Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

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.

Doesn't really matter what it's "seen as" imo. The team will privately be aiming for a grand slam, the objective will be a win and ideally 5 points. Nobody will care if we lift the trophy in Rome in ~3 weeks.

(though having said that, some of the background whinging this year has been through the roof, so I'm sure some people will find a way to complain no matter what).

Furlong

Bealham

ToT (got injured in November, then suspended in January)

Jager

Clarkson

That would have been the depth chart at the start of the season. Clarkson basically got his chance as a result of injuries, took it and kept his place. I don't see what's off about it. It's not like he has been getting mullered in the scrum either.

I have zero idea why Clarkson is ahead of Wilson, who has been good in the scrum and often excellent in the loose.

Well, fair play to Clarkson, but I'd have had Wilson ahead as a development player.

is Wilson injured? He’s not even in the A squad.

From the bits I’ve seen of him he looks more promising than Clarkson, Aungier and Jager. The T O’Toole loosehead experiment looks to be continuing for the A’s.

Just reviewing the squad selection and although I'm very happy with the 23 picked it does give an interesting insight into the current state of Irish Rugby.

Of the 15 starters, 12 Leinster, 2 Munster & 1 Connacht.

The 8 subs, 4 Leinster, 3 Connacht & 2 Munster.

Total breakdown of the matchday 23: 15 Leinster (65%), 4 Connacht (17%) and 4 Munster (17%). Zero Ulster players selected.

I'm not for a second suggesting that the players selected don't deserve their spot. What is alarming is how far behind Leinster the other 3 provinces have fallen. It must be a very tough time to be an Ulster fan in particular. Granted Izuchukwu may have been benching if he wasn't injured.

What's worse is that 1 of the Munster players is a product of the Leinster academy and schools system (Beirne). And 2 of the other 3 are probably playing in their final season at international level (POM & Murray). Crowley is the only homegrown player who'll be there long term.

1 of the Connacht players is in the same boat being a Leinster product (C Prendergast). The other 3 Connacht representatives comprise of two who play for Ireland based on familial relations (Bealham and Hansen) and the other qualified due to residency (Aki).

Hard to see how this will play out long term. It's great in the short term, Leinster and Ireland have a great crop of players and if the Leinster school production line keeps pumping them out then perhaps the national team remains strong. But surely interest in rugby in the other 4 provinces will suffer badly from this.

And before the inevitable jumping down my throat for making such a point I'd like to point out that I happen to hold the juxtaposed opinions that the current success of the national team is unprecedented and wonderful while also holding the opinion that long term the prospects of the three non-Leinster provinces looks to be fcuked.

Because he's a poor scrummager.

Clarkson Has been good. Core stuff at set piece he has been solid. He is not far off 50 leinster appearances and I'd wager he will endup with 200+ leinster appearances and 50+ international caps if he is lucky on the injury front.

He is getting more and more prominent around the park too.

i wouldnt be so dismissive of it, whether you agree with the sentiment or not its definitely a bit more prevalent that just 2 or 3 on here

Right, I remember not being able to win a game in France or London from one end of a decade to another. Henshaw has never won a test in Cardiff and Wales are shite! Wales are probably worse than they ever been yet they have 4 grand slams in the last 20 years, that tells you how quickly things can turn around. Anyone not enjoying Ireland's purple patch for some kind of parochial reason has got serious problems unrelated to sport.