Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

“They’re showing the stadium as the people's stadium. My vision is for it to be a municipal stadium. I think stadiums are expensive public goods that need public support and funding and need to be multi-sport. SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh wasn’t built for that, but this is our way of maybe retrofitting a little bit of that."

I would assume by "public support and funding" he means the Government.
It looks like Cork Gaa can't keep up with the current debt not to mind the running and maintenance of the stadium.

If his vision for Pairc Ui Chaoimh is to be a publicly owned municipal stadium it will need sold out big international games to pay the stadium bills.

A definite no as others mentioned due to sponsorship but even without that, there likely isn’t the number of people willing to pay €100-€200 for tickets outside of Dublin to actually fill the stadium.

yeah don’t think filling the stadium is the issue. Corporate facilities and related revenues would be a big problem at a stadium not designed for it. Plus renting a stadium when you own a better one with a bigger capacity that is already probably a bit small for international matches doesn’t seem like something that would happen.

as with last week nothing can be read into any selections but good to see different people get a chance/look at.
pack looks decent enough given who’s not available

Doak, McCarthy Jr, and Smyth are the only players named for the tour that haven't seen any game time.

So for the most part they've used essentially the entire squad.

I'm glad to see Baird get another run at blindside. His real breakthrough was last season, but I was worried that his progress had been ruined by multiple head knocks and injury.

He was Leinster's best player during the URC knockouts and was great against Georgia last weekend. Another strong performance would be more evidence to suggest he's finally cracked it and is stepping up a level to become a top class player.

Happy for Jamie Osborne & Hugh Gavin , also good insight into current thinking with Frawley still on the cards for 10. Well deserved starter play for Crowley , I expect him and Sam were told they would get a start each at the beginning of the trip. Re-establishes equilibrium . Baird my big watch as he is on form and creating a very good narrative amongst those in the know

I'm all for growing the game but just look at that crowd.

Whoever is in charge of the scoreboard needs to learn rugby scoring.