Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Likes of Barron & Milne moves will become more frequent i feel.

I think this is probable too tbh, in large part as a result of the change to the CC model, which comes in full next season I believe.

This is a laughably nonsensical take.

Paddy McCarthy didn't look too bad in the scrum when facing the Munster scrum back in Croke Park in October. He was on the field for 17 mins and in that time frame, Leinster had won 3 scrum penalties from 4 scrums.

Josh Wycherley is closer to AIL standard as a scrummager (and as a prop in general) than he is to international rugby.

And I don't have any issue with them getting caps, it's largely what I've been calling for with regards injecting a younger age profile into the squad (fwiw, I'd have preferred Boyle to get some of the minutes that Cian Healy got in his last season).

You're doing Wycherley a bit dirty there. He has very good handling skills for example. McCarthy looks to have more oomph around the park, more natural power, as he showed the other day.

I thought some of the calls on the day in the scrum in the Leinster Munster match were plain wrong, definitely against Milne (don't think Wycherley played that day?) a couple of times.

Anyway, Josh has had some poor days at the scrum and some good days, standard enough for a fledgling prop. What I like about him at scrum time is he's shown he can adapt in-game. He might get a torrid time first couple of scrums and look like it's going to be a long day but has shown he can sort it out.

While it may be true he's not international class he's not closer to AIL as you claim at all. I think he'll be a good URC player and backup at Heineken level for us ultimately.

Where's yours? Jager is a great scrummager and a bigger man in general. Loughman is known to be a good scrummager and has played both loosehead and tighthead against Leinster where he did very well. There's absolutely no evidence that McCarty is a good scrummager. He's lost more scrums than he's won in his only URC games.

Ya but McCarthy has massive potential and was identified early on in the Leinster schools comp. He has also played 10 times for Leinster. He also knows the other 7 Leinster front rowers really well, so that helps also, lastly it would not take him as long to get up to speed with the Ireland game plan. It makes sense to pick P Mac and less risky. Picking Milne or Loughman or Prop X would be too risky and might not work out.

I just think if you picked a different prop Denis Buckley for example, it will take him too long to get up to speed at camp. Next spring Jack Boyle will get picked again I presume. It is easier for him to get up to speed at training and to impress and train the house down. He knows the other front rowers so well. It is easier for him to gel with them. A different LHP from another province would take too long to learn the game plan, get familiar with the moves etc. So Andy sees that as too much of a risk. So he will pick a 3rd choice Boyle as he knows his way around camp etc

pick a different prop from a different province same argument hold through. It will take them too long to get to grips with the game plan and gel with the others

The fact some people are genuinely saying Whycherely is in the same universe as Paddy Mccarthy as a prospect 1.5/2 years out from a world cup is delusional

This is getting tired now. Posters know what you are at. Tiresome and boring.

Ya true, Clarkson did very well last year. He did very well against the Bulls pack in the URC final. He would have been better coming off the bench than Bealham. A better option. I hope Andy sees this, and in the 6Ns just go with a Furlong/Clarkson combo. This is the example right here, Bealham being from Connacht squad isn't at the same level as Clarkson. It takes longer for Bealham to get up to speed during camp. There isn't the same level of familiarity with Bealham and the rest of the Leinster FR.