Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

So IRFU want rassie to replace Nucifora

Well from my contact who is the same life who told me months before anyone had any idea that rassie was leaving Munster has told me they want him bad!take from that what u will.

That would not be a popular decision. I'd be disgusted by it, for one.

I'll take it with a pinch of salt for the moment mind you.

I fancy the southern hemisphere teams to do well again, they always do. I think having the Rugby Championship a few months before the World Cup is perfect preparation for them and gives them an advantage. An extremely intense competition under their belt while the Northern teams are left playing fairly low intensity tests in the build up.

This is why I think we could struggle against SA or NZ, but I'm hoping to be proved wrong.

He let Niall Scannell go on live television and state that he (Rassie) was staying and had told the squad. If he treats his own players like that, I'd rather have him nowhere near the set up.

"It's brilliant that Rassie is staying around. It's brilliant for our club and it's brilliant for Irish rugby - the players he is bringing through and the confidence he has given us."

Asked what a relief it was for the players to know the South African was committing himself to Munster, Scannell replied:

"There was a lot of speculation but Rassie clarified it to us [that he was staying] a couple of weeks ago."

Other than being a seemingly nice bloke and a good media performer, it is really hard to see what Conor O'Shea has achieved in concrete terms.

Well currently Conor holds a very similar if not almost identical role with the English Rugby Union.

He is "Executive Director of Performance Rugby for the RFU, Conor O’Shea is responsible for the leadership, management and strategic direction of professional rugby in England. With the aim to support long-term sustainable success at international level, he manages the England player, coaching and match officials pathways across men’s and women’s 15s and Sevens programmes"

While you might just focus on recent results of the men's team.

He now has 3 years experience in this role which has dealt with a number of challenges. Covid, losing a number of clubs from the premiership(which I think is outside his remit).

He was also involved i getting rid of a the head coach a year out from a world cup when results weren't deemed to be good enough.

The womans professional game has come on leaps and bounds during his tenure finishing second in the last World cup and winning the last 5 6 nations. Could the same be said for the womans game under Nucifora in Ireland??