Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

…that had already been used, right? There was nothing Farrell could have done to change that.

There was something Farrell could have done with regards Sexton.

The idea that bringing someone on for someone tired is always a positive is clearly not true

With respect, I haven't claimed it's always a positive. What I'm saying is that, on balance, I think Crowley would've been an improvement on Sexton who was clearly out on his feet. You disagree. Fine. But lets not invent arguments I haven't made.

With regards the 20/30 phase attack, I can't do much better than my previous post:

I'm loathe to watch it back, but my recollection is that what really got us up the field was a combination of some excellent carries from the likes of Conan, and the All Blacks knowing we needed a try so were comfortable ceding some territory in order to be able to go after the poach when the occasion arose, to essentially win the game. (I'd argue you often seem teams make compartatively more ground than they have done for the rest of the game with the clock inching towards the red in that exact scenario).

Ian Foster afterwards called it a "cut-and-paste attack, doing the same sort of things".

I'm not convinced that a lot of what Sexton did, couldn't have been done by Crowley. However, I am convinced that Crowley would have brought a far stronger running threat.

Less than 3 weeks to the start of the 6 Nations, and it's hugely frustrating timing to see both Cormac Izuchukwu and Tom Ahern missing with injury this weekend, given Ryan Baird's long term injury.

Both have shown glimpses this year but neither has really hit top form either, and hard on current showing to imagine either of them getting backed to start at 6 in Paris.

Izuchukwu has barely played - 5 games all season. Ahern has blown hot and cold, his lineout work has been excellent but his work around the field less than stellar. The Munster scrum really looks poor when he's scrummaging at lock.

Does that make Cian Prendergast the potential Irish 6 in Round 1, or do they start Conan and push Prendergast to the bench?

The argument has now pivoted from "farrell should have doen more to get Crowley ready to come in" (which has been proven wrong) to "Literally any 10 would have been better than Sexton, who was a walking corpse".

I've watched that game back more times than I should and every player that started was blowing hard, Sexton no more than anyone else. Conan, Jimmy o brien and Kelleher made the most significant carries on that march down the field. The one moment that you'd look at a player and think 'he has nothing left to give' would be when Beirne took a pass on the 22. Some will read that as an argument that Crowley should have come on but imo there's no way you could take out your main man and the player who calls all the shots in that moment. Sexton's leadership and direction were our best chance of getting down the field a la the play to set up le drop in 2019. The patience and skill shown by the whole team in that final attack to get up to the all blacks 22 was immense but for obvious reasons will never get the credit it deserves and the idea that Crowley or whoever would have orchestrated it better just doesn't add up

As someone said above, the game ended on the youngest player in the team, mccarthy giving away a stupid penalty.

The game was lost on (i) the horrible start (ii) Keleher getting held up (iii) Doris Knock on immediately after (iv) Sexton's missed penalty with about 10 minutes to go.

If the anti-Sexton brigade want something to cling to then that miss was a legitimate mistake that I'd say will haunt him

Does that make Cian Prendergast the potential Irish 6 in Round 1, or do they start Conan and push Prendergast to the bench?

4. McCarthy

5. Ryan

6. Beirne

All three of these have given away really stupid cards in recent weeks so hopefully we can drum some discipline into them in national camp.

The question then is, who is the next second-row?

We must have been a really great side then to be able to go down the field, through multiple phases and into their 22 with an out-half "just shovelling ball".

Do you think he had any say in the direction of the attack, positioning of players, decisions around which direction we went at various times, no?

Exactly this. It's entirely possible to not be in the anti-Sexton brigade but still think Crowley should've come on. (Le Drop was mentioned above.. posters should see my posts after that if they think I'm in the anti-Sexton brigade).

Rather than relying on the testimony of anonymous "fans from all over Ireland", I thought it would be better to actually recap the full sequence of the final attack below:

We get the ball back in the end game there with 77:03 on the clock, after Jimmy O'Brien makes an outstanding, acrobatic catch from a well-weighted Aaron Smith box kick. He catches it and lands about half way between our 22 and our 10m line.

Phase 1: First possession from there, Murray passes infield to Jack Conan, who carries briefly, before passing out the back to Sexton. Sexton has a pod of forwards to his immediate left, but spins it out the back to Keenan who carries before passing onto Aki, onto POM who carries into contact around the 10m line.

Phase 2: McCarthy & Aki clean the ruck, Murray spins it back to the right, to Bealham, who comes charging onto it, carries past the 10m line and into around 2 or 3 Kiwi tacklers. Kelleher and Beirne hit the ruck (Kelleher probably could have been pinged here for coming in the side).

Phase 3: Murray gets it away to the left hand side again, to Sexton, who is up flat to the gainline and running onto the ball. He moves it on to Aki, who has a good carry into contact again. Lowe clears the ruck well. We're now just short of the half way line.

Phase 4: Ball goes infield to Kelleher, who pops it back inside to Beirne, who carries strongly into contact.

Phase 5: Ball from the deck goes to Sexton, once again who is just running normally and up to the gainline, and he passes it out to the right to Jack Conan who breaks the gainline and gets us well past the half way line.

Phase 6: Murray gets quick ball on and goes to Sexton on the shortside, who gets it through his hands quickly to Keenan, who gets tackled. Jimmy O'Brien does a great job clearing the ruck and protecting our ball.

Phase 7: Murray passes back to the left to Sexton, who moves it to the left to Doris, and he moves it onto Kelleher who carries strongly into contact.

Phase 8: Murray passes to Sexton, who carries for around 3m and then passes to Beirne, who gets dragged to ground just around the NZ 10m line.

Phase 9: Next phase goes to the right, Murray to Kelleher, who pops out the back to Sexton, who pops onto Ringrose who steps back into contact. Ball squirts out the back of the ruck, slowing our momentum slightly, and Murray does well to recover. 78:10 now on the clock, and we're gone back slightly from the NZ 10m line.

