Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

I don't know if the 'fans in the other 3 provinces are getting disillusioned' thing is true, even though it gets thrown around as fact a lot. Being from Connacht and unfortunately living in Munster (That's a joke, provincial rivalries used to be a bit of craic) I certainly don't feel any different and the vast majority of Munster fans i know would be the same. Not to say there isn't bitteness towards leinster over Snyman etc (Again normal provincial rivalry) but it doesn't spill over into the national team support.

We need to remember as well that the existing provincial system and the old rivalry bewteen the 4 provinces is one of the things that allowed Ireland to transition so seemlessly to professional rugby. When you see the Welsh regions constantly struggling for support you realise how lucky we were to have these entities already in place. So a certain amount of interprovincial sniping is natural and part of what has made Irish Rugby great in the last 20 years and shouldn't be read as 'people becoming disillusioned with the national team'. I'm also of the opinion that anyone who stops supporting the National team because there isn't enough of their province's players in the squad needs a good shake and should come support Connacht for a few years. We're in a bit of a golden age in terms of International selection since Bundee came along but for the previous 15 years it was big news when a Muldoon or a Johnny O connor snuck on to the bench for a Six Nations game

Nash did absolutely nothing against Scotland bar walk in a try he couldn’t miss and chase down a few kicks.

Hansen was far more involved and offered so much more around the pitch against England.

Statistically speaking in this Six Nations:

Hansen has 5 tackles (71%) to Nash’s 4 (67%)
Hansen has 8 carries for a total of 28m to Nash’s 4 carries for 5m

Hansen has 4 defenders beaten to Nash’s 0

Hansen has 10 touches to Nash’s 5

The only areas Nash come out on top is one less penalty conceded and a 50% Ruck effectiveness to Hansens 14%.

Hansen isn’t at his best but he’s slowly getting back there after nearly a year out.

I'm not up in arms about it or anything and I hope he goes well this weekend.

We've only played 2 games?

Yep, exactly this. Nash had a decent game against Scotland but it was an out-and-out winger performance. When the ball came to him, he did good things. The stats cited above show that Hansen managed twice as many involvements in the same number of minutes as Nash and that's the difference. I'll bet if you looked at Lowe's involvements, they'd be along the same lines as Hansen and this is what Ireland want from their wingers.

it's hard on Nash who's done nothing wrong but he was always up against it.

I don't think Nash would make the extended squad of England, France or Scotland to be brutally honest. He's a decent player, he won't let you down, but he's always a stop-gap.

This team selection is important for Ireland going forward if they win with ease it augurs well for Ireland's futhure in that we are developing a squad that is able to be competitive. Hopefully the days of an outhalf playing for 80 +minuites because the back up cant be trusted is behind us.

I've been thinking similar scores myself in the recent past, but looking at the way the team has been playing, it seems to be a slow start, then 50 minutes of a blow out studded with training ground moves.

If we turn them over once or twice early on, it could open a serious flood gate. I'm going to say 37-12.

Looking at that team, Gatland should be not let manage anyone ever again.

That is a way better balanced side than anything they've put out in a considerable period of time.

I'm a natural pessimist when it comes to supporting my own teams but I'm not sure this will be the walk in the park many believe to be the case.