Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

We've got 4 superb locks. Each have different facets that they excel in. McCarthy has power and strength, Beirnes has the engine and runs the best lines, Ryan is the better tackler and rucker and Henderson is probably just below their level.

Team is named, completely unchanged.

Just saw that!

In fairness, that wasn't unreasonable given his performances at 6 and 8 with Scarlets, and his biggest edge over other Irish locks is his turnover work at the breakdown which you would normally associate with back-rows.

And in fairness, he's been needed at second-row more than back-row, we have struggled for depth in the second row last few years whereas we're always overflowing with flankers. If it was the other way around, maybe Beirne would have stayed at 6.

Thinking a guy would be a better 6 than 5 is hardly criticism anyway, is it?

He also had a pretty successful Lions tour in 2021 (three years after he came home), having been picked as and playing exclusively as a flanker.

He doesn’t need to be captain at Leinster to be Irish captain, and where are the multiple examples of him getting on the wrong side of refs?

He and Pearce were both audibly frustrated with one another on Saturday, but Doris absolutely had good reason to be. This point has been reinforced by Andy Farrell’s comments post game and numerous reports in the media (including from neutral media outlets like the Guardian etc) commenting on the problematic aspects of Pearce and his team’s performance.

The tone Pearce took with Doris was totally unacceptable.

Doris is an experienced player who is really well respected, a nailed on starter and could be a long term appointment for Ireland. He’s an obvious contender for captain.

He's the stand in captain. Ryan and Ringrose are the captains. If Ryan had been able to start, I'd assume he'd have been captain for the final.

The captaincy issue at the weekend was weird. Doris did approach Pearce repeatedly but the relationship was damaged from the off. On their very first interaction after becoming captain (which I think was the Marx turnover in the 22), Doris questioned something (I think it was the MVS not rolling which prevented Beirne and Doris from getting access to Marx/the ball). Pearce immediately spoke to him like a child "Don't make me go, don't make me go. That's now three times. Next time we go 10 metres". Image of that incident is below. That's MVS with his legs sticking out as he kills the ball whilst Marx is on it. Beirne is slapping him on the back too, highlighting the issue but no official calls it.

Doris probably should have been more selective in approaching Pearce but there were 3 incidents within 10 minutes that he could feel his side were fairly harshly treated. I'd expect a captain to be speaking to the ref at any single one of them. But Pearce was on edge in all of them and spoke fairly poorly to him on each.

• The Marx turnover where he chastised Doris in their first interaction since he became the on field captain as per above
• The disallowed try. Doris waited alongside the officials and, when he heard the try being disallowed was waved away and told "I'll explain to you, just let me do my bit." Doris waits and asks "Does he not get cleared to ground as he's hooking it?" and Pearce says something unintelligible "That's not….xxxx" and returns downfield.
• The slap down at the lineout before Casey's removal. This is where Pearce completely dismissed Doris and told him to stop asking him questions. It was a completely legitimate approach. It was a clear slapdown by PSDT right in front of the officials. Doris was asking was it not a deliberate knock on. He should have left it as there was no way it was going to go back and be reversed but I can understand the frustration as

Any one of those incidents, I'd be disappointed in any captain not trying to interject. On each occasion, Doris was respectful in his demeanour and language but needed to know when he was not going to get anything and Pearce was not in the mood for any discussion. Even for his disallowed try, Doris said he had grounded it for a split second (and replays appeared to confirm this) but you could sense the annoyance from Pearce at having to check it and he was very curt and direct in his instruction to Whitehouse which, I felt, probably played a part in how quickly they checked that and dismissed it.

I'm not sure any change of captain would be beneficial at this point. Leave POM in place for this weekend, obviously but I don't think there's any Irish player who wouldn't have been growing frustrated with the decisions and lack of engagement from the officials in these situations. Beirne was absolutely exasperated with Raynal against Exeter I recall and had to be eventually waved away after speaking to him repeatedly. I recall a few years back where POM (and it's an absolute credit to him) removed himself from speaking with the referee and asked Stander to communicate instead as he was losing his cool and the relationship was damaged.

What one of the podcasts mentioned (and I think it's fairly reasonable) is that we seem to have a particular issue with the English referees. These guys obviously work together and often operate as a team. No different to any colleagues, they'll discuss their experiences after matches and in training together. I wonder if there isn't something of a belief between them that the Leinster/Ireland teams need to be kept in check and to be strict in your dealings with them. I normally find Pearce an affable operator with good communication but he was extremely snippy at the weekend.

The Boks are at it again now with Bongi claiming Ireland were trying to play "tricks" in the scrum. The poor South Africans only want a fair scrum i.e calls to go their way