Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

It's also not like Sam did not perform when he was initially selected. He had good games against Fiji, Australia in November. He was then in great form for Leinster against the likes of Bristol, Bath and Munster. He played well against England and Scotland. And not so much against France and Wales where we were playing with 14 men for large periods of the game.

Every time he has a poor game it is jumped on to show how unready he is for this level. Ignoring games where he plays well. Northampton being a case in point. He finished the season strongly in the URC run in. Played well in AI's against Japan and Australia.

He is young, and underpowered for his size. He needs to get stronger and a bit more resilient.

His form now is up and down. He was playing well for Leinster but obviously has not been good so far in the 6 nations. I've no issue with Jack starting on Saturday as he is currently being playing better. But he hasn't been consistently over the last 18 months.

Obviously the media was hyping him up a lot when he broke on the scene. And now they've done a 180 and it has gone too far the other way. the answer is obviously somewhere in the middle.

Would Sam be a better player come the World Cup in 2027 if he was not given these opportunities? I highly doubt it.

Utter tripe.

So I suppose anyone with a sick parent/child or pregnant wife probably shouldn't be picked either then?

This would include Brian O'Driscoll btw…. who played a game while his wife was giving / had just given birth and said it definitely impacted him in-game.

If it can impact someone of that experience and calibre, I don't understand why you think it wouldn't impact younger and less experienced guys.

From your postings while I have been on the forum I would be 99.99% sure I have played to a higher level of rugby than you, including playing with & against multiple of the current Leinster squad and 4/5 of the current Irish squad so I have an idea about top level pros and teams, and as OldRio said, you're talking utter tripe.

'Honestly I don't know what the psychologists are doing with the players. I'd sort this crap out in five minutes' .

Unbelievable arrogance mixed with ignorance. You are essence of the keyboard warrior mentality.

If you listen to podcasts in the UK last year before the France game they had him as an option for the Lions. That was UK podcasts and they didn't have the same media bias as claimed in Ireland

The people complaining about him then and now don't really care how good or bad he plays.

The claims he was fast tracked etc etc, also complain that other players arn't fast tracked.

Just listen to the RTE podcast, I think last week, with one of the "journalist" roaring about him

No I don't.

Hansen is a player who was fast tracked, came into the Irish system and 6 months later was playing a 6 nations game

Prendergast has been in squads and around the Irish camp for a while after a very successful U20 career.

It was never his fault then and not his fault now that other players have not been playing better than him. This is what people are struggling with.

The cries of "player the form player" doesn't matter in his case, it just boils down to play the inconsistent player from my province or, well we have seen the carry on long enough now

its like the shte you would hear in an American sports documentary.

"The only thing you can have on your mind while playing is your next move"

"You can't have any negativity or anything that takes the mind off the target "

I can't read that in anything other than Magic Johnson's voice. It's pure 90s motivational bullsht.

No, I honestly don't think that's a factor. Most of the guys mentioned did have deficiencies or weak areas of their game when first capped and some still do.

Yes, they had / have defencies or weaknesses but, imo, not to the same degree as Prendergast's defence (and a lot of them weren't installed into the first 15).

The the point is, there's going to be a higher degree of attention to someone with such obvious defencies, particularly if they are in the starting 15 rather than coming on as a sub.

But of the list of players you mentioned; which of their weaknesses / defencies would you say are weaknesses to the same degree as Prendergast's defence?