Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Is VdF not an old school, very mobile, high-workrate, old-school, smaller build open-side? He's 6' and 105kg. Far from a big openside.

Cian Prendergast didn't take 6 years… He has been playing the same way for years…

He was just third choice to Cohen and Braid, even Beirne if he was pushed to 6. He was a squad player who was developing physically as well..

That's a frustrating enough update - would much preferred see how guys like Sam Illo & Diarmuid Mangan go than seeing how Jack Aungier & Fineen Wycherley do. The former two might one day be an option for Ireland, the latter two likely never will (maybe too early to say that for Aungier).

They're all injured.

Yeah, obviously I get that, just mean from the value of the fixture, I'd have been more curious to see how Illo in particular goes at this level.

My predicted team for this now:

(15-9,1-8):

Ciaran Frawley, JJ Kenny, James Hume, Dan Kelly, Zac Ward, Jack Murphy, Matthew Devine, Billy Bohan, Gus McCarthy, Scott Wilson, Charlie Irvine, Fineen Wycherley, Max Deegan, Bryn Ward, Sean Jansen

Reps: Diarmuid Barron, Sam Crean, Jack Aungier, Harry Sheridan, Brian Gleeson, Fintan Gunne, Cathal Forde, Shane Daly

Missing out: Ethan Coughlan, Stephen Smyth, Paul Boyle, Fiachna Barret

I'm guessing guys who dropped down from the senior squad (Frawley, Bohan, Ward) or were recently in the senior squad (G McCarthy) will have primacy over competition, and equally guys who were more recently added will be likelier to be on the outside.

We lack a bit of heft in this team in the tight 5 (especially the locks), but there's a lot to like about that back row and replacements IMO.

Big opportunity this game for guys like Zac Ward, Bryn Ward, JJ Kenny, Dan Kelly, Sean Jansen & Billy Bohan to make a strong case to possibly be capped in this 6 Nations Championship I think.

 pure vibes based

And that's really the only argument for Byrne. At a very crude level, Byrne nailed a clutch kick against LAR when Prendergast couldn't kick snow off a rope, and we're playing our CC knockouts at home as a result. At an even cruder level, Crowley kicked 2 from 5 against Castres, Munster lost by 2 points and are out of the CC. These are indeed the vibes, but it's no basis to pick your test team.

Frawley is likely to play IMO if he's been dropped down from the senior squad, and I think it's likeliest at 15. I don't love him there at all - but it's not like Shane Daly is a great option for 15 either in a senior international context.

It's a position of relative weakness across all four provinces at the moment IMO without much depth there. The very fact we're parachuting Jamie Osborne back in at 15 who hasn't played in over three full months (and would otherwise have been parachuting Hugo Keenan back in who hadn't played in over 6 months really speaks to that.

It was interesting to hear Farrell talking today about how Stockdale has focused on what he's good at, and IIRC he said something similar in November.

It's good to hear about guys responding positively to setbacks.

Presumably at this point you've revised your opinion that it was just "discontented people on the internet that think he should be dropped"?

Or indeed that his form at 15 was so meaningless towards a change at 11, that it'd be akin calling for Jack Conan to play scrum-half?

The point being, maybe you points above were hyperbolic rubbish, and those who were calling for Stockdale to be ahead of Lowe….. actually had a point?!