Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Paddy_Mag · 08-02-2026 10:07PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124218959#Comment_124218959

A change of voices, fresh ideas, a change of philosophy

realhorrorshow · 08-02-2026 10:08PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124218702#Comment_124218702

I guess the concern is that we now know that a large contributor to Farrell's early struggles was the implementation of an ambitious and incredibly detailed attacking shape. From what I can remember even when we were struggling under Farrell the messages from the camp were overwhelmingly positive and it was clear the players trusted the process.

It's very hard to see what we're working on now, or what innovation is just around the corner. I'm sure our kicking game will improve, but we've a long way to go to even catch up to our rivals in that aspect.

I look at our team currently and I think of Borthwick's quote when he took over England:

"When I looked at the team in the autumn, when I measured the team and got all the data for the team, we weren't good at anything. It was as frank as that."

ersatz · 08-02-2026 10:16PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124218871#Comment_124218871

one of the issues w Leo’s extended run at Leinster is that he’s not a serious candidate for the Irish job.

In terms of playing style the first contestable in the French game saw two of their players jump together and tap the ball back. A small thing but it put a marker down that they came to dominate in the air which they did very convincingly. Ireland didn’t seem to have a particular set of tactics to deal with the aerial game, other than send it up and hope for the best. Given that this has been a fundamental shift in how the game is played since the WC you’d wonder why there are no obvious strategies in place to dominate.

KaneToad · 08-02-2026 10:21PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124218873#Comment_124218873

Farrell will see out his tenure.

Hopefully Felix Jones will be available at that stage. I think he has what it takes to make the leap to a Head Coach position.

Plus, it'll be nice to have a Leinster man in the role

😉

Rayray98 · 08-02-2026 10:21PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124218966#Comment_124218966

To be fair, the voices in the Irish camp still appear to be positive, the issue atm is we are one year closer to the RWC than we were the last time we had this struggle so it could be a case where if things are still going to **** the IRFU might be forced into making a decision.

phog · 08-02-2026 10:30PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124218962#Comment_124218962

The head coach either dictated or agreed that the plan for the second half was to kick long. Will changing a coach and leaving Farrell change that

almostover · 08-02-2026 10:31PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124218825#Comment_124218825

Italy's scrum and lineout was excellent yesterday, albeit against a poor Scotland side. We'll need another strong performace from Loughman, Clarkson and the locks. If they dominate the set piece it'll be a tough day out for us.

TRC10 · 08-02-2026 10:33PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124218996#Comment_124218996

The IRFU don’t care about the World Cup. It’s just an expense to them. That won’t be what influences their decision. What will make them pull the trigger on Farrell is if we finish in the bottom half of the 6N and/or ticket sales for the Aviva drop.

They struggled to sell out the Japan game in November, so we’re already seeing this to an extent. Games like Italy and Wales will be a very hard sell at €100+ a ticket if they keep serving up performances like Thursday night and SA in November

Paddy_Mag · 08-02-2026 10:34PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219018#Comment_124219018

Our Problems didn't begin last Thursday. This has been going on a year or more.

And AF wasn't around for the 6n last year. So yeah, few voices, fresh ideas, some changes in coaching is probably needed.

Dave_The_Sheep · 08-02-2026 10:38PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124218959#Comment_124218959

… Attack and set-piece, line-out specifically.

… given they're the coaches responsible for those areas.

Wild concept, I know.

phog · 08-02-2026 10:47PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219043#Comment_124219043

Set piece was close to perfect last week and as we heard from Fogarty the attack was kick long. I'm of the opinion that Andy was aware of that and agreed with it so changing Goodman might not change how Farrell wants to play

Dave_The_Sheep · 08-02-2026 10:58PM

This is an on-going problem, not specific to one game - one game doesn't prove anything either direction. I don't think anyone can claim (with a genuine or straight face) that our set piece or attack is going well in general.

This isn't a knee-jerk reaction.

phog · 08-02-2026 11:01PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219094#Comment_124219094

I'm not claiming anything, also, I've never looked for a coach to be sacked but I honestly think changing Goodman for someone different will only change our attack if Andy wants it to change

SaoPaulo41 · 08-02-2026 11:05PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124218825#Comment_124218825

I think there is a strong possibility Italy win, but i think home advantage will get us over the line, but not confident saying that. If the game was in Rome I would be very very sure we loose it.

DBK1 · 08-02-2026 11:11PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219107#Comment_124219107

I agree. I’d get it very hard to believe that Farrell has no input or say over the coaching being undertaken by all his coaches. Surely he’s the one dictating to them what game plan he wants them to follow.

50HX · 08-02-2026 11:23PM

I thought Farrell was the attach coach off of phase play & Goodman was brought in to coach the attack of set piece play.

A bit like Nienaber at Leinster getting the blame for a multitude of things, it gives the other coaches a free pass.

Any downturn in our attack play isn't solely down to Goodman, Farrell has always been an integral part of the attack coaching duties since becoming head coach

Dave_The_Sheep · 08-02-2026 11:34PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219161#Comment_124219161

There's a degree to which that is true. Farrell takes the overall responsibility for everything, he's the main man. That's fine.

We've had other coaches on those positions and have done very well. The change isn't Farrell, it's Goodman and O'Connell.

