Ireland v The Afterpartyers Super Saturday Matchthread

As a Munster supporter it pains me to say it but you'd hope the coaching staff have seen the light. He's not up to it and he shouldn't be second choice. I'd have Carty, Healy and Frawley ahead of him. Lowry too but he seems to be seen as more of a fullback.

We were shaky at the start. Lowe is a great man going forward but some of his early tackles had an element of interpretive dance to them. It was a relief to see the scrum holding up. Lineouts were fairly solid, one area of play where Henderson did well. Is it just me again or were many of those Scottish throws in the first half seriously crooked? As Sexton said afterwards, we’ll be cheering England now.

If France win a dour 9-6 scrap tonight do you think they will give a fcuk about how poor they were last week or this?

Absolutely, he came on after 80 last week so that Sexton could get applauded off to begin his 18 month retirement party, and this week Sexton again plays the full match. it's clear Farrell no longer believes. And with the guys who've emerged this season he has other cabs on the rank in Healy, Carty, maybe Frawley and even Hansen...plus Ross Byrne. Yeah, Carbery should be worried. Did he touch the ball today?

TRC your point about standards and Ireland's lack of them doesn't really make sense as one could argue that this is Ireland's best season since 2018.

Until the most recent November series there were genuine queries as to whether Farrell could keep his job long term. Performances were poor and there didn't look like much progress was being made.

Yet since then we've won 7 of our last 8 games. The only loss was by 4 points against France in Paris. We're at a completely different level compared to 12 months ago and the trajectory is undoubtedly upwards. Yes we're inconsistent, but we're also not a completely developed side either. We've a lot of young players like Kelleher, Sheehan and Doris. All brilliant in their own right, but still developing as pros. The fact we've integrated these guys into the side and still won is a sign of huge progress.

If Joey is moved to 15 them he drops out if the Ireland squad entirely. Keenan and Lowry are both better players.

If France draw and score four tries, it will win the title for us.

Otherwise, nothing.

Kilcoyne is still a real liability at scrum time. His body position is appalling. One scrum in particular his back was very arched before Nel managed to lift him off the ground.

Don't think there's many (or any?) on here dismissing concerns.

We won't get away with that in a WC scenario against a France or a SA. Is anyone else saying otherwise?

I haven't seen those posts, you'll have to point them out to me.

Scrum and handling errors are 2 big negatives in our last 2 games. Terrible optics for anyone watching those games.

But you cannot rationally argue that "we're playing terribly" when we're winning the same said matches with BPs and record stats for trys scored vs trys conceded etc.

Let's not forget; defensively we are in brilliant shape. This is what is affording us to be weak in certain areas and still win a triple crown and possibly a championship.

Bed this system in for 12 more months and see where we're at... I'm pretty confident in predicting that it'll be better than now.