Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Luke McGrath isn't out of form at all. He's playing very well for Leinster.

Luke McGrath's form has been really quite good this season.

I also don't think tbc he said Gunne is the best scrum half behind JGP, more he seemed to be saying he thinks Gunne is the brightest prospect long term.

It's not a hugely outlandish opinion (even if I don't share it myself) - he was a Grand Slam winning, RWC-finalist and a key player at U20s, he has a good skillset and a good running game, and he's clearly relatively highly thought of as he started that A game (even if it didn't go well for him).

Lowe is groin, probably better than a hamstring or calf injury

That’s not what I said so perhaps re read

Luke is 33 and certainly not out of form he has had a very strong season to date. Our 2 best players v England were both 33 so ‘aging’ may not be a bad thing

Don’t disagree with any of that at all , although I do hope Casey gets more game time experience as his Crowley partnership could be helpful come RWC27

Think you're a bit harsh on him here about "offering nothing outside of a quick pass"… . He's a leader at club level and has been entrusted at international level.

"Zero threat with the ball" - he's got the best step of any of our attackers and very good acceleration off the mark… like he averages just under a try every 4 games for club (108/24), he's a good man to have a snipe.

This doesn't hold much weight… but under the circumstances he can step up and take a penalty or conversion if he has to, he's nailed a couple of hard ones (Doak is obviously far better in this respect as he's first choice kicker). He'd be first choice after the outhalf for me in a penalty shootout or a sin-bin.

He doesn't organize and attack the way JGP does - did JGP do it the way he does now at Casey's age? I'd argue JGP has only really come into his own in that respect within the last 5 years.

Tackling, yeah he gets bumped, that's just pure physics. I don't think there's any lack of desire to put his body on the line though, wouldn't level that at him. A partnership of him and SP against a big side is a bit of a disaster waiting to happen, I'd have concerns in that respect.

I'd personally like to see him get more of a run of starts rather than 10-15 minutes at the end of games at international level before calling it as not being up to this level - before getting injured before was it the Autumn Internationals or the 6 Nations a year ago some on here were wondering about him potentially taking the jersey from JGP, his form was excellent.

In short, would love to see him start against Wales. And in spite of all the above, Doak is also worth looking at, no doubt about it. I wouldn't complain if he got the nod either v Wales as we need to build depth. I think they could be a good pairing when JGP hangs up his boots, two different styles.

Tackling, yeah he gets bumped, that's just pure physics. I don't think there's any lack of desire to put his body on the line though, wouldn't level that at him. 

I've heard this argument before, and equally have heard Prendergast getting criticised for appearing to not have the desire etc.

I would argue it's a relatively irrelevant consideration though - the net outcome is the bit you're concerned with, and it's the same in any scenario.

Perhaps - I'd agree Craig Casey can have all the desire in the world but the outcome might end up being the the same, other than chop tackling really. SP has more of a physique on him though, I do think with him it's a both a lack of desire coupled with poor technique, even athleticism. He clearly should be doing better with the physical tools at his disposal. That's the issue there.

However I think SP can ultimately fix his work-ons, I don't think Casey can to the same extent. So then it's up to management if they think whatever else Casey offers (which I do think is a lot more than a fast pass) is worth the fact that he can be bumped if isolated. He wouldn't be number 2 if they didn't think he was worth it you'd imagine, similar to SP.

I think his kicking has tapered off; about 18 months to 2 years ago it was much better, imo. His form too has dipped too, but he was excellent back then, imo.

I also think he needs more minutes vs Tier 1 nations. Outside of the Italy game, his minutes in 7 of his last 8 Tier 1 games, in reverse chronological order are: 9, 8, 8, 10, 13, 15 and 7. That amounts to 70 minutes across 7 caps, but you're really not giving him any opportunity to influence the game.

But the obvious one, imo, is his decision making; which is exactly the thing that JGP improved dramatically to make him the player he is today.

I really don't think it's accurate the suggest Casey, at only 26, has hit his ceiling yet. I doubt any player has, tbh.