Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

What would you consider a serious score?

I think you'll be a little disappointed. We will probably see a relatively strong Irish team but we won't start showing a whole load of variation in attack this early. It will be the same pods used consistently I think. I doubt you are going to see us slice them open at will.

I was really happy with how we looked physically against Italy so I'm just hoping for a continuation of that. It's all about minutes into the legs at this point and getting a decent hit out.

No they won’t be disappointed, they will absolutely revel in it. They hate Ireland, in fact I’m pretty sure they hate rugby. So if we do beat England but not by more than 15 points, they will have the inbuilt excuse they are developing to moan about it.

We’ll be far from our best but we should still win.

I expect more of what we saw against Italy, trying new combinations and putting lads outside their comfort zones.

Don’t think we’ll see many pods or moves outside some basic stuff but I think we’ll take them on in the forwards and try out muscle them.

These matches are unexciting and sour affairs , anyone thinking we’ll see full flowing rugby will be sadly disappointed.

Just want to come through without injuries.

Why?

France put 50 on them in the 6N. NZ put 50 on Argentina (a better side than England) a few weeks ago. They put 50 on us in the lead up to the last World Cup. How is it realistic for them to do it to us, but unrealistic for us to do it to them?

If we're going to win a World Cup we should be annihilating this England side. They're awful.

Interesting that both teams will be missing their respective Captains / Number 10s

Not a hope in hell Sexton would have been playing this game regardless of any bans.

Any of the other 3 "contenders" would comprehensively dispatch this England team.

You can claim this. But you can’t know that with any certainty.

But imo, you’re putting too much emphasis on what is a solitary warm-up game.

A 15-20 point win won’t rule us out as being serious contenders any more than a 30 point win means we’re champions elect.

After the 1st Test in NZ, you were saying this team was mentally weak. They responded.

In the 6N, you were saying anything but a Grand Slam was a failure. They delivered. (And even now, it doesn’t seem good enough for you, as they only “laboured to a win” vs England).

Why would you not back them to respond this time?

In any case, dismissing the body of work this team has put together because of a, what, 15 point win in a warm-up game? It’s hugely overstating things.

I thought the English pack were pretty good. It has to be viewed in the context of the opposition but normally the Welsh pack can give them problems. Aside from the scrum, they physically dominated them and surely would have won by a comfortable distance if they didn't encounter so many disciplinary issues. It's incredible to think that a team that played almost 6 minutes of the second half with 12 men, still managed to have 73% territory in that half.

Farrell being out may be a blessing in disguise for them. He has had a poor year overall by his standards and Ford looked by far the most competent outhalf of the three options when he came on. He played sensible stuff and worked well with his pack. England will be one dimensional with their pack and Ford at 10 but that would be enough for them to get their sh*t together and be a functioning team in the RWC.

Discipline is a massive issue though. You can't have three yellow cards and a red card in a game and expect to win unless you're facing an incompetent opposition team. On another day, Adams' head collides with the ground and Steward is given a red card too. That was every bit as stupid as Farrell's hit. He looked up and clearly saw Adams jumping into the air and didn't attempt to pull out whatsoever.

It will be interesting to see what team they put out against Ireland. A few tweaks to the pack but I think it will largely remain the same. Ford and Youngs potentially to start at halfback and look to double down on their forward geared game.

Whilst it would be ideally a game plan for Keenan in a tournament fixture, it would probably be more beneficial to see someone else at full back for this game if Ford is the one looking to pepper the backfield.