Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

UAEguy2020

errlloyd wrote: »

I wanna be positive.

But replacing Sexton for Ireland will not be about switching the man. It'll be about rejigging a team that has been built to play in a very specific system around a very specific person.

Don't let this weekend be the forecast of an Ireland without Jonny, because this team has not been calibrated to play without Jonny, that comes later.

The chance was the autumn when we had relatively meaningless matches to try a new 10 but choose to stick with Sexton...

Abel Ruiz

Tomtom364 wrote: »

Stander Was captain for the end of the match last week.
I'd imagine he would be frontrunner captain for the start in the absence of Sextan, Ryan & O'Mahony.

Anyone that believe Stander shouldn't be captain of Ireland. We know what your problem with it is. It's been done to death here, the media and everywhere. Can we just not do that again please.

Wow, Is a newbie allowed to disagree with you?
Why not Henderson, if he starts?

ionadnapokot

yerrahbah wrote: »

G'wan Casey

:eek:
Ive been calling for Casey to get capped during the last 6N

This is not the game for him.
Massive ask to throw him in at the deep end v France

I would have picked at least Wales, Georgia & Sco in the Autumn or Italy in the 6N to give him his 1st cap.

UAEguy2020

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Ironically that poster had about 25 consecutive posts last telling us how much he hated Sexton and how he always lets us down

It’s not Sexton not playing that annoys me it’s that we have a halfback pairing that haven’t played together bar 20 minutes last week. Ross Byrne for instance knows both JGP and the rest of the backline and would make much more sense.

theVersatile

ionadnapokot wrote: »

:eek:
Ive been calling for Casey to get capped during the last 6N

This is not the game for him.
Massive ask to throw him in at the deep end v France

I would have picked at least Wales, Georgia & Sco in the Autumn or Italy in the 6N to give him his 1st cap.

As if we have anybody else?

Clegg

Probably the best pack we could put out given injuries and suspensions. It's still a strong one and the replacements will add a lot of impact.

The backs are a mixed bag though. Despite his declining abilities, Sexton is the best 10 we have by a mile. We'll miss him. I hadn't heard that Murray was injured, but he was poor last weekend anyway so maybe it's a good thing we have someone new in. Earls is very lucky to start as well. Last weekend was a horror show.

aloooof

Some stat, this:

https://twitter.com/rpetty80/status/1360194570521313280

LuckyLloyd

UAEguy2020 wrote: »

So we are in a do or die game and at 9 & 10 we have two players who have never started a match together play (if they have even played together at all)...

Why is it a do or die game? It's just the 6 nations. We'll get another crack at it next year. And the year after. And the year after that...

sydthebeat

aloooof wrote: »

Some stat, this:

https://twitter.com/rpetty80/status/1360194570521313280

great stat

ionadnapokot

theVersatile wrote: »

As if we have anybody else?

What you mean?
In this squad of course not.

But he's making his debut against France!! That's just bad management.

He wasnt ready for Georgia in Nov but hes ready to play 6N v France in Feb?????

If Murray was out. Why was Marmion or Cooney not called up?

Rugby4568

Can’t understand why some people laughed at me and thought I was lying. Told you I was telling the truth.
To those that doubted me and laughed at me, enjoy your humble pie.

bayern

Rugby4568 wrote: »

Can’t understand why some people laughed at me and thought I was lying. Told you I was telling the truth.
To those that doubted me and laughed at me, enjoy your humble pie.

so much for not bragging :pac:

sydthebeat

teddy thomas benched

irishbucsfan

ionadnapokot wrote: »

What you mean?
In this squad of course not.

But he's making his debut against France!! That's just bad management.

He wasnt ready for Georgia in Nov but hes ready to play 6N v France in Feb?????

If Murray was out. Why was Marmion or Cooney not called up?

Is it not just possible that Casey has impressed them enough in this camp for them to make the decision they’re confident enough to give him a shot?

Rugby4568

bayern wrote: »

so much for not bragging :pac:

I’m not bragging I just think it’s funny that everyone was laughing at me thinking I’m talking rubbish when I was actually right. Sorry if it sounds like I’m bragging but I’m not bragging at all.

theVersatile

ionadnapokot wrote: »

What you mean?
In this squad of course not.

But he's making his debut against France!! That's just bad management.

He wasnt ready for Georgia in Nov but hes ready to play 6N v France in Feb?????

If Murray was out. Why was Marmion or Cooney not called up?

As far as we know, Murray was injured yesterday, maybe Wednesday. You want to call in someone on one day's training (if even) to leapfrog Casey, who's been in the squad since the start of the campaign? Now that's awful management.
This is the right call. A show of faith. Either that or he only gets on with two minutes to go anyways - at which case no harm.

irelandrover

ionadnapokot wrote: »

What you mean?
In this squad of course not.

But he's making his debut against France!! That's just bad management.

He wasnt ready for Georgia in Nov but hes ready to play 6N v France in Feb?????

If Murray was out. Why was Marmion or Cooney not called up?

Casey has played a lot since November. Including some very difficult games where he's shown up well. Its easy to see why he's made this squad but wasnt quite ready back in October.

theVersatile

Rugby4568 wrote: »

I’m not bragging I just think it’s funny that everyone was laughing at me thinking I’m talking rubbish when I was actually right. Sorry if it sounds like I’m bragging but I’m not bragging at all.

Sorry if it sounded like we were laughing at you but we weren't laughing at all...

phog

Ronan O’Gara: How the 'phantom attacker' haunted James Lowe for decisive Welsh try

It is undeniable that James Lowe was the central figure for the George North and Louis Rees-Zammit scores. The winger kicked beautifully and added a positive dimension to Ireland’s attack but his defensive decision-making in those instances need further scrutiny and explaining.

mfceiling

lads....Lads....LADS??

