Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

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?

Frawley has played there before as we all know, sometimes highly successfully and sometimes dismally

I presume the 'successfully' reference is the SA tour, but he really didn't play well at 10 that day. He nailed two lovely DGs but his overall play was not good.

I really don't think he's ever impressed at 10 for either Leinster or Ireland, it's always been a case of his potential rather than actual performance.

I specifically said Postlethwaite was an example and I don't want to get into the detail on whether he is going to be the long term replacement. The point was about the principle of accepting that an investment probably won't pay out straight away. If they paid out straight away, it wouldn't be an investment, it would be playing your strongest team.

Ireland seem to have plenty of 12s, Gavin, Postelthwaite, Forde etc all 12's and will never have the gas to cover the 13 channel in defense at the highest level. 13 is the position I'd be more worried about we have no real competition for Ringrose. But I agree Henshaw shouldnt be remotely close to that Ireland squad atm.

If Keenan wasnt injured I wouldve liked Osbourne to be getting minutes at 13.

Gavin has been playing 13 for Connacht recently until his injury....played on the wing for Ireland u20s...definitely has the pace for 13....much faster than Osborne.....whether he will be good enough is the question

Keenan was a nailed on starter for the Lions last summer and is missing the 6Ns with a broken thumb.

Wouldn't be retiring him just yet pal. He is straight back in at FB when fit.