Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

He was far better than Prendergast tonight. I think Beirne should have had MotM for an other-worldly defensive performance in the second half in particular, but virtually every contribution from Crowley tonight was very good.

FWIW - a lot of the things Prendergast gets slated for regularly on here weren’t an issue tonight - he defended largely fine (made a number of tackles), he was committed, he carried to the line. His kicking from hand was poor on multiple occasions and line kicking wasn’t great either.

But we got battered up front, particularly at the ruck and as a team we seemed to have literally no plan for our attack at all.

Not really, it was the likes of Kinghorn & Freeman out wide who wouldn’t do their job that cost the Lions 3-0…especially Kinghorn who was more content whinging than covering Jorgensen.

Noah Caluori 20 year old scored 5 tries for Saracens

If he was Irish he would be 1 year out of Secondary School and in a Leinster Acadamey

Why or how Ireland now promoting/producing young players

More of an indication of the quality of the prem.

You’re on a roll the last few days, Richie.

Munster fans have been raving about Farrell for the last 12 months or more.

Watching Leinster there tonight unfortunately reminded me of watching Ireland in the 6N just gone. Getting held up over the line, making heroes of the opposition's defence and running down blind alleys into huge hits. It's worrying that it isn't changing and I fear a chastening AI series is coming up.

Leinster tonight had the lion's share of territory and possession, a dominant scrum, took their own lineout without much fuss and yet lost by 17 pts at home conceding a BP and registering no points themselves. Also went 74 mins without scoring before getting a late consolation try when the game was up.

If the alarm bells aren't ringing now when will they ever be? And yet the likes of Henshaw and Aki are picked for Ireland when wildly off form and the form player in the country with the past 12 monts, Tom Farrell, is left at home. This could get ugly quick.

I agree with you, he's not as athletic or dynamic as the modern day prototype backrow. But he's incredibly effective. I reckon Leinster would have liked to have had his skill set there tonight when they were camped 5m out on several occasions and came away with nothing.

He's the perfect squad player for Ireland, can play 4, 6 and 8 and yet is constantly overlooked. In fact the perfect WC player as he can slot into those positions to cover for injury, rest etc.

Also, have a look back at his carrying just before when JOD fumbled at a ruck 2m from the Leinster line. He just powers through a couple of guys twice in that phase. It's just something that so many can't do and such a weapon.

But Andy Farrell doesn't care about provincial pecking orders… right?

Whatever you think about Coombes, there's an obvious argument that with his form over the last 2 and a half seasons or so, he should have an awful lot more than the 3 solitary caps he has to his name…

McMillan, much like Lancaster at Connacht is on record as saying he was keen to give everyone in the building a far opportunity. They both have 2 starts and 2 sub appearances. And I'd go as far as saying Gleeson is one of the most exciting young prospects in the country right now, not just at back-row.

That's all part of the context too. So ya, glib indeed, I'd agree with you there at least.

The whole point of post was that it's too premature to assume that he has leapfrogged Coombes….

Which would include Wycherley ahead of Kleyn and Dan Kelly,ahead of Nankivell. Na, I don't buy it tbh. I think the best you could say is he picked on form. (And even then, I'd dispute Kelly ahead of Nankivell).

But it is a real shame Gleeson has broken his arm.

And to add to this, we also know that being camped on 5m line, and being held up over the line is something that Ireland have struggled with.

Add to this a change in style last season, where we kicked the ball more frequently, had fewer phases, fewer rucks, and suddenly he looks a far better fit than with the attacking shape we had under Mike Catt, for example.

I posted this back in April and my opinion hasn't changed substantially tbh:

The argument against Coombes for Ireland was that he wasn't quick enough or linked the play well enough to play Ireland's high-tempo, high number of ruck, possession-based game.

Ireland are now transitioning to a game, with fewer rucks, fewer phases, fewer passes per phases, where we kick earlier and more frequently. We've also looked under-powered at times culminating in being held up over the line a high number of times during the 6N. Couple this with POM retiring and Baird not really taking his chances, and Coombes has to start seeing more game time for Ireland, imo.

It'd be a mistake to continue to overlook him.