Ireland v The Afterpartyers Super Saturday Matchthread

Is there any point in talking about what that performance would or wouldn’t do against SA or NZ? We weren’t playing SA or NZ. We’d almost certainly have upped our game against them. And it’s also more than worth noting that Scotland spoil. It’s what they do. Make a mess of everything and hope for the best. We’re several months behind France in our development to the RWC and we have a small fraction of their resources. Yet we were very close to turning them over in Paris in what was their best performance of the tournament.

The other teams were all poor this year. And that suited France. They bottled it last week against a Welsh side that couldn’t take advantage. Wales do that and we win the tournament.

We haven’t played to our potential since Paris really. Yet we have won all of those games comfortably. There’s plenty of positives there.

Our discipline hasn’t really been an issue. Italy conceded the least number of penalties (46), then France (47) and then Ireland (50). Beating in mind last week we were penalised a number of time when we shouldn’t have been and had 4 really stupid penalties that we shouldn’t really have conceded. It was an outlier from that perspective and that’s the difference between us being 3rd and either 1st or 2nd in terms of discipline.

Depth in a few positions is the big concern though all right. The problem is that there isn’t the depth there. Farrell can’t magic it out of nowhere. It’s probably a lot to ask that we have 25 or so top quality test players given our resources.

We've won our last 3 because we've played against 3 very poor teams (one of which had 13 men, one had 14). We've been poor in every single one, it's just none of them have been good enough to punish us. If you think we're playing very well, I don't know what planet you're living on. If we carry this form into the summer, it will be a slaughter like the 2012 tour. I don't buy the argument that we're only making errors because of this new style we're bedding in. We didn't make anywhere near as many errors against NZ, Japan and Wales.

I just don't think it's as rosy in the garden as everyone's making out. Had Ewels not had a brain explosion after 80 seconds in Twickenham, it would be 3 wins from 5 again, for the third year in a row. Losing Porter and Kelleher has decimated our scrum, which has been utterly taken apart the last two games, which should be a massive concern (but I suppose Scotland we're just cheating, right). The age profile of the team going into a world cup year is not ideal, the majority of the backs being 30+, similar to 2019. Both our 9s are 30+, Sexton turns 37 in the summer, Aki is turning 32, Conway turns 31, Lowe turns 30. We missed a huge chance to give Balouocune a run yesterday, Hansen hasn't been convincing over the last couple of games and RB definitely has a far higher ceiling. I think Doris is massively overrated, and I won't buy into his hype until he stops making so many stupid errors. Carty was the form out half coming into the tournament and should have seen more than 6 minutes, yet we stick with a guy who hasn't shown any form in 3 years.

I think we're starting to see teams figure us out a bit. Our play is heavily reliant and fast ruck ball, so if you heavily attack our breakdown you can really stifle our game, and I've no doubt that's what teams will start to do. Similar to how teams figured out if you hit us with fast linespeed in 2019, we'd crumble. And we're still highly susceptible to being physically bullied, as we saw v England and France.

That's not to say there hasn't been positives. Keenan established himself as one of the top fullbacks in the world (and in Lowry we have 2 very good options there). VDF established himself as one of the top 7s. We're trying to play a great brand of rugby. Ringrose is back to form (even though I think a fully fit Henshaw is a better 13).

I just don't think we're near as good as we think we are, and could be in for a very rude awakening in the summer.

The problem is, Farrell can't magic players out of thin air. He can only work with the players he has.

If players aren't putting their hands up with performances for their provinces, there's fcuk all Farrell can do

Absolutely. Basically Jonathan Kaplan's entire career.

Fair enough, but getting into a bidding war with Toulon for a journeyman who turns 33 during the RWC was never going to happen

We have an issue with depth at 1, 3 and 10. I don’t think we have much of an issue at lock. We have Ryan, Henderson and Beirne with Baird and Kleyn behind them. It will be interesting to see how Aherne and McCarthy go next season as if they can push on they can add to that depth. It’s not an area I’m hugely concerned about.

Prop and out half are areas to be concerned about. But sadly that is what it is at this stage. We have young lads coming through especially at LH but they’re a year or two too late.

We do need to remember that we’re a small country with a smaller playing population that most big teams too though. Depth is harder to build with less players. And we have made some inroads in a few areas too lest we forget. Hooker was a problem position 3 years ago. Now we have Kelleher, Sheehan and Herring. That’s very good depth there. Back 3 was a concern for a while too. Now we have Lowe, Conway, Hansen, Keenan, Lowry, Balacoune and Larmour. We’re starting to get well covered at centre with Aki, Henshaw, Ringrose and Hume along with Farrell and McCloskey behind them.

There are areas of concern, but a lot of teams have that as well tbh, not just us. We don’t have the resources of the likes of England, France, South Africa or even New Zealand. But if we continue on the trajectory we’re on at the moment we won’t be far behind them. And in the case of England we might be well ahead!

Add yesterday's balls up and it's a pretty bad look for Stuart

I reckon the tour in NZ is a good opportunity. If we blood a couple of lads there, they can blossom. NZ is a fantastic proving ground.

Depth issues are always going to be problematic. But, it's similar for most of the teams. Look at Scotland! They have good players and then there is very little. It's telling that their u20's are so poor.

England should really have the most depth! But, the reality is their players are not as well coached as ours, my opinion. There appears to be a serious lack of continuity between the RFU and the premiership. Furbank is not a top class player. He'd struggle to start on any of the provinces, except maybe Connacht. Youngs and Randall are inferior to a lot of our 9's.

Going into NZ, I would be hoping Farrell gets gametime for our fringe lads. With maybe a couple of new caps. I'd like to see Balacoune and Hume start. Lowry should get the nod in one test. Loughman is someone I don't know a lot about. But, I think he could be worth bringing, if he's a good scrummager.

Bolters for NZ. JOB, Niall Murray, Osborne and Doak!