Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

I thought I read somewhere that one of the warm up matches might be in France v Samoa.. but can't find that now.

Sooo…… by the end of 2023.

I’d actually be surprised if he got another cap barring an injury crisis.

Farrell did no interview today and by doing so he let carberry swing in the wind, you should never treat people like that, disgraceful carry on

You think Farrell only communicates to players he’s dropped thru interviews?

I’d be amazed if he hadn’t spoken to him.

I am sure he did But the story is carberry dropped -and the media have had a field day

Farrell sold out carbery by not doing interviews - would not be surprised if carberry never plays under farrell again

Its so strange that the key argument against dropping Carberry is that he has been worse before and not been dropped. The dropping is long overdue. Hopefully it has the same impact as it did on VdF and Coombes.

Byrne definitely deserves his shot and it would be good to see himself and Crowley get some serious game time this 6N.

Great to see Coombes back. Unfortunate for Haley, he genuinely deserves a cut.

If he had your mentality he might not.. alternatively he could work on the feedback he got and nail down the 10 Jersey at Munster similar to what Coombes did after he got dropped.

We should have been dropping players for the last 20 years, no harm, countless examples of it being harder to play your way onto the team than off it.

Can you change a squad member half way through (without injury?). As in, is it possible that Carbery is being sent for game-time and replace one of Crowley/Byrne mid-way through the tournament? (I presume not but just wondering is it allowed)

I'd like to see Ross tog out in Cardiff. Save Sexton for France.

Very good point. It's the correct way to look at the Carbery decision also. VdF was dropped a while back as his carrying was deemed ineffectual. Look at him now, player of the year, best no.7 in the world and his carrying is now a weapon for us. Ditto with Coombes, he was poor vs. NZ XV in the autumn, rightly dropped and in the interim has raised his game. Now back in the international squad and many posters here calling for him to be in the match day squad. POM was dropped too a while back and responded by having the best year of his career in a green jersey in 2022.

This is the correct way to manage professional players at the highest level. If their performance isn't where it needs to be they need to be left out in favour of those in form. It's incumbent then on the player to raise their game and force their way back into the squad. It's all on Joey now, he's had plenty of chances to prove his worth and it feels like this is his last chance saloon. It's up to him to lead the Munster line now from no.10 over the next while and show why he's good enough to be back in the Ireland squad.