Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

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"

Baloucoune is the perfect example of why this is all absolute nonsense.

I have been absolutely eviscerated on here for suggesting that Coombes hasn't been showing what the Irish coaches wanted him to.

But in the case of Baloucoune, we know this is the case because he told us himself. This is what he said this after he came home from the EI tour;

"I've just listened to what the coaches want from me, trying to get off my wing more and bring that into matches and training as much as possible."

"The biggest point [from the coaches] is just trying to get more involvements"

"Trying to get myself involved as much as possible throughout games and then just back my ability to beat a defender or use my speed in defence to catch players as well."

All of which is 100% consistent with how Farrell uses his wingers and why the back three is usually populated with guys like Keenan, Hansen, Lowe and JOB who can pop up anywhere. It's also 100% consistent with the speculation up to then as to why he wasn't getting games, but he got clear feedback from the coaches. So far, so good.

What happened after the EI tour? Well, in the next test match, against the Springboks in Dublin, Baloucoune is given the 14 jersey. Not a Wolfhounds game, not a meaningless filler match against Fiji or Georgia, a starting spot in a full-strength team against a full-strength SA.

So what do we know? We know he went on the EI tour to show what he could do, the coaches had given him specific things to work on and then they gave him a gilt-edged opportunity to show what he could do over 80 minutes in a real test match environment. Incidentally, Jimmy O'Brien came off the bench (in the centre) that day.

How did it go? Well, he was… quiet and two weeks later, Jimmy O'Brien was wearing 14 against Australia and he's been a fixture ever since, while Baloucoune hasn't featured in a single squad since then.

I don't think Baloucoune was jettisoned because of the SA game, he was jettisoned because of everything that led up to it, and because Ireland had a lot of other guys who could do what they wanted. With the arrival of Nash in 2024, he's further away than ever IMO.

Some guys take their chances and some don't. Some guys can do what is asked and some cannot. All the coach can do is tell the guy what he wants, give him a chance to show what he can do and if he can't, move on. That's just the way it is, and blaming the coach for that is a bit mental to be honest.

Farrell is so despised by a minority on here that I don't expect this to make an iota of difference, but Baloucoune is a shining example of why Farrell is a very good coach.