other end of the scale, Farrell has been pleased to see 22-year-old lock Joe McCarthy and 23-year-old out-half Jack Crowley, the two youngest members of the squad, taking their chances to earn World Cup places.

“Go back to the Emerging Ireland tour, the South African tour [last year], and you know everyone knew how hard that was, how hard a time it was for Irish rugby because there was a little bit of fallout,” said Farrell.

“Have a look at what’s come from that, the experience of sending a kid over to grasp what it takes to be an international player and seeing how they run with that experience for the rest of the season – can they make it into the first team in their province, and not just start but thrive in that type of pressure?

“I think that’s been an extraordinary story if you ask me in regards to Jack Crowley and Joe McCarthy and Nashy [Calvin Nash] who has obviously been in with us in camp, and Tom Stewart and more players as well who are going to benefit.”

So no suggestions then. Earls is perfect squad player for the world cup. He has more than enough pace and his experience is huge for the squad.

The more pragmatic approach is what gets the wins generally. You can’t always have both. Which is my point. Coaches and teams don’t play pragmatic rugby for the craic. They do it because it’s the best approach to getting results. How many other successful teams have people complained about in that regard? Saracens, Wales under Gatland, the Lions under Gatland, South Africa, Ireland, England a number of times over the years. It’s incredibly normal that success and pragmatism go hand in hand.

Healy back before 10 w means Farrell opened up a door for a QF re-call

Thought?

Not surprised by that. I enjoy watching Finn Russell play because its entertaining. But I wouldn't want him on a team I actually support because I want that team to win trophies.

No I'd go Barrett. More of a game changer and covers FB.