Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

And rightly so, he needs to be lighting it up to get his place back...that's what depth is all about

Nash showed in the 6N he is dependable took his chance in the absence of others.

Iirc there were alot of calls for JOB to be swept straight back into the leinster team after injury for the CC.

He's a good player, currently not anything better than Nash at international level

brick yard, dundrum house will both show it. My preference would be the brick yard

Hop on the luas and go to Mcsorleys or Smyths in Ranelagh, two good rugby pubs

@the guy asasking for pubs obviously, forgot to quote

My post-rewatch reviews seem to be well received on here - so I'll leave it until I watch the game back to do a full review. But brief FT notes (posting in the Ireland thread since the match thread is a bit of a mess at the moment).

Got away with a poor second half - if we can keep that first half intensity for 80 minutes we'll be a hard team to beat. But overall, very few of us showed up to play in the second half.

Murray showing despite his detractors that he still has value to offer at the age of 35.

Frawley has probably cemented himself as our #2 out-half purely from a clutch perspective. The two drop goals were ice cold. He didn't exactly have much opportunity to show off his out-half play besides that (one poor cross-field kick into touch and a nice grubber off a scrum loop play was all I really picked up on in real time) but I don't think I'd have reservations about him being in the #22 shirt after today.

Osbourne at 15 turns out to be another one of those "Andy Farrell was right" moves - he was extremely solid and if he can take the kind of punishment he did today from the South Africans, I'd have no trouble with him covering there in future. He's streets ahead of Larmour and Stockdale there, while JOB will be eager to try and earn back his place.

Crowley had what is now becoming his typical game - a good all around display marred by 2 or 3 (in today's case, 3) dodgy kicks in open play. He's still in his infancy as a test 10 and I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt with these. He showed up again well in defence and is still easily our best ten to take the ball to the line, as seen for Murray's try in the first half.

Osborne at full back creates so many questions for ireland and leinster. He is a genuine option now

Doris Beirne and VDF were exceptional today.

Kelleher is phenomenal, if he can just stay fit.

Nash Is good but Hansen is a huge step up.

With his injuries and Sheehan coming through I think people can forget or overlook just how good Kelleher is.

He was absolutely superb today, especially in the opening 20 mins. His carrying is so abrasive and he really put himself about. He is a more physical player than Sheehan. Would love if he could have a season next year like he had when he first came through and remind everyone that Dan Sheehan isn’t the only elite hooker in Ireland.

Interesting stat

The 2021 match was The B&I Lions win over SA

was watching in the pub so may have missed a lot.
I remember when Keliher burst on the scene being delighted that we had our our 2 for the next 10 years.
Don’t normally go in for ref bashing but some bad calls today I thought.

Proper talent

Phenomal, off his shoe laces, perfect fast skip pass, right into Lowe's chest for him to take it at pace.

I thought the same live, but it looks fine there.

Frawley bar one over cooked kick to touch was pure class. Not just for his two drop goals either. He's a genuine competitor for the 10 slot and I hope thats crystal clear to Leo.

Ireland were immense yesterday and proved all the doubters wrong, staying in the fight under relentless pressure, down to 14. I really hope now this tour puts to bed all the shite talk around here about Farrells selection calls.

Humble pie anyone?

James Ryan had an incredible game yesterday. Brought so much fight and intensity to the Irish pack and a real hard edge.

I thought the Doris yellow was completely unfair. It’s quite different from Shannon Frizzell’s roll on Bongi in the RWC final. Doris just inadvertently ends up in a position where he’s strewn across the players calf, and Ryan comes in for an aggressive clear out. The notion that they’re aligned or attempting to injure the player doesn’t stand up to scrutiny, and the idea that Doris gets penalised for lying in a position that is only made dangerous because another player comes into the ruck seems ridiculously harsh.