Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

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.

You're not going to build anything playing players out of position. Getting humped every week is not going to put them in a better position for a world cup.

I'd be shocked if he got a decent job ever again.

This is a real "no win" situation for Ireland. The only satisfactory outcome is an absolute hammering. Anything else will be seen as a failure. It's one of those games we need to get out of the way early and move on to 2 weeks time.

Bealham is fantastic but he's a year older than Furlong! Need to have young guns at the ready too.