Not that there aren't other factors at play, but at the moment their particular remits are lacking, and I trust Farrell to fix it, but I don't trust either of them in the same sense, because I don't think they were up to it in the first place. Farrell, however, is.

sliabh 1956 · 09-02-2026 12:20AM

If Farrell's selection policy is to be consistent suirely Crowley has to start against Italy

exiledawaynothere · 09-02-2026 04:03AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219278#Comment_124219278

It is not going to happen. Sam is the man and will be for some time.

eagle eye · 09-02-2026 05:53AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219043#Comment_124219043

The lineout was great against France.

eagle eye · 09-02-2026 05:56AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219554#Comment_124219554

He won't be there that long. I don't think he'll be Leinster starter for that long. There has to be someone better coming through and the most likely place for that to happen is Leinster.

Rayray98 · 09-02-2026 07:49AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219194#Comment_124219194

I agree with all this.

I remember saying this before the summer of 2021 that I have a lot of fate in Andy Farrell but what he needs to do is decide weather Mike Catt, who had doubts about him at the time, is up to it or weather we need additional coaches or weather Catt needed replacing.

If he doesn’t act then Farrell will start becoming a problem.

To give him his dues POC seems to have steadied the lineout so I am less keen on moving him on then I was before…Goodman on the other hand needs to seriously start earning his corn soon otherwise he can take a hike.

Paddy_Mag · 09-02-2026 08:17AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219635#Comment_124219635

Hard to tell with the lineout because a lot of our ball seema to come at 2? Could be wrong, just feels like we are playing it safe.

sliabh 1956 · 09-02-2026 10:03AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219609#Comment_124219609

I would qualify that statement by reminding people that for most of the game France rarely contested the lineout when the did challenge near the end we didn't look too comfortable at that stage Kelleher was on. The Italians looked to have a pretty effective lineout on Saturday.

Former Former Former · 09-02-2026 10:15AM

It's hard to know what the right thing to do is for Saturday. Realistically, sweeping changes to personnel aren't possible. We could bring guys like Lowe, Ryan, Conan back into the XV but that might be the extent of it. I personally would let Timoney and Casey and maybe stick Edogbo on the bench. If we have a new tactical approach (and I really hope this relentless kicking isn't it), then we need to give the players time to adapt to it, chopping and changing too much will ultimately be self-defeating.

If we're on a downward curve talent-wise, which was always likely to happen, then we need to figure out how best to use the players we do have, and what we saw on Thursday was not it.

And the utter lack of intensity needs to be fixed. Timoney and Ryan stood out on Thursday because they crashed into French lads, which should be a basic requirement for taking the field. My concern is that the players need a fresh voice in the changing room. At some point, players stop responding to the same shtick. We hit that point with Joe in 2019, if we've hit it with Farrell we're in trouble.

Rayray98 · 09-02-2026 10:25AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219741#Comment_124219741

You don’t just lose talent. The issue with this team (and has been crippling this side for 12 months now) has been the lack of intensity and lack of workrate, that’s what needs to be focused on as opposed to making excuses for these players to just not show up every game.

zetor 4911 · 09-02-2026 10:41AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219726#Comment_124219726

Yes they had and they also contested on the opposition throw something we didn't do against France

Former Former Former · 09-02-2026 10:45AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219760#Comment_124219760

You don’t just lose talent

?

Yes, you do. Players get old, players get injured, players retire, players lose form.

If the next man in line isn't as good, then the team has lost talent.

Neither of our out-halves are remotely as good as Sexton was, even at the end. JGP is not the player he was and Casey is a step-down. Furlong cannot be relied upon to stay fit, Lowe, Beirne and VDF are starting to show their age with no real replacements of similar quality available, Hansen and Keenan are significantly better than anyone we can replace them with, on and on and on. Our best XV in 2026 is not nearly as good as our best XV in 2023 or 2024, even if a lot of the names are the same.

The challenge now is to get the best out of them.

the lack of intensity and lack of workrate, that’s what needs to be focused on as opposed to making excuses for these players to just not show up every game.

That's literally what Farrell did in his post-match interview on Thursday.

MangleBadger · 09-02-2026 10:57AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219107#Comment_124219107

Goodman is not our attack coach. Andy is. Goodman is a set piece coach. So as much as majority of people think Goodman is stealing a living then overall attack strategy is on Andy.

I'm not against replacing Goodman, but it would only have a significant impact if Andy promoted the replacement to full attack coach.

Rayray98 · 09-02-2026 11:10AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219795#Comment_124219795

Fly half is true. JGP has been playing well this season, Thursday night was a bad night for him. Lowe fair enough but definetly not VDF Beirne, I feel with some players as soon as they turn 34-35 we just act like any poor game they have is their normal performance and that they are declining. VDF had a poor night also but he’s been playing very well for Leinster this season, Beirne has had issues with his lineout but other that has been good for Munster this season and was easily Ireland’s best player on Thursday.

The problem is our team in 2023 and 2024 didn’t have 10-11 players playing at a 6/10 or worse every big game, with that being the case we are going to struggle regardless.

Whats worrying for me is we seem to be doing what we did in 2019 where we are creating excuses for the players to accept mediocrity that allows them to play badly every game and think that it’s acceptable…once we go down that route it’s a long and painful slippery slope that will end badly in 18 months time…

And it goes without saying we are NOT getting the best out of these players, the majority of the team are playing well below par, the question is are we going to drop our standards and accept this? If so then we are in a worse place than we realise.

Well then, less talking more doing, if we see another sterile and static performance on Saturday then that will tell us all we need to know about the strength of character in this side and that things are far worse than we initially thought.

Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

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