Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Amazing that all of these ex pros can call it out for what it is, yet all of culprits here who are waiting for him to breath in through his mouth and out of his nose seem to think there's nothing going on.

I mean, you recently labelled me a culprit, who "seems to think there's nothing going on." Right?

But when you look at what I've actually said:

Now, is some of the criticism over the top? Yes

Once again - misrepresenting what's actually been said. That's obviously going to draw a reaction.

If you spend anytime on TikTok you will see dozens of videos attacking Sam. No other player gets that treatment. It is ridiculous the level it has gotten to.

If you spend anytime on TikTok 

I don't doubt it, but I don't have any interest in spending any time on TikTok.

Boards point of difference is that it isn't TikTok.

Social media was no where near as big when O Gara was playing. That's the reason. Otherwise you would have had hundreds of videos of his tackling. Every missed kick by sexton and every missed tackle by O Gara would have been shown when they were competing. The same way as when Sexton started over o Gara the TV would pan to O Gara sitting on the bench at every kick.

My opinion is that the 10 is the most important position in the Irish team. Both players are making mistakes they should be dropped for. Both players come from sides with very entrenched fan bases. Its happening at a time when Ireland are sliding very quickly down the list in terms of best teams in the world. Its the perfect storm of fan bitteness.

Social media was no where near as big when O Gara was playing. 

I remember in the aftermath of the 2011 RWC win against Australia, when everyone was saying O'Gara came on and won it for us, some guy stitched together a YouTube video of every involvement ROG had, and it looked as though he'd actually been rubbish.

That has always stuck with me because it was a weird thing to do after a win, but mainly because it just was not something you saw back then.

Now, everyone is at it, and to make yourself heard among all the noise, you have to shout louder and be ever more edgy.

It's not a great development tbh.

Correct.

In response to posts ranging from accusations of desperately wanting Prendergast to fail, to posts completely mis-quoting and mis-representing what's actually been said.

And, indeed, posts like this, implying I want him to fail.

A lot of those post aren't criticising Prendergast. They're criticising the over-reaction I've received for criticising Prendergast.

Way to prove my point for me, tho.

As far as I'm aware, place kicking stats for all 3 10's in the squad are broadly similar this season.

For me, it's much more Crowley's kicking from hand, particularly when we're putting up as many contestables as we seem to be at the moment.

In that sense, there isn't much value in pairing him with Doak, as you'd lose JGP's box-kicking, which, whatever about the rest of his game, was pretty good last week.

Was looking back at my comment from 2023. I remember getting a bit of criticism. I didnt include Keenan hopefully he's not going to have regular injuries.

I suppose the question is, are certain players below their best because they're old, or are they just older players not playing well?

Was 32 year-old van der Flier any worse than 25 year-old Cian Prendergast? Was 29 year-old Stockdale any better than the 33 year-old we dropped? 33 year-old McCloskey was probably the best player in the backline.