Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Yeah, I'd have no issues with POM as captain for the coming 6Ns and tour of SA. It gives Farrell and co more time to assess options for the right man moving forward.

But he wouldn't be a along term appointment as he won't be in the team in 2027, he will have fierce competition for the 6 Jersey, which is something Sexton, and to an extent Best, didn't have in their respective positions at the time.

Based on the WC Ryan isn't guaranteed a spot in the team either.

On the captaincy thing, I'd expect it to be Ryan. They won't have invested multiple games in him being captain to ditch the plan now.

I can see the logic in making POM captain on a short term basis but I think what you get from him as a leader won't change whether he's captain or not. If we're going to put a new captain in place, I think it's better to do it now and have them fully comfortable with the role as soon as possible.

If it was a must win game tomorrow, POM would be the logical choice for me, but I’d agree with Foxtrol that they’d be kicking the can down the road and creating an unwelcome talking point if they wanted to change captain in a couple of years.

On the other hand we know how much Farrell puts on people as individuals (eg bringing Earls to the World Cup and making big deals of players landmark caps) and POM would be absolutely deserving to lead Ireland into a 6N as captain. Farrell may want to give him that opportunity.

Henderson is an option but his injury record might go against him as does the competition in the second row. I’d probably give it to Ryan in the knowledge he’ll be supported by the likes of Henderson and POM. My only concern is that his performance level seemed to be affected by being captain in the past although injuries no doubt were playing a roll as was the form of the team immediately post Schmidt.

Prendergast is a vital component in the Connacht lineout. He is the closest thing to POM.

Hello Peter……go back and look at the tape.

If you’re right about POM vs. NZ, we better find a completely new backrow quickly. He had as much impact on the game as I had.

This sounds like the definition of the sunk cost fallacy, or at least potentially.

Ryan is a good player but was literally dropped at the business end of the RWC and his lineout calling has repeatedly been shown up as below the standard required at the elite level. Not to mention being overlooked by the Lions due to his lack of physicality gives an impression of a player who still has room to grow to reach a world class level.

Beirne and Henderson are also fine players at any given time may be the chosen starters over him as they were recently. There's also a number of promising second rows coming through like McCarthy, Edogbo or Ahern who may at some point in the cycle be considered starters.

Given all the doubts nailing colours to the mast for Ryan at this stage would be a poor decision that could lead to an uncomfortable Sam Cane type situation.

POM is 34 and in an attritional position so I'd be very surprised if he wasn't in his last season or two. Given his experience and current status in the team he would make the most sense for captaincy for a season or two after which the natural successor might be a bit clearer.

I think the myth of Ryan's poor lineout calling was busted when he was unavailable for the New Zealand game, yet we still struggled with Henderson and Beirne.

It was as much a systems failing as anything else which our coaches need to accept a substantial portion of the blame.

We also missed his work at the breakdown. There's no forward in Ireland better at blitzing a ruck.

That was it, cheers. I presumed business end meant the NZ game though, but mileage may vary I suppose. On the bench anyway, so not dropped. Then not available due to injury from the hand injury in the Scotland game. So not dropped.