Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

That potential back 3 doesn't have much pace. I'd like to see Baloucoune get another look with Sexton or McCarthy breaking through.

Ryan, Porter and Stockdale burst onto the scene pretty much straight from the u20s team that got to the final. That same team also had Keenan, JOB, Connors and even Shane Daly and Deegan who all came in at various stages getting a range of caps.

Im sure as one of the recent u20s will have a similar impact to the Ryan’s and Porters but others might only make their debut 2 / e years out from the next World Cup. When their ready they’ll be ready. Don’t think we need to rush it.

That's one thing I'm nervous about in terms of replacing POM. Baird is a great player but he seems very nice.

Like at no point while watching him play have I ever been afraid that he would bite me. And that's an important part of rugby

I don't think things are too bad with Ireland. Won't argue that this World Cup cycle was our best chance of making a final, but we've still a very talented core group that will carry us on to 2027.

Porter, Sheehan, Doris, Keenan and Hansen are all in their mid 20's and are some of the best in the world at their position. We've then another set of younger players who could make a huge impact with more development. Jamie Osborne, Joe McCarthy etc. I'm only mentioning Leinster players here because they're the ones I know the most about. And a younger group again with the Grand Slam winning U20's.

Ah come on strike moves and the like can't be called tactics. They're a completely different aspect of the game. The game plan had been there since last year, win the kicking battle and then keep the ball. We focussed on all the filler leading up to it with being more "direct" etc etc but the way the exit strategy was handled, which lost us the game the year before was atrocious. We repeated the same mistakes of playing to their fullbacks strengths and not exiting the ball properly.

This isn't hindsight either, I posted the following 7 days before the final in May. The narrative about the 2022 final was that La Rochelle slowed down all our rucks, that's the context for the initial paragraph.

"rewatching the Leinster La Rochelle game from last year there was only 3(!!!!!) Instances of our ball being slowed down by La Rochelle in rucks. We actually were very very effective at ruck time and slowed down their ball more effectively than they slowed ours down. Of the three times they slowed down our ball in their own 22, 2 led to penalties, which ended up as 6 points for us. Where they really got us was in defence where we didn't compete with their linespeed with smart pick and goes around the corner or the occasional one out pass to keep their defence honest. Think the whole offence has been designed to counteract the linespeed this year, we developed the 5m tap-and-go moves to assist ourselves on their line as well, I hope it works out.

Where they really won the game was in the kicking game and in the scrum. We really really struggled at scrum time last year, we were obliterated by Toulouse the round before but still managed the shocking scrum well against Toulouse. Against La Rochelle they attacked on every single attacking scrum and won penalties on most( Barnes should have given us a penalty on one of their advantages for Antonio collapsing). It seems our scrum has improved a lot this year compared to last year, but I hope Porter and Furlong are ready for a long 70-minute shift, because that is what we will need from them. We also had no answer at Maul time at it led to a way too easy finish from them 5 yards out.

Our kicking game was shocking that day as well, I'm not sure if it was the weather that fatigued us or the type of kicks we were doing but our kick chase was AIL level stuff at times. This was especially important to the game because La Rochelle's biggest weakness is attacking from their own half. They are a one out running team and just play territory. They'll take the 3 points against them all day because they're superb at getting territory back after a kick-off. Think this meant our game plan of going for 3 was horrific tactically as we found it impossible to regain territory."

What did we do after the initial 15 minutes, went for **** posts. That was unforgiveable IMO. The clear tactic of maintaining territory and drawing penalty after penalty was the way to go. It might not have mattered anyway but I think Lancaster and Co didn't react to oppositions. It's also why I am always ready to the send the first dig at him.

That's talking crap, yes our front 5 are more athletic but they need to be better at the basics of scrummaging, 3 penalties conceded by porter last week was criminal, our line out very poor all tournament too and when our set pieces are so bad u are fighting an uphill battle straight away

At loose head there's Boyle, athletic with a good motor. He's put on some weight and his technique at scrum is very sound. He just needs experience. There's also Milne! He missed an entire season through injury, so his development isn't where it should be. Paddy McCarthy looks a savage. Still very young. I think Loughman could cement his place this year, if he continues his Munster form from last season. He's certainly big enough.

Tight head is probably a bigger problem. Furlong looking spent, Bealham is 32 and that leaves O'Toole. Coming up are Wilson from Ulster. I think he is the best prospect. There's also McGuire and Illo. I think Aungier could be an option. He's improved quite a bit over the last 2 seasons.

4 years is a long time to develop players.