Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Lowe's issues are being blown out of all proportion here and again, TOB and Baloucoune are both right wingers.

And didn't Baloucoune get injured on Saturday?

Yeah, I get concerns over Aki who looks exhausted whenever I see him play, but the panicking about Lowe seems highly exaggerated. His game was never about speed, it's about power, intelligence and kicking. Also a tidy defender. If even Lowe 'loses a yard' it isn't something that is going to destroy the value he brings. He is never wining foot races against speedsters, but he'll go right through them to finish off tries or take them out of the game and make his pass, almost every time. Biggest issue on the wings is that Hansen is out. Stockdale will get plenty of opportunities over the 6N to show how he is ready for the big time again as, hopefully, will some of the next crop.

That's a different argument than is being used generally to suggest Lowe is past his sell by date. The game has moved towards a contestable heavy competition, but I haven't seen Ireland embrace the the way SA or France have. This is not new, SA won the last World Cup with contestables, they scored two against France from using high balls in the World Cup, and another form a grubber. Ireland have been slow to respond, hardly to do with Lowe. We haven't seen him exploited successfully by that tactic and it hard to judge whether he is built for that kind of game considering we aren't playing it.

Yes

If we go out against France with no lock forward on the bench then we may as well hand them the 5pts now. It would mean anything happening Joe McC and we're scrummaging and Mauling agaisnt Antonio, Meafu et al. with a backrow forward in the 2nd row. Or 2 loose head locks in Beirne and Ryan. If Edogbo is fit he will have to get the 19 jersey so that we can maintain some level of survival at set piece when subs have to be made.

Not really. Their resources are deep and Atonio is becoming far less valuable around the field. Or maybe thats just how it has looked with the season LAR are having

For the last 3 or 4 years of his Ireland career, Rob Kearney was well past it and generally offered very little. But once every 12 months he’d have 1 performance where he maybe made a line break and afterwards everyone would go “Look! Sure wasn’t Joe right to persist with him!”. And he’d lock in the jersey for another year and go back to being mediocre again.

I feel that’s where we are with James Lowe. When people question whether he still deserves to be selected, apologists point to one (admittedly very good) game he had , one whole year ago, to justify him getting picked. But for the rest of that tournament he was a non-entity. He was poor for the Lions and he’s been poor again this season and is 33 turning 34 this year. If James Lowe was an uncapped 24 year old, would anyone be calling for his inclusion based on his performances this season? Does he even get in the Leinster team anymore?

It’s a tale as old as time. Irish Rugby persisting with a player far too long because of loyalty and sentimentality, to the detriment of the team and the development of other players. Ireland will be going into the 27 World Cup with either a 35 year old Lowe, or an inexperienced rookie on the left wing.

I get that you're arguing in good faith, but -

The point I've already made is when the player is good enough, they start.

is just circular.

Class isn't permanent because every player ages out of performing well. I know that sounds like I'm being snide or semantic, but I'm genuinely not, because many fans feel that there are a number of players that are at exactly that point. So let's just dispense with that truism.

I take your points, but point 1 can actually be a criticism of the coaches. Let me offer a deliberately pejorative rephrasing of it that is regardless sometimes true. "Despite the way he was playing, the coaches were adamant that he would perform well in the first game of the Six Nations." Let me over-egg it completely - "Despite all the evidence of their own eyes, the coaches doubled down on selecting him."

That's actually what some supporters are getting angry - or worried - about. That Farrell is misjudging how much faith he should put in some players. And needs to reassess how objective he is when assessing the players.

Ultimately, like politicians, every coach's career ends in failure. I don't think we're there yet with Andy, but others do, and the simple statistics tell you that last year was not as successful as previous years. And there can obviously be multiple reasons for that but it comes down to - you're winning games or you're not. And we're winning less.

Doesn't that cut both ways? If a winger was doing poorly at URC level, where it's easy to shine, shouldn't that ring alarm bells?

I find myself in agreement so I'm going to have a think and concoct something spurious we can have a bitter argument about.

Be right back.

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