Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Really enjoyed that match. I know we struggled to score points, but from about the 25th minute we owned the ball and battered them. Impressive, given their start. A few things stood out for me:

• Baird is a phenomenal athlete but he's not a brilliant 6, and he doesn't read the game as well as Conan/POM etc.....I hope he continues to develop so we can maximise his physical qualities.
• We lack pace in the backs, a 14 with top line speed would make a big difference to our over threat levels.
• It's great to have 2 10s competing. Both have tremendous ability, albeit they are very different players.
• How was Hansen allowed back on pitch? My understanding is that a temp sub is only allowed for HIA or blood, and I didn't think either applied.
• That Sheehan try was as good a forward try as I think I've ever seen - magnificent disguise on the short flat pop pass, incredible wide long skip pass on the run to Lowe, brilliant support line to take the ball for the try....and then the delayed/statement grounding. Fantastic!

Well done Ireland, serious composure to hang in when it got tough. I've worried about leadership in this team but their ability to bounce back after a ferocious start by England bodes well.

How many phases after the kick was the try scored and how many other Irish players missed tackles but it was 100% Sam’s fault.

This is the type of disingenuous toxic posting everybody is giving out about.

Well said. How infantile can you get.

So every single kick that a 9 or 10 makes that isn’t won is a massive mistake? They’re all fucked so.

You are 100% correct. Every player makes mistakes in every game. The 10 probably makes more than most as they are involved in the play more than most other players. Except maybe the 9.

The only perfect performance I can think of by 10 was Carter vs the Lions in the 2nd test in 2005. I just looked it up and he missed a conversion in that game.

Camera didn't show much of the injury as play continued without him. When it came back to him, the leg was already bandaged. But doc must have recommended a few stitches? He ran (hobbled) off very much like a man who knew he was coming back.

They were both poor tackles. They’re all as bad as each other at this level.

Crowley shouldn’t be letting a hooker drift around him like that off slow ball and Henshaw should be nailing the attacker as covering defender. On rewatching, Freeman does very well and has a little spurt of acceleration which means he evades the full impact of Henshaw’s tackle which gets him through the gap.

Healy had a poor missed tackle in the lead up to that last try and another for England’s second try but credit Ollie Lawrence for the footwork in that one. He did the same to Tadgh Beirne for Englands first try. On the evidence of his cameo you’d have to think we need to move on from Healy ASAP. He looked old out there.

I just can’t agree.

Example. Ringrose is superb at levelling people these days. Prior to that he was exceptional at shooting, scragging the attacker, with the assist-tackler completing the tackle behind the gainline.

That’s not remotely the same as Henshaw’s missed tackle. All missed tackles are not made equal.

Now I’m not saying Crowley’s was as good as a Ringrose shoot. But I’m also not saying it was as bad as Henshaw’s. (And I’m saying this as a massive fans of Henshaw who has had defensive master classes for us previously vs England).

I’m in 100% agreement with you on Healy tho, he looked laboured out there.

(And I genuinely appreciate the response fwiw).

I thought it was worth looking into this a bit more because I remember a few kicks from Crowley that went far too long, so had a look at the game again.

65 mins: Crowley is in the backfield and signals to Henshaw he's going for an up-and-under to chase. He launches it absolutely miles too long, to the point it lands in the England 22. Henshaw isn't within 10m of the ball when it lands. The execution of this kick in particular is awful

70 mins: Crowley standing on the England 10 goes for a crossfield contestable, once again he sends it too far such that it lands just inside the England 22, no Irish player has a realistic chance of catching it, Smith takes the mark and clears downfield with the on-field graphic telling us England made 27m in territory from the kicking exchange

73 mins: he just hoofs it down down field into the English backfield, once again no Irish player anywhere near, we are saved a bit because Murley fluffs controlling the ball in a way no international back 3 player should

So we're left with two scenarios here:

1. The very act of kicking the ball long is an irredeemable sin for an OH, if that's the case Crowley is every bit as guilty as Prendergast from the evidence of yesterday
2. You argue "but England didn't score from those!", in which case it becomes fairly incontrovertible that in a game as dynamic and chaotic as international rugby that the player who kicked the ball can't possibly be "100%" to blame

You can pick your poison, but regardless of whichever one you go for, your posts on this particular topic are absolute trash.