Do you need cutlery for the humble pie or will you eat it with both hands!!

Fair play to that poster, he was on the ball.

I'll say one thing...if JGP has to leave the field early that is one hell of a way for Casey to earn his first cap. It will literally be sink or swim.

Play well = he should have been starting all along.

Play badly = he should never have been near the team never mind the squad.

There will be no middle ground.

UAEguy2020

I do like Casey being on the bench, if anyone can make their debut in that environment it’s him, might even be a nice surprise off the bench that the French aren’t expecting.

Curse These Metal Hands

Rugby4568 wrote: »

Can’t understand why some people laughed at me and thought I was lying. Told you I was telling the truth.
To those that doubted me and laughed at me, enjoy your humble pie.

Any chance of tonight's Euromillions numbers?

KBurke85

ionadnapokot wrote: »

What you mean?
In this squad of course not.

But he's making his debut against France!! That's just bad management.

He wasnt ready for Georgia in Nov but hes ready to play 6N v France in Feb?????

If Murray was out. Why was Marmion or Cooney not called up?

Also If Murray only got injured yesterday it makes more sense to but Casey on the bench who's been in camp rather than throw in Marmion or Cooney who haven't been training with the squad

ionadnapokot

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Is it not just possible that Casey has impressed them enough in this camp for them to make the decision they’re confident enough to give him a shot?

Yes. But they werent 10 wks ago! Thats my point.

But I was impressed enough with him watching through a tv screen in 2019 & Jan 2020 to know that he was ready.
But i also knew Fra and Eng were not the teams to be giving him his wings.

aloooof

aloooof wrote: »

I honestly don't think this is true, as evidenced by some of the more... interesting posts we've seen here in the last week or 2. There'll always be a vocal outraged minority, regardless of what Farrell does. imo.

There are an abundance of posters that are utterly silent when Ireland do well - many of whom completely disappear entirely from the forum during those spells and as soon as there is any chink in the armour or the national team hasn't played in a while they come spilling back in here with a total abandonment of context or objectivity.

It's fairly apparent quite quickly who is posting in good faith and who is not and I'd encourage people to pay attention to this when deciding what to engage with and how repeatedly.

Either way, Farrell had a very tough job coming in after Schmidt (even though Schmidt's final year was poor). We've lost some of the trademark consistency of the Schmidt era and a few aspects of our game have deteriorated but it was a follow up to our most successful coaching ticket ever.

The most important thing for me last week was that our breakdown and set piece were greatly improved despite playing with 14 men for the majority. To me this was a big weakness the last year and a primary reason for the recruitment of O'Connell.

To add some context however I thought Wales were terrible. Unforced mistakes from one or two players gave the game to Wales but they looked deeply ordinary albeit hard working outside of that.

I'm not hugely impressed by Farrell since taking the job, but he has a decent CV and given a lot of the team would have had exposure to him from the Lions I would suspect he came into the Ireland setup with a vote of confidence.

I don't think the IRFU will be placing much blame on him for last week given it was an utterly moronic red card and one or two poorly timed errors that cost the team primarily. France are in tip top shape and again if we lose whilst our tournament will be completely derailed - I think pre six nations most people would have viewed the match as a tough fixture that could go either way and we've now an injury / suspension list to deal with.

Ultimately I think this six nations could potentially go quite badly from here if we ship a loss on Sunday, confidence will be low and if England / Scotland win they'll look roll on from there (particularly Scotland). Needless to say a win on Sunday opens the competition right back up again.

Either way, I think only a loss to Scotland or Italy at this point will place Farrell in jeopardy. Wales had enough force majeure to excuse him and France / England were always going to be tough asks.

If we lose three he'll be down to his last chance however.

donfers

I would be absolutely stunned if we won the game with basically four of our leaders our in Sexton, Murray, Ryan and POM. Reminds me a bit of the situation with players we lost after beating France and prior to playing Argentina in the WC.

I would have fancied us with our full strength team out as I think while the French team is improving, it is overrated in my opinion.

However I predict we will put it up to them for 50/60 minutes before eventually losing by 10 - 15 points.

A pretty depressing six nations for Ireland awaits. If we do lose this game though I would like us to try out some younger players and more experimental selections for the other three games. This won't happen however as the coaching ticket will be under pressure so will stick with the same old faces.

I think we will end up with one win, Farrell and Catt will be sacked and ROG may be added to the coaching ticket with POC.

ionadnapokot

KBurke85 wrote: »

Also If Murray only got injured yesterday it makes more sense to but Casey on the bench who's been in camp rather than throw in Marmion or Cooney who haven't been training with the squad

Agreed.
There was no alternative at that stage.

Casey is a victim of circumstance and bad selection.

On one hand im delighted to see him in. On the other I know i would have preferred to see him have played at least 60mins in the autumn before this

Buer

Rugby4568 wrote: »

Can’t understand why some people laughed at me and thought I was lying. Told you I was telling the truth.
To those that doubted me and laughed at me, enjoy your humble pie.

The laughing had little to do with the selection you provided.

redmca2

No complaint, obviously a lot of unknowns esp at half back.


I know he's not in the training squad but there must have been a case to consider Cooney both as Burns' regular partner and as a reliable place kicker

Scratchly

phog wrote: »

Ronan O’Gara: How the 'phantom attacker' haunted James Lowe for decisive Welsh try

Ghost attacker? As in Leigh Halfpenny running in support and available for the pass? Nonsense from ROG.

Hatchet job on Lowe to big up his pal Zebo.

"Simon Zebo did well again for Racing 92 against us last Sunday."