Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Not going to make the irfu much money but would be great for the game and a great opportunity to blood some newer players

Ive yet to see any example of where a team sacrificing games for success at RWC's has actually worked long term.

And btw when I say this I mean good teams deliberately being sh!t, as oppose to sh!t teams being sh!t (i.e SA under Alister Coetzee).

What Ireland need to do is keep going the way they have been and keep building momentum at least for the next 2 years and then when we enter the 2nd half of the RWC cycle then start making tweaks. That is actually how the best sides have actually won RWC's.

Agreed with a small but...did we go into this tournament with sufficient depth and might that depth have been better if we had rotated more in the previous 2 years? Farrell brought in a lot of new players and he certainly promoted most of the players who showed a lot of promise at provincial level but he's also had a knack for selecting players who maybe aren't sing lights at provinces and coaching them to become far better players. If that continues and our selection policy remains as is and/or improves we should be in good stead both for success in the 6N and for 2027./

Aki deserves this. By far our best player at the world cup. I reckon the benifits of having Aki around Forde, Gavin etc are beneficial. Connacht are loaded with inside centers. They're probably deeper than all of the other provinces.

Not sure what he has done to warrant this appointment but I wouldn't be totally against trying him.

Now that's a tour I'd love to follow as a fan. Sounds brilliant.

Belfast Telegraph running with the Humphreys to o replace Nucifora as well but no quotes from anyone to confirm it.

The Pienaar decision will be pointed to as a success by IRFU, in the end Ireland ended up with Cooney who is a option at 9 available to Ireland and played some games. Ulster fans might not like it but after all the main job of the provinces is to provide players to Ireland. If Pienaar stayed would Cooney have got the chance he has with Ulster?

Stop. Cooney was not really an option for Ireland, it, in no way supports the decision to move Ruan Pienaar on.

Was Cooney good at Ulster, definitely, but so too was Pienaar. No one advanced from Ulster to really contest for a place in the Ireland team that Pienaar would have blocked had Ulster been allowed to keep him.

He played for Ireland and was in plenty of squads. So from an IRFU point of view they moved out a NIQ and replaced with an Irish player who made it into squads and played for Ireland.

It has nothing to do with the appointment and I wasn't the one who suggested it. Humphreys is been appointed I guess for his experience etc

I know you weren't, I wasn't expecting an answer from you, I just happened to quote your post as it was the last one on the subject!

In fairness he was behind Murray who was one of the best scrum halfs in the world during that period. Few rumours he didn’t see eye to eye with certain players and coaches which may also have been a contributing factor to not making as many squads as his form warranted.

Cooney was a huge success at Ulster and was as influential for them over a period of years as Pienaar was IMO. On performances he should have been a live option ahead of McGrath and Marmion, but there’s other elements to selection that we’re not privy too.

Overall, it's been a fantastic two seasons for the Ireland team. A series victory over New Zealand and a Grand Slam marks this as our most successful period ever and is one every player and fan should be rightly proud of.

I don't think we could have done much more to prepare for the World Cup either. Farrell revitalised a flagging side post 2019 WC and made us one of the world's best again. His selection decisions were mostly on the money and he held fast to his desire for an athletic, technically excellent pack with passing options from 1-8. If you don't fit what he wants you're out. I'm not saying this as a way to re-litigate old decisions, but you can absolutely see why he didn't select Jean Kleyn for instance. He isn't a player that fits the mould of lock Farrell was looking for.

I think we're well positioned going forward, but we need to start looking at a back up to Andrew Porter especially. I think he's a world class player, but we've flogged him for Leinster and Ireland in recent years. He shouldn't be asked to play 70+ minutes every game. We'll need to make a decision at blind side flanker and 10 as well. But we've enough talent coming through that I'm not very concerned.

Well deserved and I'm delighted for him but they were hardly going to give it to Rassie