Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

That's something the coaching team should be commended for. They dropped Lowe and told him what he needed to do to get back in. He improved and managed to regain his place.

That's shows there is plenty of opportunity to break into the side.

You really can’t see the similarity? It’s the exact argument people have been making with regards Ireland. It’s literally the exact same.

Now, imagine someone was as dismissive to you and replied:

The Leinster players Cullen has been picking are the best we have. If you don't like it, tough.

Even Sexton knew it was time! Lol

It's not similar and the circumstances for provincial selection are different to Ireland selection.

There are more games in a provincial season whereas Ireland games have a very narrow window. You can rest and experiment with players when necessary for the former. They may not be as good as the incumbents yet, but the relative lower stakes allows you the opportunity.

Test matches dictate that you play your best side to win. That's what Farrell has consistently based his selection on. If you're the best available, you're in. Did it with Hansen and then Crowley. He has gotten this right throughout his tenure which is why we've had the most successful period in our history.

You're moving the goalposts here tho. I'll remind you of your statement.

One thing I'd like to see over the next few weeks is greater variation in selection.

Yet you're now talking about…

…in a provincial season

Even if we grant you this, what you're saying about "lower stakes" could be directly applied to the Autumn Internationals. It's massively contradictory whatever way you slice it.

It's not cherrying picking to suggest that this…

We have been too wedded to having specific 'units' that we select for certain games. We have a lot of good players that I think could flourish when surrounded by better players. 

… could apply directly to Ireland over the last while. Given the weekend that's in it, will leave it at that..

One argument that's been made a lot is, guys from other provinces have gotten chances and not taken them. But the thing is, how many games did it take JGP to look remotely like a test level scrum half? How many error ridden performances was James Lowe afforded before he got his sh*t together? How many games were Ryan and Conan given to play their way back into form? How many times does Doris have to f*ck up in big games before someone else gets a shot at 8?

Yet, guys like Coombes and Baloucoune are given one or two games (most players don't even get that) and if they don't absolutely shoot the lights out, they're permanently discarded and labelled "not good enough".

Worst case scenario I can see is, we fail with a deeper squad, more representative of the quality we have in Ireland. As opposed to failing with a Leinster dominated squad, which is what we do currently.