I think we'll deliver a performance, whether that's enough to win or not I don't know, but my gut tells me Ireland will go well that night. Faith more than reason I guess.
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.
Ryan Baird was good too.
I’ll go in hope inline with what you say. Save the one good performance for this match 🙏
Sure look, if we were playing well and winning we'd be "peaking too soon". Much better off having these problems now with two years to sort it out.
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 really dont understand the thoughts behind crowley was good today?
Im a fan of his, thought he was average. Casey and the front 5 were the glaring issues.
Ryan needs to be dropped.
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?
His try was a run in from 5 metres. His place kicking was better today yes. But there is a lot more than scoring a run in and kicking conversions involved in being an outhalf for a supposed world top 3 team.
Casey was poor today. First half he was dreadful, second half was better. He is nowhere close to Gibson Park currently.
Either way, neither of them are the glaring issues at the moment. The lineout is a huge problem and the attacking play in general doesn’t look good. Both coaching issues in my opinion.
Majority of that pack today were Leinster players. Leinsters lineout has been the one thing so far this season that has been good. 9/10/13 we’re Munster players and their attack has looked great so far this season. Again, in my opinion, it points to big issues with O’Connell and Goodman.
I think there is more upside to Prendergast than Crowley, but he would be eaten alive by South Africa due to his defence so we’re in a situation where the possibly long term better option probably shouldn’t start against physical teams like South Africa and England due to a massive glaring weakness in his game.
Very fair assessment. The fly half debate is currently a distraction from the actual issues that exist.
Casey's pass has never been the concern. His decision making today was very poor on a couple of notable occasions (that run up the blindside completely isolated at one point being the most stark example). I'm not particularly concerned about him having to start matches, but he had a real chance to put pressure on JGP and did not take it.
Scoring that try and making most of your kicks should really be the minimum you expect from your 10. What is he supposed to do beyond that? There was very little structure on the attack in the first half, and we were not getting the ball out to the wings and exploiting the space out there. His kicking from hand remains pretty conservative (though this is better than trying to eek out more and misjudging it) and occasionally slightly aimless and I think his range of passing is slightly limited but overall he was grand. His defence was again very good and he didn't really do anything notably wrong. It was a 7/10 performance - did fine, but he's not exactly grabbing this opportunity with two hands.
Anyway, I think the statement that whoever is picked at 10 they will be our weakest player remains correct. Which begs the question why several other players seem to be failing at their core roles. The line out was abysmal, ruck protection was very poor and handling was mixed. Mostly speaks to coaching I think.
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.
Goodman and O'Connell have no place in the Irish setup if we're serious about keeping the foot on the pedal in international terms.
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.
Eddie O’Sullivan said on the Indo Sport podcast last week that both were “world class”.
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
If we get the Jack Crowley from the recent Munster leinster game, I would have no fear for the next 2 games.
Best part of the Japan game was the return of peak Doris, he was immense. great to see it.
The Ireland A vs Spain game is available to watch free on RugbyPass tv: it's worth a look.
https://rugbypass.tv/video/881696?t=0
Posted this yesterday but here’s some of the players from the SA 23 last night and their ages in 2 years time. No doubt they have some super players coming through (more than us) but this is a lot of generational players to replace. Kriel 33, Marx 33 , Kolbe 34, De Jager 35, DeAllende 35, PSDT 35, Etzebeth 36, Kolisi 36, Reinach 37
I was pretty frustrated watching Ireland yesterday but it's interesting seeing the reaction to England's 38 18 win over Fiji compared to our 41 10 win over Japan. Apparently England's bench "powered" them home in a "hard fought win". BBCs words.
Bear in mind that Fiji beat Japan by just 6 points in September.
Maybe we aren't giving Japan enough credit.
They are still performing. Same cannot be said for some of the Irish players like Henshaw, and Aki and Lowe look to have regressed a bit.
All our currently used centres are over 30 and Osborne is being stuck at full back. Its a waste of resources.
South Africa have lost as many games as we have in 2025. In fact Australia beat them by 16 points in Ellis Park back in August.
There's been question marks over them a couple of times this year, but they've come good in the end. While I think we've clearly taken a step back since 2023 Iet's see where we are in two weeks after we've played Australia (Italy beat them yesterday) and South Africa. We might surprises ourselves yet. It was admittedly sporadic, but there was some very good rugby yesterday (see Crowley's try).
