Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

I'm pretty plainly saying if you're criticism extends to criticising Munster's finances based on speculation from a Graham Rowntree quote for the signing of Kiran MacDonald (who absolutely was necessary as a medical joker) then that extends beyond reasonable criticism.

You'll never find anything but fault.

You were criticising how profligate they've been over the past decade or so. It's an example of your over-the-top criticism during that period.

It was completely over the top nit-picking (ironically) on a signing that was a complete non-issue and absolutely required. And all based entirely on speculation.

I can provide plenty more but I don't see that convincing you either tbh.

Not a significant material change for Leinster, correct, which is exactly what I argued all along. And seem to have been proven correct so far.

But it straightforwardly is a significant change for the development pathways.

There's the obvious point that €2m can go an awful lot further at the start of the development pathway than it can at the point end of it.

If your point is that circa €2m per year being redirected to the development pathways is “tinkering with the edges” I think it’s fair to say we’re not going to agree.

But it seems like we’re both happy with the outcome of the review then, right?

Bundee Aki 😆

Jokes. Is it Jamie Joseph?

Spain to Play an Ireland A team as part of the Spanish teams autumn Internationals

Pity it's only a single A game. They've found it difficult to perform in one-off games with the scratch nature of it. The last two A games were no shows and comprehensive defeats, and the first game against the Maori in 2022 was disappointing whereas they managed to turn things around in the second fixture. And there are no provincial games for non-internationals to play in for a whole month during the AIs.

I guess if the main squad looks something like:

Looseheads: Andrew Porter, Jack Boyle, Michael Milne

Hookers: Dan Sheehan, Ronan Kelleher, Gus McCarthy, Tom Stewart

Tightheads: Tadhg Furlong, Finlay Bealham, Thomas Clarkson, Tom O'Toole

Locks: Tadhg Beirne, Joe McCarthy, James Ryan, Cormac Izuchukwu, Thomas Ahern

Blindsides: Ryan Baird, Cian Prendergast

Opensides: Josh van der Flier, Alex Kendellen/Nick Timoney

No. 8s: Caelan Doris, Jack Conan, Gavin Coombes

Scrumhalves: Jamison Gibson-Park, Craig Casey, Ben Murphy, Caolin Blade

Outhalves: Sam Prendergast, Jack Crowley, Ciarán Frawley

Left wings: James Lowe, Jacob Stockdale

Inside centres: Bundee Aki, Stuart McCloskey, Hugh Gavin

Outside centres: Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw

Right wings: Mack Hansen, Tommy O’Brien, Calvin Nash

Fullbacks: Jamie Osborne, Jimmy O’Brien

(Gee, Henshaw really looks out of place there. I'd say all of Farrell, Hume and Postlethwaite would be better options at 13)

…the A squad might be along the lines of:

Looseheads: Jeremy Loughman, Paddy McCarthy, Alex Usanov

Hookers: Diarmuid Barron, Stephen Smyth, Lee Barron

Tightheads: Jack Aungier, Sam Illo, Scott Wilson

Locks: Darragh Murray, Evan O'Connell, Diarmuid Mangan, Harry Sheridan

Blindside: Max Deegan

Openside: Nick Timoney/Alex Kendellen

No. 8s: Sean Jansen, Brian Gleeson

Scrumhalves: Nathan Doak, Fintan Gunne, Matthew Devine

Outhalves: Harry Byrne, Jack Murphy

Left wings: Shayne Bolton, Diarmuid Kilgallen

Inside centres: Cathal Forde, Charlie Tector

Outside centres: Jude Postlethwaite, James Hume

Right wing: Zac Ward

Fullbacks: Michael Lowry, Shane Daly

plus maybe an extra backrower, like Soroka or Boyle or Hodnett or McCann.

Maybe one or two players would drop down from the main squad.

Yeah he needs some some meaningful game time for Ireland. It really felt like last year was going to be his chance to jump ahead of Murray during the 6 nations.