Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

thomond2006

I'm not sure Kilcoyne will have enough minutes to get in. He didn't play in Galway because of an injury. There will have to be a game/games in the next two weeks. He's had virtually no rugby for nine months.

We're in big trouble at 10. Sexton looks rusty. Burns was awful in the RDS. Carty is hot and cold.

lawrencesummers

JJ is the best performing Irish 10 at this point in time.

molloyjh

I actually think that POM us doing more than enough to be considered our first choice 7, which isn't something I expected 12 months ago. His pink play looks better than Connors or VDFs.

Killer and Furlong not being back will ultimately prevent either from being involved. They only have 1 or 2 games available so for now I'm assuming they are out. Whats the timeline on Stockdale, Henderson and Ringrose? Anyone know whats going on with Lowe?

lawrencesummers

molloyjh wrote: »

I actually think that POM us doing more than enough to be considered our first choice 7, which isn't something I expected 12 months ago. His pink play looks better than Connors or VDFs.

Killer and Furlong not being back will ultimately prevent either from being involved. They only have 1 or 2 games available so for now I'm assuming they are out. Whats the timeline on Stockdale, Henderson and Ringrose? Anyone know whats going on with Lowe?

I never knew that about Peter, it will come as a shock to Jessica after three kids that he is playing with the pinks.

sydthebeat

lawrencesummers wrote: »

JJ is the best performing Irish 10 at this point in time.

As said, we're fcuked at 10 currently

lawrencesummers

sydthebeat wrote: »

As said, we're fcuked at 10 currently

JJ can kick his points, which is a lot more than any other 10 did this weekend. On form he starts against France in a few weeks time.


But we know he won’t, Sexton is undroppable unfortunately and if his form continues without drastic improvement then our best hope of a top 3 finish in the 6 nations is a COVID cancellation and the table decided alphabetically.

Louis Friend

Which is why an SOS needs to be sent out for Ian Madigan.

The Inbetween is mine

Louis Friend wrote: »

Which is why an SOS needs to be sent out for Ian Madigan.

We need a water carrier?

Stout Warrior

lawrencesummers wrote: »

JJ can kick his points, which is a lot more than any other 10 did this weekend. On form he starts against France in a few weeks time.


But we know he won’t, Sexton is undroppable unfortunately and if his form continues without drastic improvement then our best hope of a top 3 finish in the 6 nations is a COVID cancellation and the table decided alphabetically.

I have Burns ahead of JJ. More reliable kicker and better at opening up defences. JJ doesn’t put himself on the line and likes to take an arm chair ride too often. How is he when his pack are being beaten up? Burns is capable of getting things going when his pack are being beaten.

I’d even have Madigan ahead of JJ. Tries a lot harder.

Louis Friend

Hanrahan is brutal. Nowhere near the level that’s required. Joe Schmidt thought that Madigan was good enough to play in the World Cup.

Bazzo

Louis Friend wrote: »

Hanrahan is brutal. Nowhere near the level that’s required. Joe Schmidt thought that Madigan was good enough to play in the World Cup.

We all respect you as a player Ian, you don't need to take it so personally.

Louis Friend

Bazzo wrote: »

We all respect you as a player Ian, you don't need to take it so personally.

Broadband or mobile data didn’t exist in 1976 so I doubt that Ian has access to Boards up in the Six Counties.

lawrencesummers

Stout Warrior wrote: »

I have Burns ahead of JJ. More reliable kicker and better at opening up defences. JJ doesn’t put himself on the line and likes to take an arm chair ride too often. How is he when his pack are being beaten up? Burns is capable of getting things going when his pack are being beaten.

I’d even have Madigan ahead of JJ. Tries a lot harder.

How did burns do behind a pack that were getting parity for a lot of the game last Friday.
(****e is the answer)


As I said, JJ is the best performing Irish outhalf at this moment in time. (Unfortunately)

lawrencesummers

Louis Friend wrote: »

Broadband or mobile data didn’t exist in 1976 so I doubt that Ian has access to Boards up in the Six Counties.

Joke of the year.
Hands down.
Give out the prize.
That won’t be beaten.

Gas.

Former Former Former

Hanrahan won't be picked. A career of mediocrity will not be simply overlooked because of a handful of decent (and no more than decent) displays.

Still leaves us with the problem of who to pick. Most likely it'll be Sexton, Burns and one of R Byrne or Carty.

thomond2006

Burns, R Byrne and Carty look like mediocre options now as well.

Former Former Former

thomond2006 wrote: »

Burns, R Byrne and Carty look like mediocre options now as well.

