Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

In fairness, in Sexton's earlier days he was a flaky goal kicker.

This angle on Crowley is a bit nuts. It's his first full season as the starting 10. He played every minute of every game, sometimes at 15 due to injuries. He steered us to 4 wins and a 1 pt defeat. A defeat where we got bullied up front and he had to play with back foot ball all game. Him and JGP, for me, are far and above any other half back combo in the 6N.

Yes, Crowley is not Sexton. He may never be as good. But he has showed in his 1st 6N campaign as the starting 10 that he is at international level and can do his stuff on this stage. He just turned 24. He's doing fine. None of the other incumbents have shown anything near what Crowley has. He's currently the best option by a long way.

Same goes for Joe McC. He's good enough to warrant his place in the team and will improve. He generated a lot of hype in the France game with his performance but showed his inexperience after that. He will improve and be the cornerstone of the pack.

People need to chill out. We just won a 6N by a country mile, not playing our best rugby. We've blooded 3 new players (Nash, Crowley, Joe McC) in key positions and lost by a pt to an improving England side, away, with the last play of the game. People need to have some perspective.

My summation of where the squad is at post 6N.

1. Probably our position of least depth. Porter is a fantastic player but is still struggling with scrumaging on the loosehad side. See how POM was often positioned on the openside if Porter was scrumaging there. He was coaching him at times. Healy at 36 is our best back up. We need to find someone in the next 3 years here.

2. Well stocked at hooker. Sheehan, Kelleher, Herring & Stewart.

3. Furlong isn't what he used to be but he's still top quality. Bealham has stepped up to this level also. Would be no harm to see a third option emerge.

4&5: In good shape here too. We've 2 good tight head locks, McCarthy & Ryan. And 2 good loosehead locks, Beirne & Baird. Lineout needs sorting out, appears to be a coaching issue. Henderson also there but his injury profile has hampered him throughout his career. Aherne is also a promising prospect.

6: POM most likely finished, a great servant, I've made my opinion known on that. Hopefully Baird can make this jersey his own, has huge potential. Might be an opening for Gavin Coombes now too, but he's failed to push on in the past. Lacks the speed for an international no.8 IMO but could be very useful on the blindside. Cian Prendergast also very promising in this position too. We're well covered.

7: VdF is consistently good, not at previous world player of the year levels but plenty good enough. Timoney well able here too and would love to see John Hodnett get a go here. Maybe on the small side from an international perspective but a great player and a workhorse.

8: Doris and Conan. We're in good shape. Expect Doris to be trialled as the next captain. Let see if he has what it takes.

9: Another worrying position. JGP way ahead of the incumbents. Murray on the way out and Casey still has a lot to improve, albeit going the right way.

10: Crowley firmly in charge. Not at Sexton's level, yet. Remains to be seen if he can get there. Good 1st 6N as the starter, a 7/10. IMO Ross Byrne is the best of the rest currently, even if others have a higher ceiling.

11: A mixed bag by Lowe, some great try scoring but a few of the old defensive frailties popped up at times. Still a top player. Need to see a few more blindside wings come through. Shane Daly promising here but lacks all out pace.

12 & 13. Aki is the man, simple as. McCloskey a worthy deputy. Henshaw and Ringrose cover us well for outside centre. No major worries across those 4 guys.

14: Missed Hansen's creativity and playmaker this season. Nash however did really well, strong, pacy runner and good under the high ones. Good that we developed depth here during the 6N.

15: Problem position. Keenan is world class, no doubting that. We just don't have a natural replacement. Would like to see Mike Haley get a run in SA, think he's the best of the rest. Need to be bringing more than one 15 to tournaments in the future.

Overall we're in great shape, a few positions light on cover that need developing.

Doris has had another excellent campaign. Plays at a high level every game. One of the best players in the world.

Interesting comments on Crowley, other countries Rugby media has been overwhelmingly positive about him. Most saying how Ireland haven't missed Sexton and a couple bemoaning the fact he wasn't given the last 10 minutes of WC 1/4. He is a way better athlete than either of the Byrne brothers, he is also a better clearly a much better defender. Some of the execution of his kicks on Saturday were poor but I'm not sure many on here remember some of Sexton's early games for Ireland.

George Martin destroyed us in the rucks

Pity JR was injured. Would have made a difference.

There are legitmate things that Crowley can be criticised for. The reason people are reacting like that are is because "he hoesn't bring the ball to the line" is a million miles from the reality.

Crowley has done a few things right.

He turned down a great opportunity with LAR and ROG, he bided his time and when frawley fell apart for the frawley tour he got a chance and took it with both hands.

The green 10 jersey is his to lose now.

He can improve, but nobody in that Irish side had a flawless 6nations so a guy with single digit starts is bound to have some areas to work on.

The funny thing about this is that if we had called up Kleyn, he wouldn't be a "world cup champion level lock". He'd be the exact same player he is now, but simultaneously also a significantly worse player than himself.

Not often boards.ie/rugby gets into metaphysics but here we are.