Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

“Test matches aren’t trials”

That’s how far I got.

No, it doesn’t really, seeing as he’s only played 186 mins total for Leinster this season (and only 72 mins in Europe).

There were stories on podcasts of rows and concerns within Munster back as far as the SA tour before Rowntree was fired about concerns around Beirne’s lineout calling.

I don’t even understand what point you’re trying to make. He’s been calling Ireland’s lineout since the 2024 6 Nations, and we’ve had a notably poor lineout for some time now.

We’ve had different throwers, different jumpers and different lifters over that period, but the lineout has generally struggled of late.

This is like saying Leinster's comparative lack of success compared to Ireland from 2021 to 2024 was because of Ngatai, Ala'altoa, Jenkins etc.

Or, conversely, that Ireland's success during that period was only because of the non-Leinster players.

It's - obviously - way too simplistic.

Yeah, it's way too simplistic to suggest the guy who calls the lineout for teams that seem to have relatively consistent issues with its lineout could very well be the problem with that lineout.

This is like saying Leinster's comparative lack of success compared to Ireland from 2021 to 2024 was because of Ngatai, Ala'altoa, Jenkins etc.

Or, conversely, that Ireland's success during that period was only because of the non-Leinster players.

This is a nonsense comparison - there are very obviously far far more dynamic factors at play in assessing the overall performance of a team.

That's not the same when comparing something relatively captive like a set piece. It's a contest for possession, sure, but the team throwing the ball in have an enormous advantage obviously.

Ireland's lineout frailties have been discussed ad nauseum on here countless times, to the extent that multiple people on numerous occasions have called for POC's head.

It is entirely fair to query if the issue might be down to the guy who is responsible for calling those lineouts on the field (especially when he himself has acknowledged having poor days calling lineouts), when the lineout for the players who typically make up the other 7/8ths of the pack have none of the same issues at club level.

played.

Coached.

never relied on faith for any of it.

You don't think the concept of confidence and belief factors into performance?

My specific comment earlier was "often issues with throwing and lifting is because of confusion or lack of faith in the calls".

Teams regularly talk about things like this - players start to doubt the approach, guys are trying to do things off the cuff or reacting to the opposition etc.

You don't have to take my word for it though, here's the guy himself talking about a game where the lineout struggled (Munster away to Bath in this season's European Cup):

“Yeah, look, I’ll take that one on my shoulders,” said Beirne of the early lineout woes.

“I should have went away from the 7-man earlier. You know, we lost two in a row and then I went back to it again. I probably, in hindsight obviously, but that was just a silly error on my part going through it again.

“It would have been the smart decision to get away from it and we obviously lost it again…

You seem to not accept the very notion that lineout problems could be the fault of the guy calling them.

Interesting to see the team selection involving Tadhg Beirne... Farrell must be developing a strategy around playing with 14 men for 10 minutes

Confidence and belief are very different to faith.

Sure lineout problems CAN be the fault of the guy calling them, but you seem to think they are exclusively the fault of the guy calling them.

not sure about Fiji but Italy are no mugs these days and Wales are bottomed out, but there are plenty of top tier opponents over the next 18 months. I hope we see some guys come through this 6N though.

Take the centers or 7 or the props and answer me this.

How many caps against top 10 sides should a player have so that they can be effective in a World Cup QF / Semi or Final? And how many caps against the top top teams who currently are France / England / SA / NZ.

Because from where I stand we don’t have props outside the incumbents, a 7 outside VDF or any centers capable of being good enough, and now we are fast running out of time to develop them, if the appetite is even there to do so.

And to make matters worse we are just talking about our starting team. The level of depth in a squad that’s needed is far beyond that. Look at the Ireland 6N squad recently picked and tell me how many players you think are good enough, experienced enough and effective enough against a Fra \ SA or Na opponent to start in a World Cup QF / Semi and Final. I don’t think we have 20.