Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Whilst his hands have improved, that doesn't necessarily equate to having good hands. It just means he doesn't spill the ball which was a problem in his earlier career.

Ireland play a dynamic game with a lot of moving the ball away from contact, fixing the defender and then trying to make sure there's quick ruck ball etc. In 4 European matches, Kleyn has passed the ball twice. He has made 11m with ball in hand which suggests that he's generally just trucking it back to the gain line and recycling.

If you compare that with the Irish incumbent locks, Beirne has passed the ball 26 times and Ryan passed 16 times. Both have significantly more ground made with ball in hand (56m and 42m respectively) which suggests they're getting over the gain line and giving front foot ball to the scrum half which is quicker and there's a resetting defence. These are massive elements of the Irish game plan.

McCarthy and Henderson have similar involvements in the loose (Henderson being the closest to Kleyn in terms of passing but still more prominent).

Kleyn is having an excellent season but he's not playing the type of game that he needs to if he wants to be involved in green. Whether that's by design or through any limitations is another question but the fact that Beirne is the most prominent lock around in terms of handling and carrying suggests that it's not something that Munster would have any issue with.

I think you are massively overthinking this.

Just saying you're theory makes no sense whatsoever, explain it for me?

That’s basically it. 9 seems about right. I wouldn’t have JGP but i think he’s a fantastic style fit.

I think the essential guys on that list are the forwards and sexton though. I think we probably could replace ringrose and keenan if we absolutely had to and still win.

I wasn’t saying that we could lose on the basis of a single incident. I’m just saying that just because something has a bad outcome, it doesn’t mean everything about it was bad. Not everything is in our control. That was just an example of that. I wasn’t trying to define it as some match defining moment though.

As I said, we should be aiming for a GS. But we shouldn’t be too down on not winning one if the circumstances are positive in the main. The main thing right now is a trophy. We need to show ourselves as much as anyone else that we can win one, or more accurately the team need to show themselves. That’s what we need going into the RWC. From there we can judge the merits of a GS or no GS after the fact on what happened rather than setting a minimum target as the maximum possible result.

EDIT: Maybe in the interests of clarity I should reiterate that I was responding to the idea that no GS means we’ve gone backwards. It doesn’t. Just like a Championship win doesn’t mean we’ve progressed. Good teams get bad results and bad teams get good results. We need to judge Ireland on both results and performance, because we want to be a good team that gets good results.

It doesn't really matter what Jenkins does or doesn't do. He's signed for a purpose for Leinster. But he can pass the ball also. He might average 3 passes a game but there are matches where he has passed it 5 or 6 times also. He's capable of playing that role. Again, Kleyn has 2 passes in 262 minutes of European rugby according to the EPCR site: https://www.epcrugby.com/player?PlayGuid=JK725498

Jenkins (which is neither here nor there) has 3 in 54 minutes. If Jenkins was in contention for Ireland, he would be relevant.

Ross Molony would be in the team if hands were everything but obviously they're not. If there are more rounded options who can handle the ball, carry over the gain line and compete in the physical stakes, they'll be preferred. And that's who Ireland have selected.

Kleyn is having an excellent season. I'm just giving what I was see as fairly clear and stark evidence that suggest he doesn't fit the Irish team style. Nor am I advocating for McCarthy. He's a great prospect but he needs more game time at provincial level for me as his discipline continues to be an issue. You can be great but if you're going to conceded 2-3 penalties almost every match, I don't think you should be selected.

If we're looking at a young player with a high ceiling who has a rounded game, suitable to the Irish style, I'd advocate for Niall Murray to be included. He has been excellent this season. The only drawback is that he might need another 3-4kg of muscle on him.

McCarthy being there is no different to Crowley being there or Harry Byrne before him. He is not the 4th best lock in the country as things stand anymore than Crowley is the 3rd best outhalf. Both have huge potential but are far from the finished article.

I think that's a bit of a strawman. I don't think they do. Leinster and Ireland clearly don't as they've both replaced him as vice-captain with Ringrose and POM respectively.