Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Really not keen on Frawley being listed as a 10. He's a better 12/15.

Delighted for Sam Prendergast. Going to be invaluable experience for him.

No problem with Izuchukwu.

I'm just listing the team again for this page.

Forwards:
Ryan Baird (Dublin University/Leinster) 20

Finlay Bealham (Buccaneers/Connacht) 40

Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/Munster) 50

Caelan Doris (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 41

Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 76

Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 129

Rob Herring (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 39

Cormac Izuchukwu (Ulster/Ballynahinch)*

Oli Jager (Munster) 1

Ronan Kelleher (Lansdowne/Leinster) 31

Joe McCarthy (Dublin University/Leinster) 10

Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster)(captain) 105

Tom O’Toole (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 13

Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 64

Cian Prendergast (UCD/Connacht) 3

James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 62

Dan Sheehan (Lansdowne/Leinster) 26

Nick Timoney (Banbridge/Ulster) 3

Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 62
Backs:
Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 56

Caolin Blade (Galwegians/Connacht) 2

Craig Casey (Shannon/Munster) 14

Jack Crowley (Cork Constitution/Munster) 14

Ciaran Frawley (UCD/Leinster) 4

Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 72

Jordan Larmour (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 32

James Lowe (Leinster) 31

Stuart McCloskey (Bangor/Ulster) 17

Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 116

Calvin Nash (Young Munster/Munster) 6

Jimmy O’Brien (Naas/Leinster) 8

Jamie Osborne (Naas/Leinster)*

Sam Prendergast (Lansdowne/Leinster)*

Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 58

Jacob Stockdale (Lurgan/Ulster) 37

* denotes uncapped player
Unavailable: Jamison Gibson-Park (hamstring injury) and Jack Conan (personal reasons).

Delighted with that selection. Some old guard of course and plenty of new. 2 tests against the Boks will challenge our squad depth. Then a good lay off until next season.

I know it's not the longest period of time but HB hasn't been Leinster 2nd choice in at least 4 weeks

Not surprised by the Byrne call at all to be honest. Crowley and Frawley were always likely to be the 10s in the matchday squad with a 6/2. Provided they don't get injured that won't change from game 1 to game 2. Might be viewed as harsh because he's Leinster's first choice at present but I doubt Farrell saw much value in bringing Ross along.

JGP is Ireland's most important player alongside Porter. The drop down to the next best is massive.

Murray is probably going to start, but I hope Casey is given an opportunity to impress. We need something to look at for the future.

I'd be very surprised if it's not 14. Nash 15. JOB.

And on POM, you'll eventually be right. Not quite yet tho. ;)

So I guess RB being omitted is the only real surprise, and maybe Loughman losing out to either Bealham or TOT as emergency LH.

After that, it’s mostly as predicted. I wouldn’t have brought Blade but I doubt he’ll see minutes on the field.

Presume Coombes will be the big talking point but slipping to the bench / finishers/bomb squad at Munster won’t have helped.

Otherwise, a good squad that shouldn’t fear SA too much.

Healy, POM and Murray going on a summer tour at the beginning of a WC cycle is so Irish rugby

Eh, taking Loughman would absolutely be more forward thinking. Don't agree on Cooney but I never argued for his conclusion.

Anyway, I'm not the least bit surprised. Ireland don't give guys a go unless the incumbent retires or gets injured. That's just how it is and anyone who expected that to change is silly. So before anyone says I'm whinging. I'm not. I'm just acknowledging how things are.

I wonder what it is that Loughman lacks in Farrell's eyes. He looks good to me; strong scrummager, and useful in the loose. I was looking forward to seeing him on early so Porter only had to play 60 minutes. Does Farrell think he doesn't have the right mentality?

I don't really see the point in including Larmour. He's topped out below higher end international rugby, and is too suspect defensively on the right edge. I suppose there aren't a whole lot of other options unless you included more of a development player who wouldn't actually be expected to play (Kilgallen, maybe). Shane Daly is more of a left wing/fullback, and Baloucoune hasn't played for quite a while as far as I'm aware. Could they have had a look at Stewart Moore as a playmaker winger? Farrell likes creatine wingers.