Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

This one for starters. And just take one look in the Munster thread. As expected many Munster fans jumping at the opportunity to have a go at Andy Farrell.

Not sure about inferiority but if Healy played a warm up against Italy in green and performed the way he did on Saturday not many people would expect him to be second choice at the WC. He had a few decent passes and a couple of decent kicks from hand. Off the tee he was poor and he didn't blow out the lights in any way. Best you could say was it was promising and he didn't make any glaring errors.

i think anyone that continues this argument, should be threadbanned (by themselves) until lthe world cup. Go enjoy the rain outside lads.

Ireland are the number one ranked team in the world.

Nobody is outraged. Most people are very happy for the guy, he's no loss to Ireland so fair play to him for furthering his own career elsewhere. Much like very few NZers batted an eyelid when JGP left, or Saffers when Stander or Kleyn left.

It's "mildly amusing" how the Kiwis are always trying to deflect attention away from their own highly dubious harvesting of the best talent from the Pacific islands.

Oh sorry, "scholarships".

I actually don't know anyone who's annoyed over him playing for Scotland over Ireland and most say fair play to him. A lot of Munster fans are annoyed about it as due to this decision they lose a good club player.

Not saying everyone is upset by his move and people aren't happy him. I'm a Munster fan so I'm sorry to see him go. But I understand it and hope it goes well. You have to acknowledge that there are posters on this forum that are upset by his move. I think those people are being hypocritical.

Your comment on the PI players in NZ just shows your ignorance. Sure a few players who move to NZ schools on scholarships and end up in the ABs. But then there a lot of players who come through the NZ system and end up playing for the islands. Should the NZRU not allow them to play in NZ? At the last couple of world cups, most of the Samoan team was born in NZ. Maybe they should stop raiding NZ's resources 😁

I don't think it's entirely out of the question if we were to see Ireland's expected all out effort to beat the Boks be successful, that there might be a player or 2 rested against the Scots. Well, Sexton I mean really.

I know the counter argument to this is Sexton's suspension means he doesn't get game minutes in the warm ups and will be given (or "will need") minutes in most or every group game.

But especially if we manage to win against SA, and have a QF place guaranteed before we play the Scots, I could easily see Sexton be sat out for the final group game. (disguised by telling us he has a niggle)

And yes, we have 2 weeks between playing SA and Scotland, but as a previous poster highlighted, an easy final group game is worth anything to your chances in a QF the following week. So rest some of the big guns against a Scottish team that we should probably beat with our 2nd string anyway. And even if they pull off a miracle and beat us, so what. We're in the QF anyways.

Ireland were number 1 going into last World Cup too.rankings mean nothing in a WC year

Hopefully we stay injury free as long as possible

Hoping to see a mixed team on Saturday, a little obvious but match fitness is very important

Heading up on Saturday, first Rugby game I've been too since 2018. 8pm start is a bit of a pain but **** happens

Every single one of our imports is here because he didn't have a prospect of getting a cap for his native country, and Ireland offered an easier path. No one has ever said otherwise.

A couple of them have subsequently proved that they could indeed have got a cap at home, but most of them have not. Time will tell which category Healy falls into I guess.

The point about some of our players eventually getting capped if they's stayed at home is interesting, and I wonder if it's true. Player development is bizarre and non linear, a couple of injuries to established players can sometimes lead to a player who was solidly outside breaking in and eventually making an international career, and similarly a good player who is on track can be discarded and passed by when they're injured. Or a guy moves club and blossoms under a different manager/culture. Would Lowe have had the time and coaching to develop his game and become a very good defender had he stayed in NZ? He had the skills and promise but in a place with a conveyor belt of great wingers coming through would he ever have become the player he is? Same perhaps fr JGP. Healy might well become a player none of us predicted in Scotland for similar reasons.