Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Honestly, everyone knew Porter couldn’t scrummage before yesterday. SA just went out to expose it and succeeded. Just like NZ exposed it in the QF where it cost us massively. Like, it baffles me that after yesterday people are going “oh Porters scrummaging is bad”. Yeah, we’ve known this for years. It’s not news.

What’s even more crazy, is that for the last 4 years, the Leinster and Ireland scrum coaches have either A. Not recognised it as an issue, or B. Not been able to do anything about it over 4 years. Either scenario is a damning indictment on the Leinster and Ireland coaching

It's not all just genetics with SA, like, are we that naive?

If you think last night was just a coaching issue, you’ve missed the whole picture. The same forwards you’re defending were physically bullied from the first whistle, out-scrummed, out-mauled and out-muscled. Blaming the coaches is just avoiding the obvious: the pack got marched around the pitch, and no gameplan fixes that.

They are the same forwards who haven’t been bullied like this before, it all stemmed from the continued concession of sloppy penalties and poor technical work around the set piece…something that has been apparent throughout the autumn.

Well, they haven’t got marched around the field in any other game in recent memory, the question is why did it happen yesterday? Because we consistently played into their hands by giving away cheap territory with 0 dicipline around the ruck and maul time, all issues versus Australia also, that’s where this all stemmed from.

Players who tackle illegally are made attend tackle school by World Rugby.

I wonder if at some point World Rugby make players like Andrew Porter who consistently commit scrum infringements attend scrummaging school. I mean, you would think that should be his coaches job but they obviously can’t do it

On reflection I think its accurate to say that this has been a very disappointing autumn series for Ireland.

Beaten by double scores by an average NZ team who went onto lose to England. Lineout cost us as we couldn't convert territory to points in the first 50mins.

Unconvincingly beat a poor Japan side, again in spite of a badly malfunctioning lineout.

Beat a very poor Aus side who have a powder puff pack. Discipline a big issue for us in this game.

Indiscipline continues agaisnt SA and we get outscored 4 tries to 1. Scrum also falls to bits in this game.

Only positive I see from this series of games and the season in general is that it's happened 2 years out from the WC and there's time to fix the issues.

I'm not so negative about the future. We've seen some developments in our pack that bodes well, I think. Baird and Paddy McCarthy were two standouts of the November series. The former has nailed down the starting blindside berth for the moment and the latter, despite being just 22 and with only a handful of senior appearances, looks comfortable at test level.

Doris returned and performed to a high level at open side and at number 8. It may not be to everyone's liking, but there's a high likelihood that he's our VDF successor if the latter can't rediscover top form. It then opens up the 8 jersey for Conan or even Gleeson to stake a claim.

Second row is a concern as Beirne and Ryan both had poor displays across the tests. But Joe McCarthy is due back soon and will immediately improve us in the physicality stakes. We do miss another power lock option from the bench which is where Edogbo may come in if he can stay injury free. He's clearly rated by the coaches alongside Gleeson. Keep both fit and you'll immediately see extra punch in the side.

I see a lot of the media are towing the line today. Shameful carry on. Either Delusional or pause for.
Good to see ocoonor for the Indo starting to wake up.
My opinion is If Irish rugby does not wake up soon then the future looks bleak.

The whole game has to be shook by its foundations, the idea that one province produces the international team is madness.
The IRFU must decide if it really means it when it says “team of Us”, Ulster Connacht and Munster need serious IRFU backing so they can rival Leinster.

personally I would let internationals with 25 caps or more move abroad and still be allowed play for Ireland.
it would save the IRFU a lot of money which they could invest in the 3 provinces while also allowing the bottleneck which is currently in Leinster be removed while not forcing Leinster chaps to move to another Irish province.

why would it be terrible.

Has Farrells Lions jolly had a negative psychological effect on the players. The boss was away for a year so naturally they relax. He told Van de flier he wasn't up to standard. Our 10s ( rightly ) were not deemed good enough. Any Irish player left behind must think the boss doesn't rate me. Most of the Irish coaching team produced a side lucky to beat a poor Australian outfit.

Leinster have too many players which is causing a bottleneck at the province. Due to unlimited funding they can let top Irish players just sit at the club while also buying whoever they want from abroad.
It’s does not help Ireland but also does not help Leinster.
They need a trimmed down squad with more access to their international players during the regular season.

No it’s the IRFUs fault - fund the one province for whatever it needs and feed the scraps to the rest.
problem is this madness has hurt all the provinces including Leinster.