Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

if JOB were on the bench i think its more likely that he would be covering 12 & 13 - at straight swap at 13 and putting GR to 12 if thats what was needed

he isnt on the bench so its moot either way

If job doesn't cover centre then he isn't a utility back on the bench . He is a winger.

So then the conversation is a winger or a centre on the bench.

So having a centre on the bench:

Centre gets injured then a straight swap.

Full back gets injured then crowley to full

Wing gets injured then hansen to wing and crowley to full.

Job on the bench:

Wing gets injured then job to wing

Full gets injured then job/Crowley to full.

Centre gets injured then crowley / job to centre

The centre on the bench option looks better to me because I think a specialist centre is more important than a specialist wing

its a few years ago at this stage but in the 2022 game JOB came on and Ringrose moved into 12, i think that would still be the case now although JOB hasnt played centre that much recently afaik

i also dunno if AF sees Crowley as much of an option at centre to be honest (could sh!t-stir and say he doesnt see him as much of an option at 10 either), i think the only time he has played centre for ireland was the france game in the 6Ns and that was really only down to injuries. I imagine JC is viewed as 10/back 3 cover only hence why there is usually a centre on the bench

Prendergast is on his second season of senior rugby

Finn Russell is 33 and at the end of his career and still a headless chicken

Not sure you can make that comparison, all young players make mistakes.

Aye, but according to reports Hansen is carrying a knock himself so full back cover may be needed as well.

Anyway it is what it is now, but it is one of Farrells little selection quirks. Sure he did it with the Lions in the 1st Test as well when he had any number of options available to him.

Crowley started the first two games

What did you think of his performances in both those games?

If both players are going after the 10 role, four games, two starts each, would that not make it fairly even?

A centre on the bench has worked out well for Farrell in the past. Aki spent years coming on and making hay.

Crowley's out of hand kicking in Chicago might have hurt him, you could say no-one was firing and the pack was under pressure but some of those kicks were pressure free and just inaccurate. Against the ABs it cost us a lot of territory and against the bokkes it's very dangerous. But let's face it, there's very little between these two 10s at the moment. They both have discrete upsides in their games but other than SPs defensive lapses their respective strengths and weaknesses are exagerated. I expect the jersey to go back and forth and both to get a ton of experience over the next couple of seasons. We can move on to debating the merits of whoever pops up as number 3, as they may have something to say about the WC.

I really liked seeing Conan and Doris on the field together. People will object to Doris at 7 but against the likes of SA that is a model back row, VDF coming off the bench is the cherry on top.

The post I responded to asked who JGeP was. Not me. So I'm not sure why you jumped on my post.

Anyway I'm going to leave it here as I know you'll argue away about this and ruin the thread.

How does it indicate that?

He's simply answered the question (a leading, loaded question) he was asked, and defending one of his players.

You're reading into it (and not for the first time) the message you want to read.

Farrell on Prendergast, "his ability as an out-half far outweighs any work-ons".

Also says that Tom Farrell has been excellent in training and is like "chalk and cheese" compared to when he was in camp a few years ago, so maybe we can finally accept that what goes on in training does actually count for something even if we can't see it.

Both have started 2 games, if the media made a silly comment about any player liek they have about Sam Im sure you would get the same response from Farrell

It was a comment made so the media could start the same Sam v Jack nonsense again and Farrell called them out on it.

But the argument has never been "what goes on in training doesn't count, even if we can't see it".

The argument has been "even tho we don't see the players in training, it doesn't mean we haven't seen enough of them to not have an informed opinion on who we think should start".

That's a completely different argument.

There's also the argument that training doesn't have anywhere near as much full contact as a match. That's all valid when offering an opinion that on selection that doesn't match Farrell's.

It's not a harsh comment on Baloucoune - it's not his fault, but that's the reality of his career to this point relative to his talent. He's had a horrendous time of it with injuries.

You would have thought after his 21/22 season where he scored 9 tries (including a hat trick in an away win in Toulouse) that the sky was the limit for him, but he's struggled so much to get on the field the last few years its hard to have any kind of sunny view on his career.

Jimmy O'Brien, by contrast, to me is a guy who is far less talented than Baloucoune, but has tended to make the most of the opportunities he's gotten.

As I've said, a huge slice of that is luck, but unfortunately that's just the way things are.