Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

so thrilled with the win,this was a different Scottish team than ones we have overpowered up front in the past.The match was in the balance in the last 10 minutes.,we frame definitive robust reasons around the flimsiest of results ,Ramos misses that kick and Ireland will have deserved the title that no commentator will claim tomorrow in reams of reports.

"the fickleness of fortune"

I think we’re guilty of forcing time on the transition positions and looking for immediate perfect replacements. Sexton transition will ultimately be successful but it takes tome. Same for generational players like O’Connell, O’Driscoll, O’Mahony (never noticed before the O factor!!). Obviously JGP is the next mega generational transition and already Casey is in the headlights. Relax it will all fall into place but the successor needs lots of game time to establish himself. Make lots of mistakes in less important games and ultimately become the next generational player. I don’t feel it’s Casey or Doak. Let time resolve it but accept that the finished product doesn’t pop out of a Christmas cracker. JGP is very different to the player he was 8-10 years ago. On 10. I felt strongly that Andy mismanaged the confidence levels of both Crowley and Sam. This has now been reversed to a certain extent and Sam being pulled out has been a positive and Jack rebuilding confidence on the back of that and his selection has been a great shift of strategy. 2nd in 6N I back Andy F & coaching team to get this right for Aus 27

Calling either performance abject is over the top. Italy played well on the day and we were slightly off it with Furlong still building from his injury and a crisis at loosehead. It wasn't a great performance by any means but that was a good Italy side on the day.

I said it in the match thread directly after the game but I thought we actually played ok vs Wales and we made a number of changes which always affects continuity. Wales stuck it up the jumper and didn't commit to rucks. The biggest criticism of that game for me was our lack of variation in kicking given the lack of cover they had in the backfield.

But all in all they certainly weren't abject performances. I'm a lot more comfortable about where we are now than I was pre-tournament. If our scrum improves then we will be very very hard to beat by any team.

prendergast needs to knuckle down at Leinster. There’s a fair chance he could be behind Harry there. 2027 World Cup squad may be beyond him (barring injuries to Crowley/Harry B/Frawley and he would be aiming for 2031

2031 was always the more natural timeframe for Sam and Crowley should have been fed confidence all the way through the Autumn series. Although, for the first time, after yesterday I’m starting to think the experiment could actually be successful. Sam being taken out of the situation was a good move and he can rebuild his own game and confidence at Leinster. What I felt was a lose lose scenario could ultimately come good for both players and the team.

Casey is not a tier one test level scrum half. In particular he doesn't the necessary size but he also doesn't have the levels to his game that is demanded from the position in a team with ambitions of winning championships. He's a decent URC SH but that's his ceiling.