Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

While I'm not arguing that Lowe is in form. His lack of tries is showing that he clearly isn't. But in his last 2 games (Ulster/Leicester) his stats are still right up there with regards, metres carried, line breaks and defenders beaten.

He is exactly like how Leinster as a team is currently. Everything seems to be there except finishing it off.

Lowe strolling back to boxkicks on his wing while attacking chasers pass him and not offering support for the catcher (who ends up being turned over) was highlighted on here in a couple of matches this season

"Lowe's defence is the issue."

Meanwhile

"I'd play Stockdale."

Yeah I appreciate TOB is keeping Hansen’s jersey warm but at the same time, he has shot up the pecking order from a long way back. He got an opportunity and he took it, to the point where Farrell was happy to leave him at 14 and move Hansen to 15. That’s a big vote of confidence in both of them and I don’t think he has anything like the same confidence in Stockdale.

Stockdale hasn't played against a tier 1 country in years, he's living off scraps against the likes of Japan and Fiji. People seemed to really react to my observation that he didn't seize his opportunity against Japan and I don't see why that's controversial. If you're on the fringes for a long time, you absolutely need to make the most of the game time that comes your way because if you don't, someone else will eventually come along.

We badly need Keenan, Osborne and Hansen back for the 6 nations

The main issue I have isn't the "some players take their opportunites". It's the "others don't".

There's a heavy implication that some players are good enough to take their opportunities while others aren't. Which completely overlooks injuries in the context.

It's not at all completely inconceivable that, had Lowe got injured rather than Hansen, Stockdale could've started all four November tests. The arguement then would completely reversed, even tho they'd respectively be the exact same players.

The point being, it was as much circumstance rather than quality that afforded TOB his opportunity. The same circumstance that hadn't been afforded to Stockdale this AI's.

There’s a strange refusal among some Leinster supporters to accept decline, hyping players who are past it, as if wearing blue somehow freezes time.

heavy implication



No, there is a heavy inferral by you, you’re reading things that aren’t there based on the username above it.

My post that originally set you off literally says:

“Stockdale was very good last night, especially in the air and in contact. With Hansen out and Keenan unknown, could be an option at 15 for the 6N.”

If you want to read things like that but still take the polar opposite meaning from them, that’s fine but I don’t think it’s rational behaviour.

And while I think he’s a good player, it’s also a cold hard fact that Stockdale didn’t take his chance against Japan. He’s a former first-choice, centrally contacted player and if he’s ever getting back close to that level he NEEDS to be monstering teams like Japan, but he didn’t. I don’t see why this is so controversial.

Well it's an interesting interpretation to somehow praise Lowe and criticise Stewart for this moment in the match!

It should be noted that after Stewart evaded Lowe's first attempt that Tector got hold of him and nearly dragged him down which gave Lowe the time to get back round to have another go.

Anyway I suspect you know this and your post wasn't entirely sincere...but just in case it was...

We have people here saying Lowe's defence is the problem and then suggesting he be replaced by someone whose defence is arguably much worse.

"arguably" is going a bit of work here, but it's also fair to say you've ignoring my point about the difference in their pace, which is obviously an aspect of defending as a winger. Is that not fair to say?

Who should be starting ahead of him then?

I see nobody else putting their hands up to take the jersey off him.

Let's look at the last Autumn Nations Series:

New Zealand: Kicked exceptionally well and forced NZ into mistakes such as the field position and territory he gave us. He was one of the few reasons Ireland had any kind of sniff in the match.

Australia: Excellent. Mack Hansen rightly takes the plaudits in this game but Lowe's link up with JGP gave us a massive attacking platform

South Africa: Easily our best attacker in a game where our attack was shite.

All of those games coming after he was a two-test Lion.

The idea that Lowe is massively out of form is absolute nonsense. Let's be real here. Anytime he has a 6/10 performance the knives are out from everyone else because Lowe is so good at getting under everyone's skin. Fact of the matter is the ability he has in a 6/10 performance is greater than anyone who is allegedly challenging to take the jersey off him.

We can acknowledge that his form for Leinster lately has been far from stellar while also not resorting to just making up nonsense about the extent of that form.

12-18 months out of form? Absolute rubbish. I know you didn't say that yourself, but that's where the argument is coming from. The level of hyperbole is so bad I'm waiting for someone to come in and do a big long post about how awful he was against France in the Six Nations earlier this year.

Lowe contributed quite a bit to Leinster's victory at the weekend. Scored a try, kicked an excellent 50:22 and from that subsequent few minutes of territory in Ulster's half we scored another try. Lowe even assisted that score by standing up Stockdale in defence and making him hesitate before passing to Kenny in space. He seems to be struggling athletically right now, but he's making big contributions across the pitch for Leinster which are being ignored because some people want to have a go at him.

I find there's a lot of axe grinding with Lowe. Some people never forgave him for being really bloody good and usurping their favourites..