Rugby world cup post mortem

You are pivoting now.

You clearly thought we had something and that one player or the choice to play one player 'cost' us what we had.

Entitlement all day long.

What actually happened is we entered a competition and lost to the eventual finalist.

I have absolutely no interest in your wierd 'entitlement' argument

Nothing weird about it.

It infected quite a bit of the support. You aren't alone.

Yes Farrell is well known in rugby circle to be very weak...wait sorry not sure if I got that right

If you reveal that you felt 'someone' lost something we didn't have and never had, then you 100% felt 'entitled'.

No problem with you 'having a view'. Trying to promote the narrative that there wasn't a competing view from a more informed standpoint, is the problem here. Sexton was not replaced for a reason, it wasn't oversight, incompetence or because the player has too much power.

Give the management some respect and work out why their view might have been more credible.

Yes, a poster said it.

'they lost us a World Cup'

Go on, tell us how you lose something you never had?

Your definition of respect is different to mine I guess. I certainly would not be making out that a coach I respect overlooked/ignored/acted out of fear of a player's status etc

I accept he was in a better position than me to judge what was required and what he wanted, and that is fine.

So you think he's infallible.

I don't

Did I believe that AF had proved himself capable in his role and that his decisions were to be respected, yes.

Do I think that I'm able to comment on other peoples fallibility, no. Respect & (blind) faith are not the same thing.

AF earned my respect.

Sure let's just thrash everything and throw the toys because we didn't get what we were entitled to.

And those second guessing a coach's in-game decision from the pub/sofa or side line on the basis that he overlooked or ignored Sexton's fatigue are being what exactly?

For those like me who respect Farrell, does that mean from now on we can't question his team selection, the timing of substitutions, etc?

We may as well close down the rugby forum if that is what people want.

Carberry was getting the minutes when he was healthy. Healy was also eating up minutes. Crowley was 3rd choice at Munster! Ireland's problem was that Carberry is not a good out half. Yet he was Sextons back up.

And it is condescending to suggest that it was anything other than a decision based on his info, experience and the demands of the situation.

To state that Sexton was fatigued and he 'should' have seen that or that he was afraid of Sexton's status etc, is to put yourself above him.

He took all the factors into consideration, made his in -game decision and it didn't work out. That's part of the job and par for the course.

Funny how you keep harping on this, "dead on his feet" etc, yet nothing about all the other players who were shagged. Beirne caught a ball and gently laid down for a nap in the last sequence.

Can you throw out some analysis of how Sexton was bad exactly?

Which you have no knowledge as to whether that would've done anything. The team marched down the field just fine with Sexton. We had an overlap out wide that Ringrose blew. A fresh McCarthy failed to clear out a ruck and that's all she wrote.

You and Akrasia are presuming everything positive for Crowley coming on and making a claim that Sexton was playing badly to justify it. Nothing to do with red tinted perspectivea I'm sure

And how does that compare to the other players on the field? You want to hold him in isolation from the game being played. Every player on the pitch was shattered. I would dispute he was playing far below his standard. He helped orchestrate us moving the ball down the field at the death.

This ^. We were still going forward when Whitelock didn't release and got the judgement. Young and inexperienced McCarthy's lack of a decisive clearout factored into that...but but Sexton.

Tired old record at this stage.

If there was a spare 2nd row on the bench and Beirne was left on despite being exhausted I'd have been just as critical of that decision.

Sexton was mediocre all game and got worse as the game went on, his kicking and overall distribution was poor, he was too predictable in attack. If it was anyone else, you'd agree he had a 3 star game at best. It's not like he was holding the team together all on his own and Farrell couldn't bring him off because he was delivering so much..

You say he was mediocre, without offering any examples of how. He was key to us fighting our way back into the game, where we were Jordie Barrett's thigh away from taking the lead. You're looking for a stick to beat Farrell with, regardless of the evidence.

Leaving Sexton, Earls and Healy out, here are the age profiles (in 2027) of the remaining 31 players from the squad:

Starting with the areas we look the strongest. We should be fine at fullback and at hooker.

Funny how time moves on too; we were always worried about producing locks. But I think this is an area of relative comfort for us. Ryan and McCarthy will still be around. Baird might also develop to be an option there. Munster have very high hopes for Edogbo and Ahern. Leinster also have Deeny coming through. One of Henderson and/or Beirne might also be around, though I'd be more skeptical about the latter, given how much punishment he takes in games. Four years to get the lineout sorted too.

Again, funny about time. Not so long ago it seemed as though Irish rugby had so many backrow forwards we didn't know what to do with them. But you can imagine POM, vdF and Conan will each struggle to make 2027. That's a heck of a lot of leadership and workrate that will need replacing. That said, Munster have very high hopes for Quinn and Gleeson. Kendellen, Hodnett and Coombes will also be looking to step up to international level. Less sure about what Leinster have coming through here? Connors, Deegan, Penny and Soroka all have the right age profile. Connors was certainly in the conversation once upon a time. You can imagine Cian Prendergast will also be a key player for us going forward. We should be OKish here?

Wings will look completely different in 2027, as I'd say Lowe will almost certainly be gone. But we could see JOB being deployed more there, and you'd hope that someone out of Daly, Nash or Baloucoune can step up. Shay McCarthly looks electric. One or two newbies together with Hansen and I think we should be fine. Would be great if someone develops into a legit kicking option (outside of JOB).

Between Crowley, the Byrnes and Prendergast, we should have decent competition at outhalf. The key here will be to resist temptations to compare players to Sexton, though I fear this might be inevitable.

Loosehead might be OK, if Paddy McCarthy comes along in time. Loughman will also be peaking as a prop in the coming four years. If Porter is still near his current level it's more likely that we'll be OK here. But there is risk.

Tighthead seems more of a lottery. We could theoretically still have both Furlong and Bealham, but just as likely have neither. Furlong's declining form is a worry in any case.

Midfield is become an area of greater concern. I think we'll be lucky if we still have two of those four centres playing at the highest level in 2027. In all likelihood only Ringrose will still be around and we'll see a good bit of overhaul here. Leinster seem high on Osbourne and Frawley might also be someone who can step up. Frisch will hopefully get some international minutes soon. Much is made about replacing Sexton, but if both Henshaw and Aki need replacing, they are comparably sized shoes to fill.

Scrum-half is also a worry. Murray will almost certainly be retired and JGP's game is so reliant on his pace that at 35 he may not be around either. Blade will be 33, possibly an option. Otherwise... all eyes on PFP?

tl:dr

Grand: Fullback, hooker, locks, backrow (probably)

Meeeh: Outhalf, loosehead, tighthead, wings

AAARRGH: Midfield, scrumhalf

(Usual caveats about it being hard to predict things four years out, there are always bolters out of the blue, etc. etc.)

I won't lie, Dubinusa, I'm a little disappointed this wasn't a 1500-word thesis on the emerging props!

Oh I know you can !! 😂

(You'd struggle to keep it under 1500 words!)

Wouldn't be the worst move if JOB will be deployed more on the wing.