Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

If we're going to go through the championship playing JGP in every game we'll reap what we sow in terms of exposure for backups (Casey or otherwise). Italy and Wales are the games to do this in my opinion. The win the other day takes the pressure off a bit, I'd hope AF makes some changes regardless.

Beirne at 6 was a great success and Ryan/MacCarthy gave a reminder of what they're capable of in terms of workrate, Ringrose gave a mostly brilliant defensive performance… but I'd still be looking to get game-time into some of Edogbo/Cian P/Timoney/Milne/Tom Stewart/Izzy/Stockdale/Tom Farrell.

Postlethwaite should have been in there too, I was looking at the original squad list. I don't really care who is added as long as they get minutes. Ward is another I left out.

he was won MOTM 3 of 4 times for Ulster this season.

Not sure how this is the case. I said before the game that Farrell was looking for a big performance from his old favourites. And he got it from them. It was a brilliant performance. Best we’ve played since 2023. (England were abysmal but I’d rather not focus on that). So he’s here until the World Cup now, that’s pretty much guaranteed after the England win. They’ve set the standard for themselves now. We know how well they can play.

However, I do now worry that Farrell will see no reason to give some other guys a go against Wales and Scotland, seen as his modus operandi has always been “why change a winning team?”. And the win doesn’t change the fact that a lot of this team is ageing and have been playing badly for a long time. A lot of those guys played well on Saturday. But we need to be developing options for the probability that some of them do have a drop in form, which will happen.

We saw World Class displays from McCloskey and Baloucoune. But would these guys be there if it weren’t for injuries/suspensions? Probably not….

England were set up to defend a Sam defence. Standing off, sending a guy in to the passing channels. The large sample set of almost all the previous games have involved Sam. The simple fact is, if you stand off Sam, he has nothing for a defense.

Crowley would eat that defense up all day.

Not saying Crowley wasn't good on Saturday but in terms of eating up the English defence - that's a bit of a stretch. What Crowley was good at, was playing simple and facilitating the likes of SMC outside him. He added calmness at no 10 which gave confidence through out the team. It was an efficient performance.

https://youtube.com/shorts/FrbuRTmVddI

He does stuff like this all the time for Leinster, like every game. Carrying the ball up to the line, drawing in a defender and passing late is what creates all the space outside him.

We saw World Class displays from McCloskey and Baloucoune. But would these guys be there if it weren’t for injuries/suspensions? Probably not….

We had everyone fit and available in November and we still picked McCloskey.

Let's also not forget this brilliant insight too from last week too:

Amongst the highlight was the conclusion where Farrell is described as "a good unit coach, who got promoted beyond his talent".

Any interest in revisiting any of that analysis I wonder?

Did you not also post the following last week?

Some of you are going to have a real tough time explaining things away if it doesn't go well without Sam in the team. A very tough time indeed.

Care to offer an update on that particular insight?

What's also remarkable is that he's managed to cast a spell on some here from outside the 23 not two days after a great win.

Straight back here calling for him to be reinstated against Wales despite admitting that his confidence is absolutely shot.

'The break will have done him good'. What absolute horsesh1t. He needs to, and will, be left out of the squad until he regains some form and confidence for his club.

Anyone who proclaims otherwise is not an objective Ireland supporter imo.

We're in the exact same position at 9 now as we were with Sexton at 10. All well and good for Johnny to say we should have been developing cover for him, but like JGP he was head and shoulders above everyone else, and you can't just 'develop' god given talent and big game mentality which they both had/have.

Personally I think Casey has already reached his zenith as a player and doubt it's simply a matter of more game time. I'd like to see Doak given a go now.

Me too, perhaps play around with the bench options though. Just to help create a little more depth. I would be prioritising development of the 13 options if possible.