100%. I just think we should draw a line under Frawley, Carbery, Byrne.
Byrne did well with Bristol when he got a good run. He never got that before, he's still young and possibly has a lot more to offer than the other two. He needs to get a shot if he's doing it for Leinster.
I think Harry, when he's playing in the form he is currently, is a better all around player than the other 2. Not to say that they can't develop and overcome their deficiencies. There's a ways to go til Feb, and given Farrell's general attitude of giving lads a lot of runway, I doubt he'd be quick to move on.
There's a tension bubbling in the team, of players being picked on reputation over form, where the potential exists for a rapid change in the complexion, especially in the backs. When you look at the WC, 9 thru 13 are spots that could see a lot of change over.
Harry Byrne had the humility to go to Bristol and benefited from it. He's playing really well since he returned, and looks like a guy who has changed his attitude. It's insane to write him off.
I think the Harry Byrne reigniting his career in Bristol arc is a bit much. He played fewer minutes last season than the season before and starter fewer matches. He started 7 games for Bristol, 2 of which were in the Premiership Cup.
Once McGinty was back he basically disappeared - he had 31 minutes of gametime from April til the end of the season.
His appearances for Leinster this year have looked good though. He also played some great games for Bristol. I think the argument that getting away from Leinster for a season, in a different environment, different priorities and a different coach may have had a good effect on him. He's only ever been coached by Leo with some interludes in Ireland camp. I don't pay much attention to him but intuitively a break like that can be very positive. And Im not sure he's much worse than the other two at the moment. We'll see how it goes for SP on Saturday but on the evidence so far neither himself nor Crowley will be coming out of this series with a spring in their step.
People need to stop obsessing over the outhalves. The real problem is the platform. The midfield has been blunt, predictable and offering absolutely nothing in terms of creativity or go-forward. And the lineout is coughing up possession like we don’t actually want the ball. Until Ireland fix those basics, it wouldn’t matter if you had Byrne, Crowley, SP or prime Sexton at 10 , they’d all look bang average behind the same slow ball and zero shape.
Giving up scrum penalties should be added to the list. But the players have the pedigree and the new kids have tons of ability. If this is the bottom and we can start to rebuild from here Ill be very happy.
A good 10 makes it a lot easier for everybody.
If Crowley is afforded the same forgiveness for the NZ game that sam was given all last year, and Crowley can come back with the form that destroyed leinster a few weeks ago, I'll be happy.
Someone pointed out that the midfield and the backs in general had no penetration or creativity, this can't be stressed enough. no linebreaks compared to 6 (or 7) from NZ is an embarrassment.
The backs from the A game can't be ignored Balacoune Postlethwaite and Kelly were electric.
I’m more of a glass-half-full type, to be honest. I think Byrne’s performances this season have been really encouraging. If he keeps getting regular minutes for Leinster, there’s no reason he couldn’t be brought into the Ireland setup. After that who knows
In terms of starts, Byrne went over to Bristol in December as backup for their backup. I wouldn't read too much into his minutes last year! Do you know how many starts Prendergast made for leinster last season?
And just like Prendergast, Harry was parachuted in purely on talent and future potential. No reason not to have another proper look at Byrne, while we wait to see if Prendergast can actually stick a tackle or pose a genuine running threat!?
Tony Butler is getting regular minutes for Munster, should he be brought into the Irish Set-up?
Yes, Tony Butler with 32 minutes this season and 5 career starts, is totally analogous to capped international Harry Byrne.
From what I've seen. Short answer - no
No
He did have a good game v Argentina A
Are you trying to compare Butler to H Byrne? not really a comparison is it
If Byrne shows some decent form in Europe and the Christmas interpros, then he’ll have a reasonable claim for the 6N squad, but until then we don’t really know what his level is.
He made 15 starts.
Harry will get lots of gametime this year as the backup 10, he is still relatively young and talented.
I just don't think his soujourn in Bristol made much difference. His problems have always been the same - he can't stay fit.
Franco Mostert sent off for an illegal, head high tackle on an Italian. Lood De Jager was banned for the rest of the November series for similar so you'd imagine the former will be banned for our game against them too.
Probably facing a row of Kleyn and Snyman 🤣
with a sprinkling of Etzebeth
Rassie will probably play him at 9 😜
On today's showing, I'd have Eben ahead of Morne Van der Berg
Spain beating England A
22-15 after 63 minutes..
This old rankings is starting to look important, I think having arg/scot/aus would be much better than having France in your group
Unfortunately we dropped a 10 point lead in the last ten minutes… 25-29 final score.
Aki looks done, doesn't have that power anymore, body just can't do what he wants looks a second or 2 behind. Farrell needs to move him on.
Indications suggest Farrell is doing that. I thought we missed McCloskey in the middle third of the game last night, he had started the game really well. I'd love him to be fit for next week but it didn't look promising.
Might be Henshaw and Ringrose in the midfield, Henshaw played well last night.
How did Ireland gain zero ranking points for yesterday's game? Even France got 0.12 for beating Fiji.
https://rawling.github.io/wr-calc/?s=mru&d=2025-11-10&f=2_t699v703s30-27f1%3Bt45v58s26-8f1%3Bt720v50s38-17%3Bt715v738s38-34%3Bt41v39s14-32%3Bt44v725s58-12%3Bt52v51s18-26%3Bt34v37s33-19%3Bt33v49s24-23%3Bt714v769%3Bt36v38s10-0%3Bt42v46s34-21%3Bt35v40
Because Fiji was closer to France in rankings than Australia to Ireland, close enough to influence rankings once home advantage is taking into account.
Really?
Four places between Ireland and Australia (3rd - 7th)
Four places between France and Fiji (5th - 9th)
