Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

So winning a RWC and RC helps slow the process of aging? Interesting take!

SA just proves the point, experience wins you trophies…not throwing kids in.

Ireland have generally been the best NH side over the last few years whereas SA have been the best SH side…yes consistently have the oldest sides in their hemisphere competitions…coincidence? I think not.

The media are just obsessed with being young because it’s what England/France do and they want to believe they are always right despite the evidence pointing to the contrary.

Add to that the Emerging Ireland tours and you could make an argument that Farrell and his coaches are doing a great job of looking at as many players as they possibly can.

The argument seems to be that you can only judge a player by giving them starts against Tier 1 countries, I wouldn’t agree with that at all.

Plenty of guys get call-ups, some of them take their chances, others don’t. This seems to be regarded as a failure of the coach. Again, I wouldn’t agree with that either.

Of course 6N's are not insignificant and I would never say they are.

Nor am I saying we should go full boar, discarding everyone 30+, and start afresh.

But I think there's a balance that can be struck here, and I think Farrell is erring on the wrong side of it.

I think that's a perfectly reasonable position, even if you disagree it. My worry is it will catch up with us. Bearing in mind I am previously someone who defended Farrell with regards the age-profile of the squad, over 2 years ago.

Blade is likely there because he’s a safe pair of hands as a third choice and won’t let Ireland down if he comes on.

I suspect you might see something similar to McCarthy from last season, one of the young 9s impresses versus Spain and jumps ahead of Blade.

Plus Farrell is very likely to leave JGP on for 70+ minutes anyways.

I disagreed with you in the past, TRC, but I’m coming around to your line of thinking with regards recent selection.

Personally, I think they should have selected more older players. Milne would bring more oomph than Boyle. I'd be more confident with Herring or Tom Stewart benching against the All Blacks than Gus McCarthy if one of Sheehan or Kelleher broke down and had to cry off. Thomas Farrell is a better 13 option than Henshaw now, I would say, despite being… I was going to say marginally older, but, looking it up, I see Farrell is actually 4 months younger. Anyway, I think the plan for 13 long-term is probably to have Osborne as Ringrose's back-up once Keenan returns.

Blade is a good selection, to my mind. Was he not good in Connacht's first round game? Better than Murphy against Cardiff anyway. Murphy and Doak and Gunne could make the 'A' squad.

I'm a bit surised at Jimmy O'Brien's omission. Stockdale at fullback was tried early on in Farrell's tenure at 15 and I he was a bit loose defensively. But I still think I'd prefer him over Frawley and his lack of pace if Osborne had to pull out at the last moment.

Personally, I think they should have selected more older players. Milne would bring more oomph than Boyle. I'd be more confident with Herring or Tom Stewart benching against the All Blacks than Gus McCarthy if one of Sheehan or Kelleher broke down and had to cry off.

I'd actually agree with this. McCarthy x 2 and the extra panelists would be better off playing an extra club game followed by the Spain game rather than hanging around in case of an emergency for the NZ game. Bring them into the squad for the final two games, there's a reasonable chance of injuries by then anyway.

Happy enough, glad he's looking at Aherne. All the talk is Baird but I think Aherne is the better player, just hasn't had a chance to show it yet at this level. Might end up being slotted in at second row where I'm not sure he's as effective but I've no doubt he'll do a job.

As I posted yesterday I think he missed a trick not having a look at Farrell, who can't have done much more to put his hand up. Ringrose isn't one to distribute in my opinion (and Henshaw looks like he's on the wane), Farrell offers something different. Ulster have a few young centres too I'd have loved to have seen involved in some capacity even… their time will come maybe. I've made my feelings known on Coombes before.

Nash's injury makes more sense about TOB's inclusion. He has a chance to stake a claim now, don't see him getting ahead of Hansen if he's on form, mind.

Milne can feel hard done by, he's been a brilliant signing. Not sure Paddy McCarthy has shown enough to be there ahead of him. Best of luck to him I guess.

Glad for Edogbo, nice reward for all his hard work, out for 2 years. If he can stay fit the sky's the limit for him.

It looks like we're going to try a winger who blows hot and cold at fullback (unless he's going to get some game-time over Lowe?) when Mr Consistency Mike Haley can't get a look-in. One sub's appearance in a 2019 WC warm-up seems absolutely mad for a player of his quality. 31 now so maybe, like Farrell, they thing he's the wrong age or the fact he's a one-position player.

All in all, it's a bit underwhelming of a squad but there's a few green shoots with young/untried players being brought along. I'd like to have seen a bit more experimentation but will wait until I see teamsheets.

Was there not talk of Stockdale playing 15? If he's on the wing only it's a different story (but my point about Haley not getting a bit more of a look-in over the last 6 years still stands though!)

Have you seen the Munster scrum this season with him in it? It doesn't sound like you have, there's been a noticeable improvement. Small sample size so far given how long he's with us but he's overtaken Loughman and Wycherley straight away in my opinion, offering a far better platform.