Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

The problem with that is that the Leinster "production line" is extremely narrow in terms of its demographic. Because Munster don't have a massive ready to go group of pro players coming out of their schools system they are forced to give athletically gifted prospects from non traditional backgrounds opportunities to develop that they wouldn't get in Leinster because their skillset is behind the schools players. Tom Ahern would be buried in Leinster squad, I'm not sure Hodnett would have made it out of the Leinster academy, I'm not sure Edogbo would have even made the Leinster academy. Baring injury all three will most likely end up capped for Ireland. Even guys who came through a traditional route are talented but had flaws in their game are largely given a second chance at Munster that they wouldn't get at Leinster; McSweeney, Okeke and McCarthy were all fringe 20's players but have elite size or atheticisim, they were given 3 year Munster academy deals but wouldn't be anywhere close to a Leinster academy. If one of those 3 make it you get a unique talent. That is better for Irish rugby than sending a 20 year old conditioned and trained to a pro level but maybe deemed athletically not up to it at Leinster, down to Munster to block the path of a McCarthy or Edogbo, who they may be much better than at that moment but have a far lower ceiling in terms of potential.

Why even have a Lions tour? At this stage 'Tarf or Cork Con could give Oz a fright. Does Farrell want to do this?

What a joke this weeks Connacht & Ulster fixture is, no Irish Internationals

Do the IRFU think the fans are fools who will go to see a B team

All Inter Pro's should be full strength, rest players for the other games

Look at the premiership and Saracens team this weekend

I'd say Foxe wasn't included in the academy due to the next couple years having very good tightheads for Leinster. There's definitely a bias towards Blackrock and Michaels making the teams but at the same time it doesn't really matter unless we are missing the really talented players that will go pro. There does have to be a cut off point of the academy and I guess the potential upside of a player with abit more around the park(rightly or wrongly) is Leinsters no.1 priority.

Oh ya 100% Ahern makes the Leinster academy he just gets a lot less senior exposure once he graduates. I honestly don't think Edwin would have made Leinster, he was way off the pace skills wise pre academy its really a testament to him how far he has come in the last two years. I wonder if Munster upping the requirements to make the academy since covid, as has been mentioned many times, has had the effect of hurting the next potential Edogbo, who clearly benefited from being in the academy environment every week. All of the Munster guys who missed the academy in Autumn 22 went backwards with their respective Ireland age grades over the course of last season; Dan Sheehan, Jason Sheehan, Oji, Sean Edogbo and Costello. It will be interesting to see how the sub academy guys fare this season across the Ireland youth teams.

Australia definitely need to lift their game otherwise it could be a humiliation for them. Wales, probably the weakest of the Home Nations, just put 40 points on them. You'd imagine they will improve and will obviously have home advantage, but at the moment it could be as uncompetitive as the 2005 series.

Andrew Osborne strikes ma as a player who is athletic but not a great rugby player at the moment. Of course, that can change. At Munster, Okeke is probably seen for his physical attributes. He looks a powerful lad. In saying that, Okeke came in with Kendellen, who is brilliant and likely to get even better. For me, it's difficult to see Okeke getting past Quinn and Kendellen. Who knows what will happen.

Makes zero sense to me. Oz are lost at sea.

Yeah, I totally agree. Leinster enjoy an unparalleled junior academy system which no club could ever create, one that is highly funded and while the players are amateur the system they are in is professional for all intents and purposes. (we're talking about 15 odd schools with hundreds of players each) All of the coaches are paid, most are teachers but the schedules they enjoy incorporates the rugby calendar. They also enjoy the support of the Leinster system. Very difficult for club players to get to the level of schools players by the time they are 17 or 18 so they are at a massive disadvantage in Leinster, and without a doubt many are lost entirely to professionalism as a result.

I was lucky enough to spend time with David Humphreys when he was DOR at Gloucester. He was a really interesting and thoughtful guy and clearly very bright. He even spoke about the Leinster schools "production line" said that no club in the world had access to the quantity of talent Leinster have. I think he is a great appointment. Avoids any accusations of Leinster bias most obvious Irish candidates would get.

As far as distributing players across provinces I don't think too many Leinster fans would have a problem with losing some players at two and three in their depth chart if it meant they were also allowed to bring in say two elite NIQs. I could be mistaken but didn't the 3 Barrett brothers play for different NZ franchises? It doesn't seem to have done the ABs much harm.

Oh, well we'll see.

I think there are other factors at play beyond the touchline of the pitch that have hampered Okeke's development since that Wasps game