Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Good news is getting rid of the second break week, that always took the wind out of the competition and it also deprived us of the chance to go into a real back to back series of 3 big matches which is something the Irish team needs to figure out. It will be interesting to see what the tv audience is like for a Thursday evening match, Im guessing it will be bigger than the Friday evening equivalent.

As part of the Ireland team.

Not for a city break.

I

Casey would be a great captain, but... I've heard players say the captain should be taller than the ref. They should be a bit naturally intimidating to the ref.

Sounds mad but I saw some research on why home advantage exists in sport and the biggest factor was crowd reaction influencing the ref. Correlated with objective things like the home team getting extra time when they need a goal in football for example. The effect was reduced with crowd distance from the pitch like a running track around the pitch.

I don't know enough to know it's definitely real, but other than all that, Casey would be a great captain. Decent leader.

Backs definitely an easier guess , hopefully they take a decent sized pack and err on the side of caution as a confidence rebuild is important given the season we have gone through

I didn't suggest height stops a player being exceptional.

Yes to everything except.

Fintan Gunne: He can't get game time in URC for Leinster, Irish team isn't a place to rack up minutes. Beat Luke McGrath at home and then we are talking… Matt Devine or Ethan COUGHLAN have won there positions more…

Left Wing : I would chance Killgallen possibly… Very unlucky with injury but could really thrive in this set up… Bolton is still there…

Stuart McCloskey: Nope, won't make next world cup… Hugh Gavin is an outside center… Robbie as inside and possibly Cathal Forde as well.. Frawley is there as well

Tom Farrell : Yes and hell yes… HE has been the best Irish player in the URC… We need to reward that level of consistency.. He is also 5 months younger than Robbie Henshaw and 15months younger than Stuart McCloskey.

Backrow: We are basically saying who is better than Leinster's second string row of Deegan, Conan and Conors? Yep Prendergast… McNabney, maybe… Tom Ahern, yes… Jansen was trying to put up his hand… Coombes is limited has the power but not the athletic ability to match the Irish style of play… Bring John HODNETT, he is young and lets see does his game move up the gears..

Not disagreeing with you on Combes, was thinking it while writing.. But everytime I see that , I think of Jansen… He is a bigger unit than Combes and just as unstoppable on the small yards.. might bring both to have a look…

I really want to give Coombes a chance to see if he is a yea or a nay… Put it in his own hands…

My thinking is it's likely there'll be quite a lot of continuity of thought from selections made earlier in the season. Coughlan and Devine made the EI squad, but Gunne was selected for Ireland 'A'. Now, it could be that they just wanted to have a look at him and maybe he didn't impress, but on the face of it making the A side is a higher grade than with Emerging Ireland. Also, the third choice scrumhalf pick is likely to be a potential pick, because he's possibly unlikely to see gametime. So, yes, at the moment Gunne isn't the third best available 9, but maybe they feel he has the highest ceiling.

Similarly, in relation to where Gavin plays, the selection in the A international was 12. Gavin, 13. Postlethwaite. Of course, Gavin has featured more at 13 for Connacht since then, so there's extra information to consider now. But Postlethwaite has also mostly been playing at 13 for his Province, so I think it's quite likely the alignment from the A game won't be altered.