Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

heaslip in his pomp was faster than Conan iirc, he was also very light on his feet for a player with the sort of power he had. Very deceptive.

Conan has never been half as good as Heaslip who is still our best ever #8, but I’d expect Doris to overtake him on his current trajectory.

In terms of honours Heaslip is currently ahead of Doris, Doris if he continues the form he's been showing in the next 2 years what he brings to the team on and off the pitch then he will easily be ahead of Heaslip as our best #8 in overall criteria. Do I think Doris is a better player than Heaslip then unambiguously yes.

I'm well used to Jamie Heaslip hate and there was a lot of it even when he was palying but i think mostly due to his personality which rubbed some people up the wrong way. But he was an absolutely amazing rugby player and Doris has a bit to go before he passes him out

I don't think you can compare the 2. A bit like saying ringrose took over from BOD seamlessly (Jared Payne era was short) We were lucky to have someone so solid come through and fill the gap but as an all round player Stander wasn't close. Also Heaslips' prime was probablt 09-13/14ish so the drop off wasn't as pronounced a few years later when Stander took over

Outstanding improvisation from Prendergast.

And in fairness it's equally impressive from Porter to switch from being about to clear out a ruck to instead gathering the offload. You can see him hunch over to make a clear out. This all happened in a split second.

The backrow at the time of Stander POM and SOB I think it was, always seemed to me less than the sum of its parts. 3 great players but something wasn’t quite right with it, balance? Although that’s hard to quantify

Totally agree with this, that backrow never really lived up to billing. Maybe the injuries had caught up with SOB and he was past his peak. And personally I don't think Stander is in the same bracket as Heaslip or Doris.

Yeah possibly so, it just didn’t seem to be where it should have been based on the personnel. On the balance thing not sure it’s as simple as one does this one that, think they need to work as a unit and it’s hard to quantify that.

Anyone who thinks Heaslip faltered towards the end of his career is someone who wants to believe it is true.

He was nominated for World Player of the Year just 3 months before his last ever game.

The bloke is thoroughly unlikeable, which rubbed a lot of people up the wrong way. However people used that to spread lies about him being sh*te.

Anyone who thinks Doris is at that level yet is suffering from recency bias. Heaslip was a truly sensational player. There's no reason to think Doris won't make it to that level though.

Doris isn't at Heaslip's level yet. Anyone who believes so simply does not remember how good Heaslip was.

No reason why Doris can't surpass that level, though.