Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

I've come to the conclusion that McCann is O'Mahony 2.0. The similarities are uncanny actually. So style wise I don't se why he wouldn't be a Farrell player. Ability wise? Well we won't know until if and when he makes the step up.

The real test will be McCann's first interview by Reggie Corrigan.

Then we'll know.

I think it should be Ringrose, increasingly front 5 forwards are playing 55mins or less. It is a long time with a stand in captain.

They did - you saw the tweets at the time and were heavily involved in the discussion here about them for days. I then posted some of the tweets again a few months ago when you tried to gaslight that it never happened, which it looks like you're up to your old tricks and trying to repeat now.

I'm likely wasting my time, as you'll move the goalposts, deflect, or the selective amnesia will kick in again in a few months, but here are a few examples of the extremely negative impacts on rugby in Ireland that were claimed by 'analysts' from a certain province:

1) That it would feed into a corrosive perception of favouritism towards one province:

2) That it was likely to cause certain fans to develop apathy for the team:

3) That it was likely to make players from other provinces leave Ireland:

This is the absolutely toxic nonsense I was talking about, again during the most successful period in Irish rugby and all crying about an extended squad selection for a player that had a zero chance of playing, no matter who was brought into the squad.

Now imagine what bile they'll come out with if AF stripped their cult hero of captaincy in a manner they didn't agree with, especially if Ireland were getting poor results and there was a negative mood.

If O'Mahony gets the captaincy, we'll keep kicking the can down the road, get seduced by the temptation of short term results to the neglect of preparing for the World Cup. And next thing you know it we'll be going to Australia 2027 with an undroppaple 38 year old captain. And we'll go out in the quarters again.

Ah, Im not sure we can compare the POM potential situation and the actual Sexton situation in that way. POM has a lot of competition for his spot and a lot more coming down the pipe. We have relied on him for his line out skills to a much greater degree that we should have, and recently that's mainly because the line out has been a coaching/execution mess. Fix that things will look very different. He is a phenomenon but I don't see us ending in a position where he remains the best in his position unquestionably in 3 years. If he does there are much greater problems that will make success at the world cup a non starter.

Not posters, I described them earlier as 'Patreon Analysts'. The usual heads on Twitter who have thousands of followers and thrive off reactions for clicks so they can make money, though I'm sure some just enjoy the troll.

Don't know how you're separating the captaincy from those feelings, I'd see the captaincy as being a far bigger thing than a random once off selection decision.

Whoever is made captain is going to have all the tear jerking interviews about how it is the proudest moment of their career. If you strip that from that fan favourite a few months later, it is a recipe to annoy those same fans, especially with the Twitter arsonists I mentioned stoking the fires.

you tried to gaslight

you're up to your old tricks

the selective amnesia will kick in again in a few months

I've little interest in trading ad-hominem's so am going to leave it at that Foxtrol. Suffice to say I think it entirely fair for Podge to seek clarification when in posts such as the following...

... you fail to mention / clarify:

• who the 'analysts' are
• who the "impacted province fanbase" is
• and who the "player who was never going to get near playing" was

I don't really see why you can't just name who you're referring to, and say what you mean.

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But captain Best remained for nearly two further calendar years.

So I think phog's point is solid. Regardless of what anoraks and Twitter personalities might say if POM loses his captaincy before he retires—if he's even made captain in the first place—it will have little to no consequence on the functioning within the Irish setup.

You never asked any of those questions though, that would have been too constructive to a discussion. I would have been happy to clarify just like I did for Podge when he asked. Instead in your usual posting style you just gave a one line response stirring the pot, this time calling me a liar, twice.

I've now provided the quotes that you claimed were 'untrue' and of course you're refusing to engage in your error - just like what I said you'd likely do.