Phase 10: Joe McCarthy has a good carry into a number of tacklers, and we regain some momentum and generate quick ball.

Phase 11: Murray throws a bad pass left (78:15 on the clock for those who want to dispute it) high and above the shoulders to Sexton, which checks his momentum. Sexton gathers it, and throws a big ball over the top to Lowe. Lowe gets scragged around the ankles immediately, but does well to stay on his feet long enough for support to arrive (Aki & POM). POM & Aki clears the ruck well, but we've lost more momentum off this phase (through Murray's poor pass IMO). We're back at half way now, 78:29 on the clock.

Phase 12: Murray back infield to Sexton, who passes right to Beirne. Beirne carries well into contact, back over half way, quick ball generated again.

Phase 13: Murray to Sexton right again; Sexton has a bank of forwards running a line to his right but goes behind their back (after some good manipulation with the ball) to Conan who makes a big carry which takes us up to the NZ 10m line. This was a crucial phase, and Sexton was clearly central to it.

Phase 14: Murray goes right to Sexton, who pops it quickly to Kelleher. Kelleher carries well down the narrow right hand side, and offloads out the back of his hand to Keenan, who bounces back in field, beating a tackler. Joe McCarthy has an excellent one man clear out, protecting the ball and generating quick ball.

Phase 15: Murray off the deck to Sexton, who pops to Conan, who gets chop tackled. Sexton is one of two players on hand and he clears the ruck with a big impact (so much for being out on his feet).

Phase 16: Murray passes infield to Keenan who passes to Jimmy O'Brien, who carries well. We're half way between NZ 10m and 22 now.

Phase 17 (18 on the match commentary, they seem to be counting JOB's initial catch as Phase #1): Murray pops to Kilcoyne, who passes onto Keenan. Keenan throws a lovely left to right pass to Jack Conan who's in the 5m channel near the right touchline. Conan has the biggest carry of the attack so far, taking us right up to the NZ 22. Keenan does really well to secure quick ruck ball.

Phase 18: Murray off the ground to Joe McCarthy, who passes out the back to Garry Ringrose. Ringrose tries an aggressive pass to James Lowe, which is ruled to have gone backwards and hits the deck. It was open in front of Lowe if he'd held it for a really material line break. As it is, momentum has stalled again slightly. Aki recovers the ball and takes it back into contact.

Phase 19: Murray passes left to Joe McCarthy, who runs a good aggressive line into contact. POM and Beirne hit the ruck really well and generate good quick ball.

Phase 20: Murray is slow to move it, hitting Kelleher to the right, he gets tackled to deck.

Phase 21: Murray passes left to Joe McCarthy, who passes out the back to Sexton. He passes on to Keenan who throws a big ball to Jimmy O'Brien on the left touchline. JOB jinks and carries really well back into contact to regain momentum.

Phase 22: Murray right to Sexton, onto Joe McCarthy, onto Ringrose, and onto a visibly knackered Tadhg Beirne who simply puts the head down and goes to ground. Lots of Ireland players looking tired now.

Phase 23: Murray right to Sexton, who throws a big left to right pass to Aki. Aki goes right to Conan, who carries well into contact, and we're in the 22. NZ try to get on the ball here, and Ardie Savea makes a big appeal for a penalty. He probably should have had a penalty.

Phase 24: Conan passes off the deck to Sexton, he passes onto Doris, and he passes wide left to Keenan who passes onto Lowe. Lowe carries into contact and stumbles slightly. Beirne does well to secure the ruck.

Phase 25: Slow ruck ball for Murray, passes right to Doris. He carries to the line, then out the back to Sexton. Sexton gets the pass away as he's hit to Kilcoyne, who takes it into contact.

Phase 26: Murray right to Doris, onto Kelleher. He carries well, into the 22. McCarthy clears well to protect the ball.

Phase 27: Murray left to Sexton, onto Ringrose who carries really well right into the NZ 22. Clock is now 81:07.

Phase 28: Quick ruck ball, Murray fires left to Lowe, he gets it away in contact to JOB, who gets tackled.

Phase 29: Murray right to Beirne, onto Aki, who throws to Doris, who carries very well.

Phase 30: Murray left to Beirne, who literally just sits down in contact and looks totally gone.

Phase 31: Murray right to Kilcoyne, out the back to Sexton, onto Aki, who carries brilliantly well into the 22.

Phase 32: Quick ball, Murray right to Conan who carries well (again).

Phase 33: Murray left to Kilcoyne, who carries into contact.

Phase 34: Slow ball, Murray right to Conan. He is carried. We might have had a penalty here as the Kiwis look to play the ball via a player who is off his feet.

Phase 35: Murray left, to Kelleher who carries into contact. McCarthy and Doris fail to clean out Whitelock, who is granted the penalty for Kelleher holding on. Game over.

In that final sequence, which starts with 77:03 on the clock and finishes with 82:19 on the clock, we go through 35 (36 or 37 phases per the commentator), and go c. 65m down the field.

Sexton touches the ball on 18 of those phases, and I can't see where he makes a bad decision in terms of passing option. Our attack stalls a few times (once from a bad pass from Murray, once where Ringrose and Lowe mess up, another time where NZ mess up our ruck ball) and a number of times we have slow ball to deal with, and on at least three occasions we regain momentum again and get back into their 22.

New Zealand's defence and especially their discipline in this sequence is absolutely amazing.

Sexton 100% was not the problem some on here would have him be here. We lost this game in other areas (Barrett holding up Kelleher, Doris' spill, Sexton's missed kick, our general poor start, Barnes screwing us on the scrums) but we didn't lose it here at the death.