Yup. Depressing, isn't it.

theVersatile

LH: Healy, Cronin, O'Sull, Byrne
HK: Herring, O'Byrne, Kelleher
TH: Furlong, Bealham, O'Toole, Porter
LK: Ryan, Henderson, Beirne, Roux, Toner (for experience and guidance more than actually playing)
FL: Connors, VDF, POM,
N8: CJ, Doris, Ruddock
SH: Murray, JGP, Blade
FH: Sexton, Burns, Byrne
CT: Henshaw, Rungrose, Farrell, Aki
B3: Earls, Keenan, Larmour, Stockdale, Daly, Lowe

Additional to train:
Casey
Whycherley
Coombes
H. Byrne
JOB
Stew Moore
J Hume
Paul Boyle
Wootten

thomond2006

Former Former Former wrote: »

Yup. Depressing, isn't it.

Which would make me think we need to push the BIG RED PANIC BUTTON and go with Healy or Harry Byrne on the bench.

lawrencesummers

thomond2006 wrote: »

Which would make me think we need to push the BIG RED PANIC BUTTON and go with Healy or Harry Byrne on the bench.

Go with Healy and hope he doesn’t have to tackle anyone, like that Rob Kearney effort he put in on Dillane.

Stout Warrior

thomond2006 wrote: »

Burns, R Byrne and Carty look like mediocre options now as well.

They’re mediocre but at least have a good attitude. I know I’ll get slated for this because you can’t quantify attitude but I always get the feeling JJ is out for a walk in the park and wants his teammates to break their backs for him. I’ll get slated for this as some will say quality over effort but I believe effort makes up for a lot of failings in skill etc. Hanrahan isn’t the most skilful and he doesn’t put in the effort across the 80 either. The others are more intelligent fly halves also if slightly less athletic than JJ.

As I said Burns can get his back line moving when they’re going backwards. JJ can’t

I should say the above is in relation to Carty and Burns. I don’t think Ross Byrne is interested in or capable of changing a game

mfceiling

lawrencesummers wrote: »

JJ can kick his points, which is a lot more than any other 10 did this weekend.

Would you back him to kick a last minute penalty to win a match against France or England in the 6N?
He hasn't been the best at making pressure kicks in the past....and that's for Munster. Big step up to international games and he hasn't exactly made a case for getting selected in the past.

VANG1

Why no Porter

lawrencesummers

VANG1 wrote: »

Why no Porter

Dry January?

lawrencesummers

mfceiling wrote: »

Would you back him to kick a last minute penalty to win a match against France or England in the 6N?
He hasn't been the best at making pressure kicks in the past....and that's for Munster. Big step up to international games and he hasn't exactly made a case for getting selected in the past.

He hasn’t miraculously morphed into a big pressure kicker all of a sudden, he’s just the only OH putting in some bit of a performance consistently at this current point in time, which says more about the performances of every other OH in the country that JJ is ahead of them than anything else.

Stout Warrior

lawrencesummers wrote: »

He hasn’t miraculously morphed into a big pressure kicker all of a sudden, he’s just the only OH putting in some bit of a performance consistently at this current point in time, which says more about the performances of every other OH in the country that JJ is ahead of them than anything else.

He’s the recipient of an improving team around him he isn’t the catalyst for that change!

aloooof

mfceiling wrote: »

Would you back him to kick a last minute penalty to win a match against France or England in the 6N?
He hasn't been the best at making pressure kicks in the past....and that's for Munster. Big step up to international games and he hasn't exactly made a case for getting selected in the past.

He hasn't been as bad at pressure kick as is made out, imo. A lot of it stems from the Leinster semi-final where he missed 2 relatively easy penalties that would've gotten Munster within one score. It was a bad day at the office, no denying that.

But equally, he has scored pressure kicks too. Most recently the conversion against Clermont on 72 mins when the score was 31-30. He was flawless off the tee that day. He scored 9/9 I think, and it really kept Munster in the game.

Having said that, I don't think he's the answer either. Up until Friday, Billy Burns was playing pretty well and seemed to be next in line behind Sexton. I don't think one game is enough to change that, tbh.

Dubinusa

Furlong hasn't played in months, so I think he's going to miss out. Ringrose is hurt again, probably best to let him recover. Henderson out too.
Healy is looking at the end of his international career. It's very obvious he's not the same player as he was. Sexton is average too.
I would expect Farrell to stay the course though. I reckon we'll see a very experienced but underwhelming squad. I believe this will be a poor 6nations, if it happens.
After the tournament, I think we'll see an outflow of some players and an influx of younger lads.

shootermacg

Murray was back to his best yesterday. Made some very handy tackles, passing was crisp and, his kicking was as good as you'll see anywhere in the world.

OneLungDavy

Stout Warrior wrote: »

He’s the recipient of an improving team around him he isn’t the catalyst for that change!

Ross Byrne has 11 caps by the same logic.