Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Doris Crowley and Baird were good.

The subs were good when they came on, but Japan were beaten by then and they had no subs that showed any sort of depth.

Indeed.all to their own. Thought Tommy O Brien was given space but he's too light. Robbie really is heading to end of career fast. Kelleher is as normal. Porter is as normal. Ryan is as normal. And normal really doesn't cut it these days. Folks talk about age profile but it clearly hits you in the face with Ireland. Andy has a job on his hands just to change his perspective. The team will change if he just allows it to change.

Kelleher has been bang average for years. It's farcical that in all these years that no coach has sorted out his throwing technique. His technique leads to in consistency in the throw. He's a poor scrummager and is also fond of giving away the needless penalty. Time we moved on from him. He's had more than enough opportunities and at 27, with zero improvement now likely, it's time we gave Gus McCarthy or Tom Stewart a proper run and look.

Crowley was poor today and I wouldn't be surprised if prendergast comes in to start next week.

Made the mistake of reading the comments on the irfu Instagram post for the match.

It's depressing to see that even after his good performance today, there are still some people bitching about Sam Prendergast, often in quite a personal way too. I'd say Sexton and ROG must be glad they broke through prior to social media.

Just watched France v South Africa. What a test match! Different gravy. We will need to improve considerably over the next two years in order to make any impression in the next World Cup. There is time but we appear to be a long way behind in our set piece (both scrum and lineout) and we don't have the inventiveness and pace that other teams have. We can only hope.....

I'm a Munster fan and have to admit Casey did nothing today to improve his standing for selection. He'll be disappointed with his performance. Claiming otherwise is ignoring the facts. I agree with you there.

He played very well today. Interesting to see who Farrell picks to start next week. Not sure Sam has resolved his physicality issues yet though. But when he plays with go forward ball like today he is excellent.

I thought Casey played well, speed of pass was way quicker than Gibson. Crowley scored a try and scored the majority of his kicks. What more is he supposed to do?

Very fair assessment. The fly half debate is currently a distraction from the actual issues that exist.

I think what's missing in the fly half debate is that the two options just aren't of a top quality at test level.

I know they're the two best options we have, but I think discussions around matches and their performances could be more nuanced if many of us just accepted that.

People are a bit too doom and gloom here.
Japan did well to keep it close but Ireland finished strongly.
Pretty typical game for a tier 1 country vs tier 2.

I find it bizarre that you could use today to pick Prendergast over Crowley.
It'd be like the Fiji game from last year all over again.
Prendergast played very well when he came on but Japan had completely wilted.
The performances from Crowley and Prendergast in the Australia and South Africa games will tell a lot.

I find it hard to believe that Spain are now just 1 slot behind Japan in the rankings. They were terribly poor against our A team. I am a forever optimist but I do worry that our over reliance for the big games, SA in 2 weeks, from such a small bunch of players who are ageing as we head for RWC27 leaves us in a very vulnerable position. And the coaching staff don’t seem to have the answer. I think the debate around 10 deflects from some proper concerns elsewhere. Many questions and few answers sadly. JGP & Beirne both 33. These 2 alone are so incredibly critical to our chance of success in 2 years time. Baird & TOB rising stars but too many gaps elsewhere