Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

On the evidence of last Thursday, it seems that we're veering much more towards a kicking-loads-kick-early strategy, where running an attack and putting structure on the game is far less important.

Prendergast is still a better kick from hand than Crowley, but that would make it marked less of a reason to selected Prendergast over him, particularly when we see the differences in their defence.

where was the evidence of that before crowley was dropped though? its debatable as to whether there is much evidence of that since then too to be honest but i dont think SPs performance in the Fiji game warranted him starting v Aus, especially seeing as JC played very well against Argentina. I'd argue SPs performance v Aus also didnt exactly warrant him being the de facto 10 for the 6Ns, seeing as alot of the talk was how Ireland's attack improved with JC at 10 - not that SP was terrible or anything in that game either.

both are great 10s, both have weaknesses and both are getting an undue amount of flak from various sources - the people saying SP was awful on Thursday are just as wrong as those saying that JC has been 'beyond awful' for munster recently, the reality lies much more in that 'awful' should generally read 'average' or even 'below average'. as i've said before, i think SP becoming the starting 10 too early (imo anyway) will end up having long term negative effects for both JC and him, damaging both their confidence in different ways. whereas if SP had been given more time to get experience from the bench, it would probably have helped them both improve to a point where they are both at a much higher level than they are at today.

its all a bit 'if my grandmother had wheels etc,' i suppose

You can't run a team with a defensive hole in the middle of the field. I don't care whether it's Byrne or Crowley at 10 TBH.

I agree it was a very poor performance.

1. He should never have been given a CC when he was.
2. Joe can be given that chance from the bench.
3. Has he? Not in the last 12 months for Ireland has he anyway. Maybe for Leinster but certainly not Ireland.
4. We seemed to cope fine without his bulk when James Ryan replaced him.
5. Very questionable. Giving away needless penalties destroys cohesion.
6. Edogbo not ready for a start, but ready for 20mins off the bench for sure. Same goes for Cormac Izuchukwu. Why not give them the no.19 jersey for a home game vs. Italy. And start Beirne and Ryan as the locks with Conan or Cian Prendergast at 6.

A little harsh with that. Granted Loughman isn't really a long term option but he did his job very well at set piece on Thursday after several years in the international wilderness. He's the fourth choice LH prop and did very well for someone that far down the pecking order. I do agree he was pedestrian enough in open play though.

The glaring problem with this, is Crowley has largely been absolutely rubbish this season.

Agreed , if anything it was the kick chase that was off

This is meaningless, the defence is static because they are defending a scrum on the 5. The scrum was rotating but the ball came out fast and the defence did not move back, Jalibert moved to the blind side (from deep behind the scrum) as the ball came back to Dupont and Prendergast tracked him but moved too late and then overshot. It was an absolute howler of a missed tackle, caused by him not moving to track Jalibert's run quickly enough. Jalibert runs an outside line which brings on the Irish winger and then straightens to cut inside Prendergast, who misread both Jalibert and TOB. I thought Prendergast had an ok game but that particular try was 100% on him. We don't have a decent fly half, and we need a second play maker on the field. Maybe Crowley at 15 is the answer. The French game didn't suit Prendergast very well and he's a liability against strong counter attacking teams.
https://youtu.be/E4d7AIPSpOA?t=75

On the discussion of the impact breakdown laws have had and how France have adapted by playing a faster more off loading game, its notable that French players stick one or two players almost every single time, before they pass, and then pass very often right before the tackle rather than in the tackle. These are basic schoolboy skills elevated to a high art by the French team, but they are basic for professional players. Both Ireland's tries were marked by short off loads. When we think about off loading its a mistake to imagine its all arms stuff like Snyman, its not. Most of the time its short passes in traffic right before a tackle or punching through a tackle, ideally the player stays on their feet and can support. These players are plenty capable of it, it's just not part of the strategy they are playing. I'm not sure why the rest of the strategy is though, kicking the ball back to that French team without a buttoned up means of contesting and at least preventing them getting their unstructured attack going was suicidal. I assume we will bounce back and bring some intensity against Italy but a performance like that in the first half on Thursday and I'd fancy Italy to rack up tries and beat us.

He scrummaged a lot better than what we've seen from the more front line LHs in the last few games. And maintained that until he was replaced. As did Michael Milne. Was eye opening in that respect. Clarkson went well too at scrum time.

I'm not sure you watched the game?