You have to assume he will bring other players in for e.g. Japan, but if he is going to announce this as the squad for the 4 test series why not include one other young 9? Just have 4 of them if you really think you need the mature backup.
I'd go for something like
In terms of young players specifically, I'd like to see the young centres rewarded. Gavin, Cooney, Forde, Postlewaith. Backrow players like Soroka, Gleeson, Timony, and I'm sure there's others I'm not thinking of at the moment. Some of the SHs, like Gunne, Murphy and Devine.
Whatever about Henshaw and Henderson (I don't agree with either being picked), having Blade in the squad is crazy stuff. Is he not 3rd choice 9 now at Connacht? Any 1 of Gunne, Murphy, Devine, Doak, even Ethan Coughlan who had a good 30 minutes last week should be there ahead.
The point being, if he had given Casey more gametime and experience, it would've freed him up to select a young guy in that 3rd choice role, which is kinda what you want.
Any of Murphy, Devine, Gunne or Doak could've been selected and it would be preferable.
The conservatism with Casey had prompted further conservatism with Blade.
Don’t disagree with this either but changing for age is a tricky decision, Henshaw a good example who could have a massive role to play despite him getting older and slower. I always think about how we prematurely wrote off Sexton too early
Blade is a very disappointing and honestly bizarre pick. Otherwise it's a good squad.
11 of those guys will be 34+ come the next RWC . It's becoming a big problem tbh.
surprised they haven’t gone with the training panelist’s again like before
Did we though?
The lack of game time given to Crowley (or any other alternative 10 ) meant that we left a completely gassed Sexton on the pitch in the QF when he should have come off after an hour, or he could/should have had a lot less minutes in his legs in the preceding games but we used him far more than we should have in those games because his back-up only had a handful of starts under his belt.
As @aloooof says , delaying giving the younger guys experience carries forward to the 3rd/4th choice as well.
We NEED to be going into the next World Cup with every player and their backup having 20+ caps with at least half of those being starts in meaningful games.
I haven't looked exactly , but we likely have at most 30 games left until the next world cup excluding warm-ups , so time is NOT on our side.
fair
Edogbo, Gleeson, and Bolton kinda are as they are travelling to Chicago with the squad.
The concern here is around Casey specifically though - I think the worry is Casey won't be available for the NZ game potentially, so regardless of how much time he'd given Casey he was going to want more experience in the 3rd scrum half role here, rather than throwing Devine or Murphy or Gunne in.
I don't see how giving more gametime to Casey previously has an impact on him carrying an injury now. I think Casey's injury is what has necessitated Blade's inclusion.
It's not the selection I'd have made (I'd have gone for Ben Murphy).
I think it's possibly, at most, around 24?
It doesn't leave us very much time.
It's odd to pick a player for their experience, when their recent experience is playing from the bench for their province. If a young lad is getting picked ahead of someone at club level, then they're the ones who need to get experience now.
As far as I'm aware, the upper-end of Casey's injury prognosis still has him back for the NZ game. He's an outside chance to play vs Leinster this weekend.
Also worth mentioning, JGP's average number of minutes last season was 72 minutes.
In that context I don't think it'd have been a huge risk to call up one of the younger guys ahead of Blade.
I don't entirely disagree, but Farrell's response would probably be he's not the one picking the team at the provincial level.
Also - FWIW, Connacht have played two games this season and Blade started the first one at 9.
I rate Ben Murphy really highly, but he picked a terrible moment to have one of his worst games in a Connacht shirt on Saturday night.
Farrell will be confident that if Casey can't go v NZ, that Blade won't be overawed sitting on the bench given he came off the bench in Durban and did a good job. He doesn't have that confidence yet in the others.
I still think some of them will get their chance over this series - guys like Tom Clarkson and Gus McCarthy weren't named in this original squad 12 months ago and both went on to feature in 2 games over that November.
Remains to be seen - but I fully believe the inclusion of Blade is down to injury concerns around Casey more than anything else. The statements around Casey's injuries have been pretty vague so far tbf.
No arguments, and I like Blade a lot, he should've gotten a lot more caps over the years imo. JGP's age profile is a concern. I have doubts that he's going to maintain his standard of play through to the WC.
50 min against Scotland was his only game in 20 days. I dont think playing against Romania or tonga was the winning and losing of that NZ match. The biggest mistake by far in that sequence was from the fresh McCarthy. Though McCarthy himself belies the idea you need significant experience to be trusted.
(Im still not remotely a fan of the squad)
Tthe injury updates Munster are giving out now are probably the most detailed in terms of return schedule I've come across from any club in recent seasons tbh….. we just look at things very differently, FTD.
Right, except this week's injury update said absolutely nothing about injured players at all, just launches into an irrelevant blurb about players playing AIL:
And, the previous one, had Casey out for a period of 1-3 weeks. The upper end of that would only have him returning the actual week of the NZ game.
The suggestion there are injury doubts about Craig Casey for the NZ game hardly seems outlandish.
"outlandish".
I didn't suggest it was….. let's leave it...
Another underwhelming squad which seems to be prioritizing short term gain for long term pain. We have no chance to win the next world cup, and if it keeps going like this we'll be even further behind once the prep to 2031 begins. Farrell has done a lot of good things but should be moved on.
world cup seedings are set after the autumn internationals.
nothing about that squad is worth arguing over.
Granted Connors in injured for the time being but I'd have thought on form he is an able replacement for VDF, and he's 3 years younger.
I’d agree but the problem with Connor’s isn’t that he’s injured for the time being. It’s that he’s perennially injured.
The seedings are set after these games but it's top 6 who are first seeds not top 4 so we would have to lose 3 of the 4 games and by more than 15 points in each game in order for us to drop out of top 6. It's madness not to experiment more with squad
You're probably 1-2 players away from what is going to be selected. I'll have Henderson all day every day ahead of Ahern or Murray in a game against NZ myself. Keenan being out probably makes it harder to pick Osborne at 12. But you've picked a team that is extremely close to what Farrell will pick.
it’s not up to Farrell to give the younger players game time, he will take them on once they have had sufficient time at club proving themselves, and then the integration will be fast trekked. Look at what was achieved in a relatively short period in Lyon’s and many said it was their best coaching performance they had experienced. I agree with the couple of situations which seem odd due to age or an importance to choose the 2nd or 3rd for WC27 but even there the club performance will be crucial to estimate the next wave of talent. 6N will be an easier time to rotate accurately after the URC & EPCR campaigns are well underway
I think Gavin would be a better 12 and Osbourne 13.
