Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

What's the point in engaging with you? When results are good you'll be here to **** all over it and tell everyone it doesn't matter. And when results go badly you'll be here to say I told you so.

Ireland have the same number of 6N championships since 2012 as Wales, 4 each. In that period Wales have been to a WC semi. I’ve been thrilled with Irelands success over those years but no one would say Wales are a top team while many on here seem to think we are. Rankings aside top teams consistently perform at the World Cup. An no mistake, our record against the heavy weights is excellent outside the wc but honestly those results just prove we could do it when it counts, not that we can.

I for one am fuming Ireland didn't take a leaf out of England's book in 2015 and immediately sack the entire team.

What have those absolute failures been up to lately, anyway? Catt, Rowntree and the fella from the North, what's it, Lanny Stewart are something. They certainly haven't been making era-defining contributions to the game, at various levels, for a close rival nation, that's for darn sure.

Irelands disappointing WC record thus far does not diminish one iota the enjoyment and pride I felt during our 3 recent Grand Slams and the cherry on top was the series win in New Zealand.Would I give up any of them for a world Cup Semi final ,no chance.I don't think the absolutist attitude that if we don't succeed at World cup every other achievement is devalued is valid.We are not a world power despite the current rankings and for us to win or get to Semis we need a bit of luck.and we certainly would have knocked off a semi by now if our draws had been as favourable as Wales and England's have been in the past.

I mean when they excommunicated a collective competency that elsewhere brought about a Grand Slam (first in five years), a Heineken Cup (first in six years) and a URC title (first major silverware in 12 years), all because they over-reacted to a short-term setback.

Most of the above accomplishments can also be classified as "so far".

I was critical of a terrible performance. How on earth is that sh*tting on the team? I maintain that losing that game would have been better for us in the long run.

But this is the problem with Irish rugby fans. Unless you're a cheerleader and never criticise the team, you're miserable and negative and don't even enjoy rugby.

Ireland had a great past few years, some great victories and a grand slam. Amazing but we all said the real test was the World Cup. We entered it as the best team in the world and we failed at the quarter final stage, again. It wasn't just losing the quarter final that was the issue, it was losing it because the pressure got to the players. Unfortunately, this has been brushed over and lessons can't be learned that way. This means that we'll likely face the same issues at the next World Cup.

Where's your evidence that the players and management have faced up to the issue of the occasion getting to them? You are saying they are all lying to the media and the public but think they're being honest with themselves in camp?

We played well below our best against New Zealand, we didn't play with freedom, some of the players clearly buckled under the pressure. That's why we lost.

"We lost but we won"

It's the way someone who hates rugby and the teams they ostensibly support would watch it alright.

Where's your evidence that they have faced up to the issues of buckling under pressure? Calling them liars doesn't paint them in a good light.

Not every team who loses buckle under pressure but we clearly did, stop deflecting. We played really tight, not with the freedom that made us the best team in the world. We made basic errors, Sexton missed an easy kick and looked frozen under the pressure towards the end. We need to stop lying to ourselves and face up to the reality of it.

There currently isn't an Ireland squad

Try to paint it anyway you like, not telling the truth means they are lying. Why do you think they are comfortable lying to supporters but somehow will be honest with themselves? Why would they do that?

You did deflect, what other teams did or how pressure affected them or not is completely irrelevant to our performance in the quarter final. Previously in this thread, someone put together some stats that showed we played in a different way than we have in the previous 2 years. We didn't play with freedom. Sexton was a mess by the time he took that kick, his legs were gone. This wasn't down to his age. This is what pressure does to some players, he was barely running for the last 10 minutes.

If you want to pretend that the poor performance wasn't down to the occasion getting to the players, then fair enough, work ahead. That's what has been happening every 4 years, we keep coding ourselves and then we're back to square one 4 years later. What's that they call repeating the same mistakes over and over again and expecting different results?