Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

I'd say VdF is a complete pro, but personally very disappointed. He comes across as having very little ego. I'd say he took it like a hero and will play his heart out.

I'm not convinced about the wisdom of Doris going straight having not played since April or May or whenever it was he got injured.

Not wanting to be a Debbie downer but I've a fear we might get hockeyed on Saturday night I'd be delighted to be proved wrong!

The likes of Earls used to come back even better first game back after injury. I think Doris is in the same mould, I'm sure he'll be one of our better performers.

Very hard game to call, not optimistic but you never know. Will wait till I see a team first

I just think the timing of the match isn't great for us. But we live in hope.

I was thinking about this earlier, obviously any game against New Zealand is a huge event, but I think I'm more interested about where we'll be come Australia and then South Africa.

The bookies have Ireland at 2/1 odds, & the ABs at ~1/2 on, and they rarely get ir wrong.

However, they also had Munster at 12/1 versus Leinster in the URC match held in Croke Park recently, & we all know how that worked out, hey!?

But Ireland = Leinster + a tiny few from Munster & Connacht , so scratch that result for any source of optimism really.... imho Ireland are behind the 8 ball mentally, metaphorically & more than likely physically also imho!!!

I obviously want them to win every game but I think they need to realise they have to phase out the older players. Aki, JGP, Beirne, Lowe and Furlong will most likely be less good at the world cup than they are now. That's a third of the team on a downward trajectory.

It's hard to phase out such great players but they're holding on to a rising balloon. The closer they get to the world cup the harder it will be to drop them. A win would paper over the cracks.

I wouldn't mind a change in focus and a relatively lean 6N if it means bringing through the next generation of players for the world cup. Controversial opinion, I think Casey, before his injury, was playing better than JGP.

On the other hand if they play really well on Saturday, then Farrell would look foolish to change anything.

Agree with that assessment. I think VdF is another who will make the world cup as the best player in his position, but probably not as good as he is now. I'd like to see the likes of Gleeson, Culhane Quinn (or even Tom Stewart after his stint at 7?) challenge him. If they're the better player by the world cup then they should take the 7 jersey.

On the last paragraph, isn't Tommy o Brien the only player unproven against this level of opposition getting a chance?

I'd like to see Casey get 20 or even 30 mins from now on. Not 8 mins at the end. That relationship needs to be seen as a starter and a finisher, not a clear 1st choice - 2nd choice as it has been for the last few years.

On the last paragraph, isn't Tommy o Brien the only player unproven against this level of opposition getting a chance?

If Ryan Baird starts at 6 (we might well see Doris at six and Conan at 8), I would categorise him as unproven against really top-level test opposition. This will be his 30th cap but he has never played NZ before, never played Australia, and England are the only Tier 1 team he has started against.

I would put whichever OH we pick into the same category. Osborne had a stormer at FB in South Africa but the sample size is very small, so again, I would call him unproven.

Agree re: Casey and minutes, 20-30 should be the minimum.

OK. I get you. I initially thought you were liberally using the term "unproven", but I get you. At world cup crunch game level, they are relatively (or completely) unproven. Taking that into consideration, I probably underestimated the development opportunity for those players.

Farrell was staying true to his own selection policy and philosophy. He knows what he wants on the pitch and backs the players to perform when it matters. It's what has led to such success for Ireland.

Tadhg Beirne didn't start the tour well either yet ended up as player of the series. James Ryan wasn't great in the warm ups yet was selected for the second test and had an excellent 20 minutes cameo off the bench and was rewarded with a starting berth for the third test.

Bookies at this stage have NZ by 5. Can’t argue with that. We can’t be any worse than we were last time we played them anyway!

Finger In the air and pulling stats from my h0le, I'd say 60:40 in Crowley's favour

6:2 bench split might mean start Prendergast and have Crowley on the bench to cover 15 and 12 in an emergency. Otherwise start Crowley and have Frawley on the bench and no Prendergast.

5-3 split leave more scope.