This was always going to be a tough season for Ireland given the comedown from the Lions and then the fact we are away to both England and France. I think we have to accept that we have to play the long game with Ireland. The good news is that having watched the As yesterday and having seen the early season form of particularly Munster and Ulster there are a number of players on the outside that are ready to step up, it's up to Farrell to be prepared to pick them.
Yes maybe it’s just a feature of a squad which will be perpetually in rotation and susceptible to the loss of generational players like JGP & Beirne alongside a 4 year RWC circuit. The 23 U20 team will start to come through now over the coming 2-3 years with Gus McCarthy, Paddy McCarthy, Sam P, Gleeson, Mangan & Quinn already in contention . Cooney, Gunne en route and could force their way through over next couple of club seasons. Henry McErlean also if he can skip injury but great talent . Tommy O’Brien a great example of talent meets resilience
Eddie O'Sullivan, with the greatest of respect to him, needs to go back to bed.
You mention Henry McErlean. Has he played much for Leinster? I know he made his debut maybe last season.
I've wondered in the past whether Ulster would ever try and sign him, I think he is originally from Cushendall or somewhere like that. He was very impressive at 20s level. That said back three is one area where Ulster are probably on a par with Leinster or at least very close to them.
yes real flair but has been susceptible to repeated injuries unsure if linked or not but highly rated and was one of the stars on a team of stars for the 6N 2023 Grand Slam & World final . He may well move but selfishly as a Leinster fan I hope he stays and hits breakthrough soon
Well, Spain is only one spot behind Japan but four points away. We have not beaten any team currently above us since 2012. We are not used to a certain tempo and level of contact and that was exposed yesterday by guys who, even if they are not in contention for an Irish cap, are used to playing in URC week in, week out, unlike 2/3 of the Spanish squad.
We are fine playing all teams below us in rankings, we have made an effort to offer central contracts to players who remain in Spain and fitness wise there wasn't a huge drop in the second half. But we now need to offer them exposure to a higher level of rugby and this will only happen with these games (fortunately we have England A and Fiji in the coming weeks, plus probably two games against Georgia in February and March) or a Challenge Cup wild card.
No more than declaring Osbourne an international fullback after one (very promising) performance against South Africa, I don't know is it wise to write off Casey just yet. He's only got 9 starts and is averaging half an hour on the pitch. He had a very poor first half yesterday but a tidier second half.
As for Osbourne, I think he can do a job at 15 in a pinch (no more than Crowley could for e.g.) but not sure back 3 is his calling. A good few posters have all their eggs at 12 for him for the future, I'd argue there are other incumbents at the other provinces that have more experience in that position and are looking promising. I think Leinster need to nail him down to a position otherwise he'll end up like Frawley being a master of none and a bench option rather than a starter. He's 24 next weekend so still time.
Outhalf - Crowley did well, Sam did very well off the bench. Was a nice confidence builder for him, he wasn't really challenged defensively and pulled the strings well against a tired Japan. Still don't want him starting against Australia or SA but if I was to pick one I'd go Australia.
Centres - Farrell performed well I thought, our second highest carrier and passer behind the halfbacks. Three offloads too. Now, it's only Japan and I doubt you'd see those numbers against the ABs but he offered something different to Ringrose. Henshaw did okay too but I feel we need to start looking at other options there (Osbourne/Kelly/Ulster/Connacht options).
Wings - both turned over a lot of ball, both made a lot of ground and breaks. It's great that we've got TOB as an option and he's showing up well, I think we need to move on from James Lowe personally. Looking at other teams our lack of pace in the backline is pretty stark.
15 - can we bring in an actual fullback please and not shoe-horn in non-15s. Lowry gets my vote.
I was impressed by Spain's attack, they worked space well and played with pace and accuracy. They never quit, that last try was really nice.
I think Osborne suffered a dislocation yesterday. He will probably be unavailable next weekend.
Lowry got subbed early in the game, could be 24th man for next week.
Postlethwaite and Kelly were excellent yesterday, admittedly it was Spain, but thyey were class.
Baloucoune and Bolton were a constant menace on their wings, they have serious gas. Again, they are worth alook compared to the incumbents.
Would Osborne get back for the 6N if it’s a dislocated shoulder? Terrible timing for him, not that there’s every a good time for a professional sports person.
