Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

there are some ridiculously good players coming out of the academies, so this doesn't worry me.

also, the next best no7 in John Hodnett.

Penny and young Quinn at Munster will also be snapping at JVDF’s heels

I’ve a feeling the next few seasons will be some of the most competitive we’ve seen for spots on the Irish team. Experience will keep some of the guys listed above in the mix but I expect much more turnover than we’ve seen in the last cycle.

Considering the success at u20 level over the last few years, there is huge potential there. Hopefully all the provinces can develop this talent effectively.

Is there any word on who is replacing Nucifora? Will be a very important role.

Porter will still be fine. Maybe not playing 70 mins anymore but still well able to compete for a place in the team.

Furlong will be closer to the edge, but Healy and Kilcoyne are/were still our next best options at 36 and 34. In 4 years bealham and furlong will be the same, so form dependant, one of them could still be in the mix.

JGP may struggle considering how much of his game is down to speed. I think Murray lasted as long because he has been in teams that played a slower more controlled game. Plus he has a bit more power to him in defense.

Ryan and Ringrose should be fine.

Henshaw might struggle given his injury record.

Beirne, Lowe, and Aki, in order of increasing unlikelihood, would need to be doing something fairly miraculous to be involved.

While Nucifora is ultimately responsible for the production line remaining constant throughout Ireland, it is also up to Ulster to sort this problem ourselves. You make a good point about the schools system. The schools up here will never spend the money on coaching structures that some Dublin schools do. I feel like the Branch needs to do more in improving coaching standards at schools and youth level across Ulster.

There is also the little spanner in the works, that is Nienaber taking over as head coach at Leinster.

The Irish success over the past 3 years was based on Ireland being Leinster plus, where Leinster were the dominant team in Ireland, and benefitted from having a very tight development pathway from schools through to the senior team, all of them playing more or less the same style and having players ready to plug into the Leinster and Irish system from a young age

In the next cycle, Leinster cannot realistically keep going with the same gameplan that has seen them getting beaten in the knockout stages of Europe consistently, nor will they continue to play to the same game plan with a new head coach with a different philosophy about how to play the game

So, do the current players in the Irish camp suit the new Nienaber gamestyle? Should Ireland continue with a gamestyle that has been unlocked at European and RWC knockouts?

Do we need a bigger pack, or do we continue to focus on mobility and kicking smartly? With Sexton gone, is JGP the default 9?

Loads of questions to be asked tbh, I can see a very different team lining up in the 6 nations 2025. The 23 that won us grand slams in 2023 were not the best 23 players in Ireland, they were the 23 players that best suited the specific role that Farrell wanted to fill. We cannot just try to rebuild that exact same team again with minor changes to personnel, if we stand still as a team, we'll end up going backwards.

The Irish team should always be in the top 4 teams in the world given how strong our 4 clubs are in one of the top 3 domestic leagues in world rugby.

We should have good enough systems and players to be competitive in the 6 nations every single year, to be winning against the SH teams more often than not, and we should be more than good enough to get out of our Pool in every RWC almost regardless of who our coach is

Wouldn’t really say there is that many issues. Lots of young talent coming through.

Porter will be around and the rest will probably be from Loughman, Paddy McCarthy, Milne and Boyle. Probably should be looking to get one of the Leinster lads to move to Connacht / Ulster.

Hooker will be grand, Sheehan, Kelleher and Stewart are the obvious choices. With a back up cast of Barron, DTM and Gus McCarthy, who is expect to push on over the next four years.

At tighthead, it’s not impossible to think one of / both Furlong and Bealham are knocking about. O’Toole would be the early favourite for first choice. Depth here hasn’t really convinced me yet with options like Salanoa, Knox, Clarkson, Illo and Barrett all having potential.

Second row looks very nicely stocked. Ryan snd McCarthy will be there. Henderson and Beirne could still be knocking about too. Young lads like the Murray brothers, Ahern and Edogbo and Izuchukwa could all be capped.

VDF could still be around in 4 years, Baird and Doris will most likely be mainstays but there’s a surplus of promising players who you could look at in Penny, Prendergast, Coombes, Deegan, Hodnett, Kendellen, Culhane, Gleeson and Quinn. 

At 9, I’d love to see Casey, Doak, Gunne and Devine all establish themselves as first choice at each province. All have looked class at u20 level. 

Crowley and Prendergast could be set up for an almighty battle at ten. Will be interesting to see how they develop. If frawley is seen as a ten, himself or Harry Byrne should be moved to Connacht / Ulster. Ross Byrne could also still be knocking about as an elder statesman.

At centres Ringrose will certainly continue but I’d have my doubts henshaws body will hold up. If it doesn’t there is some decent young talent coming through to add to the likes of Hume , Frisch, Moore and Osborne who are pretty established already. Would be looking at how Hugh Cooney, Cathal Forde, Shane Jennings, John Devine and Postlethwaite develop.

In the back three then, you have Keenan, Hansen, JOB and Nash who have been involved already. Stockdale and Larmour are young enough to rediscover their form. While the likes of TOB, Kilgallen and McErlean could break through. 

Yea there is prospects but I'm saying "crisis/mini-crisis" in the context of developing depth/realising that talent.

i.e. playing them in 6N & giving them enough experience to finally perform in a WC - getting to a semi-final (imagine) and hopefully a final.

Im not advocating the EJ Wallaby method but significant change has to happen otherwise it will be the same old story.

Eh, Leinster lost out in the knockout stages of Europe for the last 5 years straight. I think that counts as 'consistently'

If you want to gripe about only losing by a score last year, they only won by 3 points from a 78th minute penalty against Racing the last time they won....

Dan Sheehan wasn't a standout at u20 level iirc. He was always good, but I'm not sure anyone could have predicted that he'd be one of the best hookers in the world just 5 years later.

Wegians is right. Players will be ready when they're ready. On another note, there's also an issue with attempting to accelerate a young players development when they aren't ready. Could damage their potential long term.

My kingdom for a Scott Fardy type. A hard bastard that is awful to play against whether he starts at second row or blindside flanker. Similar to POM really, but taller so he could switch between the two when necessary. Or at least he could at Leinster.

He's another player who wasn't on anyone's radar for years. Made his Australia debut at 28.

Yep, as a Leinster fan I found that others treated Lancaster as a genius developer who had zero faults in his game. He was very tactically naïve IMO, our tactics never changed and if we lost the kicking battle we had zero answers. The gameplan of being the quickest around the ruck and never competing at the breakdown looks very outdated IMO. Great against lower quality opposition who can just be blasted through but with teams capable of building phases it didn't work. I wonder if Leinster Bulk up slightly and that indirectly means Ireland are abit more aggressive at ruck time.