Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

"Irish rugby was really sh*t 30 years ago, therefore we should be happy with failure now"

Pretty lame argument if you ask me

Let's look at the IRFU's key targets for men's rugby from 2018-2023. I don't really follow 7s so can't speak to it.

1. World Cup semi-final or better in 2019 and 2023 - let's come back to that…
2. 2 or more Six Nations titles - we won three, including two GS; target exceeded.
3. Consistently be ranked in the top 3 teams in the world; target exceeded
4. Provincial teams consistently in knockout stages of European Cup; target met
5. 2 or more European titles - well, we won one and got to three more finals, I think that's a target met.
6. 2 or more Pro 14 titles - we won five; target exceeded.

So we smashed most of our goals, the assertion that we failed to meet our KPIs is absolute nonsense.

But the World Cup semi-final eluded us. Was Nucifora to blame?

I think for 2019, we can lay some of the blame at his door for sure. It was becoming apparent from 6N 2019 that things were going a bit awry and as Joe took on more and more responsibility on himself, maybe Nucifora should have stepped in to get things back on track. So yes, he missed a step here, but the 2019 RWC was the year after Irish rugby's greatest ever year, so it was understandable that he'd have hoped things would right themselves.

For 2023, we entered the tournament as one of the favourites and justifiably so, and continued to back that up in the pool stages. We had a fit and firing squad that took the field as bookies favourites to dump the All Blacks out. Nucifora's job was to get us prepared for this moment - anything that happened in the subsequent 80 minutes was completely out of his hands so blaming him for that defeat is absolutely insane.

Likewise, the Ireland critics will tell me that the target was two European Cups, not one win and a load of runner-up spots. Again, did Nucifora trot out onto the pitch and make Leinster squander two leading positions in 2022 and 2023?

The guy was an amazing success. That IRFU could keep a straight face while saying we're going to be one of the top three teams in the world was unimaginable to most of us when we started watching Ireland.

That he is so despised in certain quarters and still stuck it out for a decade is just a further indication that he was exactly the man for the job.

And now Rassie has his ammo for the conspiracy theory.

Nucifora/KPIs…per FFF's list above, that's a fairly expansive set of ambitions for Ireland honestly, and short of the WC semi we've done exceptionally well in the last decade. I like that our (including the IRFU) expectations are that big, it would have been a lot easier for people to cover their arses by being more modest and over achieving which is a more common management style. Fair play to Nucifora, lets hope Humphries exceeds him and focusses on areas that need attention like provincial underperformance, the women's game and grassroots/club development.

none of those u mentioned will get picked,it will most likely be Cameron hanekom

With the Leinster/Ireland team failing to deliver for the umpteenth time, is it time to rethink how we select our national squads, and select the form players from all 4 provinces, rather than on "cohesion" from a group of players who have proven time and time again for club and country that they can't get the job done when it comes to the crunch?

No.

Let's be clear, Leinster lost a final in extra time to the most successful team in European history who are also filled with internationals.

What have the other provinces shown in knockout rugby? Munster were given a big helping hand last year by facing the leinster 2nds in the URC semis. Ulster and Connacht are poor at the moment.

Do you think we'd have beaten NZ in the world cup with a more even split from all 4 provinces?

Ireland are also a team of almost. It's a perfect storm. The Ireland team is the best players from the best team and unfortunately, they are lacking. There's a hump they can't get over but, selecting lesser players from the other provinces is not the answer. Fortunately, there's a glut of u20 lads from this generation that look like they have it.

Few things to address here,

A team littered with Internationals, what exactly is the Leinster team then?

What have Munster shown in knockout rugby? Winning a cup with all the games away from home.

An even split? Doesn't have to be an even split it just needs to be the 50/50 calls don't always go the way of the Leinster player.

Ulster and Connacht are poor at the moment, doesn't mean they don't have players good enough.