Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

I don't agree, you'd surely bring someone more experienced to do that job.

He's there because the coaches want to see something from him that he's yet to show them. You say the coaches should know his mentality... that's not always a good thing?

He should be absolutely delighted to be going. This is a big chance for him.

Has he been in plenty of camps? Other than last summer I’m not aware of him being in (m)any.

"Nailed on" a year out means nothing.

Summer 2021

Autumn 2021

Six Nations 2022

Probably a few other get togethers too.

Nope. IIRC, he was injured shortly before it but was fit for the actual tournament.

Nobody should be "nailed on" this far out from the tournament. We saw 4 years ago just how quickly guys can lose form. There are a few positions I see changing in the next year.

One of the biggest problems last time was too many players were "nailed on" in the coaches mind, regardless of form.

Last Autumn...he started against Argentina

This is wild! It's not the IRFU it's the Ireland coaches who are preparing for the WC. They want to see something or they want players to show something that helps in selection and/or preparation for next season. You can disagree with it but the idea that they don't know what they are doing or don't have good reason to do it veers into conspiracy theory. Some posters credibility is taking a major nose dive on this thread imho.

There are a few positions I see changing in the next year.

Which positions out of interest, TRC? Personally don't see significant change in the 15. Wing and maybe 6 or 8 seem to a possibility, but I expect it to be pretty settled other than that. For me, barring injury, it's very likely be:

Front row: Porter, Furlong and one of Sheehan / Kelleher.

2nd row: Two of Henderson, Ryan, Beirne.

Back-row: On current form VdF looks a cert, but maybe scope for change at 6 and 8 depending on form. (Farrell has rotated on form here in the past).

Half-backs: JGP and Sexton, barring dramatic drop in form.

Centre: Two of Henshaw, Aki, Ringrose. Hume has an outside chance.

Wings: Lowe, Hansen and Conway feel like the front runners, but maybe some scope here too given the options behind them.

FB: Hard to see anyone but Keenan.

It seems to me it's numbers 16-23 where there's the most scope for someone to come in.

1. Porter, 2. Kelleher, 3. Furlong, 4. Ryan, 5. Beirne, 6. O'Mahony, 7. van der Flier, 8. Doris, 9. Gibson-Park, 10. Sexton, 11. Lowe, 12. Henshaw, 13. Ringrose, 14. Hansen, 15. Keenan; 16. Sheehan, 17. Healy, 18. Bealham, 19. Henderson, 20. Conan, 21. Murray, 22. Carbery, 23. Aki

1. Loughman, 2. Herring, 3. O'Toole, 4. McCarthy, 5. Treadwell, 6. Prendergast, 7. Timoney, 8. Coombes, 9. Casey, 10. Frawley, 11. Stockdale, 12. McCloskey, 13. Hume, 14. Conway, 15. J. O'Brien; 16. Scannell, 17. E. Byrne, 18. Moore, 19. Baird, 20. Connors, 21. Blade, 22. H. Byrne, 23. Baloucoune

1. Kilcoyne, 2. Heffernan, 3. Clarkson, 4. Kleyn, 5. Ahern, 6. Murphy, 7. Penny, 8. Deegan, 9. Doak, 10. Carty, 11. Zebo, 12. C. Farrell, 13. Marshall, 14. Larmour, 15. Lowry; 16. Stewart, 17. Wycherley, 18. Salanoa, 19. Izuchukwu, 20. Kendellen, 21. McGrath, 22. Crowley, S. Daly

Current pecking orders, 1st, 2nd and 3rd XXIIIs. It gets more debateable the further down you go, obviously. And there's a fair amount of guesswork in XXIII 3.

It’s the IRFU who, per Bernard Jackman didn’t communicate with the provinces at all before committing to this. The coaching staff wanted to bring the second string, which makes far more sense than this squad which includes players a million miles from selection, but provinces were very unhappy and as a result it ended up with this mish-mash of a squad.

Ultimately the tour now isn’t serving the purpose the coaching staff had in mind at all and is likely a waste of time. That’s on the IRFU, in addition to undermining a new league which has made a point of avoiding international windows so that teams in it will be as strong as possible.

If you're basing your opinion of the tour on pundit gossip then away you go. We have no idea what the politics of this are and frankly, it does't really matter. The interests of the union and those of the provinces are often misaligned and most of the time the province's coaches understand it as the name of the game. They move on! And as I said earlier, this is a WC season, all bets are off.

Meanwhile, if you look at the tour I'd count 6 backs (Balacoune, Blade, Daly, Doak, Osborne & Frawley) and 7 forwards (Witcherly, Soroka, Prendergast, Penny, McCarthy, Hodnett & Deegan) as already having caps or possibe/likely caps in the next year or 2. Others will disagree with that list and Im sure it's not very accurate but I'd argue there is the makings of a team in the next few years going on this tour. The Irish coaches think it's worth it and if they have a successful season it is worth it.

I'd agree, but the flip side is it's also less valuable than bringing young guys who are on the outskirts of the squad, like Casey, Coombes, Hume, Larmour, Lowry, O'Toole etc.

We don't know whether the Irish coaches think it's worth it. They wanted to bring a second string not a squad which includes guys who have a handful or no caps for their province. There isn't a team in the next few years on this tour - that's like when people try to predict the Irish team four years from now and bar players already playing for Ireland, they usually get about two right.