Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Harry Byrne ruled out. Aki, Henshaw and JOB called up

I'll lose my nut if Stu McCloskey gets replaced by either of the first 2 mentioned unless he picks up an injury. Our player of the tournament so far. Id do see us sticking to a 5/3 split from now on with Henshaw in the 23 jersey however.

I think they might throw Bundee on the bench in the 23 shirt to give him a send off, as I suspect this might be his final cap.

Awk there's no chance of Bundee starting unless Farrell is rotating loads of players.

On a separate point Foak got hooked around the 50 minute mark last night by Ulster when he was playing well and the game was in the melting pot. It was a strange sub (unless Doak was injured - don't think he was), maybe an indicator that Doak might get a bench spot on Friday.

Yet to get one of these right but giving the 23 a guess on a Monday morning again. Granted I think this one is harder as no idea how many changes may be made:

1. Loughman 2. Sheehan 3. Clarkson 4. Joe McC 5. Beirne 6. Prendergast 7. Timoney 8. Doris 9. JGP 10. Crowley 11. TOB 12. McCloskey 13. Postlethwaite 14. Baloucoune 15. Osbourne

16. Stewart 17. O'Toole 18. Bealham 19. Edogbo 20. Conan 21. Doak 22. Prendergast 23. Stockdale (but can see it being Aki)

I don't think it would be a disgrace to give him a bench spot as a farewell. But it would equally be fine to just go ahead with picking other players for the future. I wouldn't be outraged whichever way they go with it.

I'd be annoyed if they're considering playing him for the foreseeable future, November etc. He's been great but he's old and there are new options who need experience. Make the investment in the future players.

This is exactly the sort of thing Farrell does. Cian Healy had a 2 year long farewell tour

And who was banging down the door to take his place?

They had to switch Porter to LH to cover for the lack of depth in the position

sigh.

So, no actual examples then?

Grand

could they not bring someone like Dan Kelly or Postlethwaite into the setup rather than the likes of Aki and Henshaw…its like we go, well we won against England so we can go back to doing what we did before…rolling out the same lads, no development…we never learn…

I think you're losing sight of what an investment is. Investment means accepting probably not getting the payout straight away. If the younger player was already better, then it wouldn't be an investment, it would just be playing your strongest team. So in this case Aki might well be better than *Jude Postlethwaite for example, but you know Aki won't be around for the world cup and Postlethwaite probably will.

Also, older players are much less prone to making mistakes. But their performance dips in less obvious ways like not doing the extraordinary things that made them great in their prime. It's harder to see the lack of extraordinary things because they're not doing anything wrong.

The choice is to play Aki until his performance falls off a cliff, then panic about who can replace him 6 months before the world cup, or try players in the position now to get a feel for how they improve.

*Jude Postlethwaite is an example. I don't want to ge into the specifics on Postlethwaite

Its crowleys jersey now I think everyone agrees, but what's the opinions on sam on the bench? He doesn't cover other positions and its clear his confidence has taken a tumble. Imv he's better off going back to leinster and seeing if he can become a better player.

I've noticed you've said this a few times about Postlethwaite. What in particular do you not rate about Postlethwaite?