Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

I've no issue with TOB coming back in, in fact I'd agree...but let's stop this nonsense that Stockdale did nothing last week to earn a place. For starters he scored an excellent try and gave a clever try scoring pass to Osborne. You can't just wilfully ignore stuff like that to suit your agenda.

Only qualm I'd have with that team is that I think Kelleher should start, he was very good last weekend and we need all the help we can get in the scrum.

The 23 jersey is a strange one but completely expected. Farrell is very loyal to Aki. If we lose a winger then it's Ringrose to the wing. Stockdale in the 23 shirt surely would have given better coverage. Even in that scenario if Ringrose was to go down then McCloskey would move out 1 position and Frawley would play 12.

What agenda have you deduced i happen to have?

@standardg60 promoting south Dublin private school boys. We'll see how well TOB goes when it's a competitive match and not this English team.

MOD: Warned

Well done on exposing your own agenda in fairness..

stockdale wont be picked when mack / keenan are back from injury. JJ Kenny is a better winger than him in the long term anyway.

JJ Kenny with next to no European rugby and zero international experience?

Jesus lads you'd want to ease back on the hype a small bit. Can't be anointing every single player who has a couple of decent URC games.

I'm not sure anyone is arguing Stockdale didn't 'play well' the last day, but that he didn't do anything to threaten O Brien after O Brien's performance against england and in the autumn. O B was got established in the team in the autumn and Stockdale earned his shot against france but O B had more credit in the bank at that stage when both were terrible.

Scotland have named their side. As expected, they're pretty light in the second row. You'd think this would be prime opportunity for Ireland to really grind away at them with pick and goes and tight phase play.

The media seem to think we're going 5-3 off the bench, but it might be a day for a 6-2 split to ram home our advantage up front.

If its on the bench then I could accept that, he has been such an effective member of Farrells teams for a while now, he has rarely let us down.

He did all he can do. Scored a try….first since 2021. Offload for another.

He cant catch a ball in the air. Main reason Ireland didnt kick as much……Paris LEARNINGS

He managed to regather this..

TOB was always coming back in for this game. That bit better in the air……Paris LEARNINGS & far quicker than Stockdale.

Baloucoune & TOB are the fastest duo Ireland has started in years & years.

Stockdale will be 31 in the next World Cup. JJ Kenny has good acceleration, is abrasive in contact, can win high balls and is a good defender. We all need to follow Frances approach of promoting our younger wingers to the senior squad, mobility is everything nowadays. Stockdale looks really sluggish at times.

We are not France. Attissogbe and and Bielle-Biarrey have 55 and 86 top class club games under their belt respectively, Kenny has 10. That game time means their decision making in particular is much more robust than an equivalent Irish player. I have seen Kenny made some really poor reads in defence and get put into touch more than he should while in possession. That's the kind of fundamental error that I expect will be eliminated from his game by the time he has equivalent experience to the French pair, but could be extremely costly in a 6 Nations game.

To my mind, the best performers on the wing for the 5 other teams have been the more experienced ones; Steyn (32), Ioane (31), Lynagh (25), and Baloucoune (28). For England, Arundell has been a disaster, with the older and less "exciting" Roebuck being far more effective.