Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

The end of season is what counts, it didn’t affect any of the provinces

Saying it is bizarre is just because it doesn’t suit your narrative

The fact a number of players went on to represent Ireland in the World Cup was another huge bonus

Also when you consider the B&I cup ran for years yet we never had the same outcry I think we can all agree it’s just fans finding something to moan about for no reason

Munster lost 5 of their first 7 matches last season and I 100% think the EI tour had a part to play in that.

I think that's debatable, at best.

This is the Munster XV that lost to Cardiff in the opening match in 2022, in which all the EI players were available;

Shane Daly; Calvin Nash, Chris Farrell, Malakai Fekitoa, Liam Coombes; Ben Healy, Paddy Patterson; Josh Wycherley, Niall Scannell, Keynan Knox; Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley; Jack O'Donoghue (C), Alex Kendellen, Jack O'Sullivan.

This is the XV that lined out against the Dragons, and lost. The Dragons' first home win in a year and a half, btw.

Mike Haley; Keith Earls, Dan Goggin, Malakai Fekitoa, Simon Zebo; Ben Healy, Craig Casey; Dave Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell, Stephen Archer, Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley, Jack O'Donoghue, Peter O'Mahony (capt), Jack O'Sullivan.

So that's two defeats from two, against terrible teams, and only one of which was in any way impacted by the EI tour. I would strongly disagree that either of those Munster teams is weak.

The remaining three defeats from the opening seven games were against other Irish teams who were also subject to the EI tour, and in each of those games we saw reasonably strong Munster XVs named.

TBH, I think Munster just had a bad start to the season, which is fair enough with the departure of JVG, but the EI tour was a nice scapegoat rather than a root cause IMO.

Leinster fortunes didn't change because of the EI, I think we can all agree that

Munster won the league

Ulster from recollection had a great start to season, I think a loss v Leinster in Ravenspan but that was hardly a shock, went on a great run and it was only after the Leinster loss the wheels came off at Christmas

Connacht had a bad start to season but that was based on no stadium and lots of away games, finishing off with qualification for Europe. Would it have been different without the EI Tour?

None of the teams for affected by the EI tour.

Whether it directly impacts a province or not is almost irrelevant. It remains a fact that a group of players are being taken out of the provinces outside of an international window.

But no one can try and claim it didn't impact Munster, we had a new coaching ticket with a mixed preseason/early season because of it and Ulster's newish coaching ticket will have similar issues this coming season

I think nobody would be arguing that the tour is acceptable if it was done in the Euro window

Well, it wouldn’t be a good idea because European games are harder to win than URC, and you only have four pool matches, so the relative impact of a loss is much bigger.

At the end of it all, it’s a value proposition. Whether it’s an acceptable trade off for second tier players to miss two or three URC games in order to maybe identify 3 or 4 test players is entirely a matter of perspective. Some people will always prioritise province over country, others won’t, neither of these is objectively wrong.

Personally, I think it’s a great idea and we saw it pay off almost immediately last time around, and the negative impact was overstated. Maybe we’ll find another couple of guys who can be fast tracked into the test side, or it could be just as valuable to rule a couple of guys out.

I would think the Ireland coaches would select a list of their preferred players of interest, then would circulate the list to the head coaches of the provinces and would be given an opportunity to respond before the list of players would be finalised.

For example, if Marty Moore and Tom O’Toole are both fit and available, and I believe there is a high potential tighthead in the academy or entering the academy, then Scott Wilson could be allowed go with the EI squad and miss 3 Ulster games.

Alternatively, if Marty Moore isn’t fit, and the academy options aren’t deemed to be ready to fill in, then Scott Wilson should stay with Ulster.

Once the list of players has been run through like that, and assuming there are gaps leftover, then they probably would have to move down the list to work out how to fill out positions in the squad.

It might be better to jump down to capable players that aren’t needed by the provinces rather than use the high potential players that might be needed by the provinces.

It’ll be interesting to see what players are selected.

Yeah I mean if the URC isn't going from strength to strength then what is it doing? Last 3 years have been great.