Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

I'm still expecting Casey to be the successor post-JGP tbh (think to where JGP was at Casey's stage in his career, for example). I think he has the best pass quaility of anyone on the island, and his kicking, imo, is hugely underrated.

Some will point to his physical limitations, but I think they can be overblown too. For example, last weekend in the first minute against Connacht, he had a 1-on-1 on the wing vs Bundee. You'd nearly expect Bundee to blow right over him but it didn't happen. Similar thing last night, where we saw an example of his athelticism for his stature (almost) keeping that ball in play. He also has an excellent snipe in him, imo.

He hasn't had as good a season as his previous 2, but I think he'll be the Munster captain post-Beirne and I expect him to push on in the Ireland reckoning.

Casey was awful against Connacht. Was a very worrying performance.

And was brilliant against the Lions. Was a very encouraging performance.

Don’t disagree. He showcased very well yesterday on all fronts and with a big step up in game time next year could well put himself in contention which was the point Murray was making in the article as he got his breakthrough back in 2011 on a late run

well to be fair he was promoted over Eoin Reddan at the same time for the same game as O’Gara was taking the 10 jersey from Sexton I think

I'm still not convinced by Casey. He had a very good game last night, but even then he had some total brainfart moments when under pressure. I'd prefer to see Doak get more minutes in a bid to give him a genuine chance at the backup jersey.

He got a start against Italy in the 6N where he was also not very good.

Kidneys stock went down after 2011ish. London Irish didnt go well either. If it was more recent alot more would have been made of it. Think it was a bad ankle injury o'leary got and he was never the same after it.

I mean it's happened with Casey, Crowley, Nash and plenty before them. Even Beirne.

Beirne is not nonsense. There's a poster on here who was still questioning Beirne's place in matchday squads a year after his Ireland debut. There were also plenty of posters saying Beirne should be on the bench behind Ryan and Henderson, albeit that was early days.

As for a pity party, Casey has been written off by most non Munster supporters on here despite a fantastic performance last night. You yourself couldn't help but mention the Connacht game, probably just wanted to help adjust expectations no doubt. Then there were fellas bringing up Coombes not playing for Ireland last night after someone praised Gleeson. Yet again, I'm sure this was purely constructive criticism.

The mods are constantly having to monitor the Munster thread due to trolling. It seems to get as much attention from other provincial fans as their own provincial threads. It's funny, despite all the Cassandras on here and other online spaces talking gleefully about the struggles of the club ans despite all the schadenfreude it's Munster who are guaranteed Champion's Cup rugby next season while both Connacht and Ulster still don't know if they'll be there or in the Challenge Cup.

Most Munster supporters couldn't give a damn about other provincial fans. We're too busy celebrating a hard fought victory after a tough season. That's pretty much always been the way of it. Last time I checked it wasn't Munster supporters who were crying over not getting support from other provincial fans.

I don't really think it's constructive criticism, no. It's more a reaction to the absolutely endless whining from Munster fans about these sorts of middling Munster players not getting millions of caps. Coombes, Ahern, Hodnett, Farrell, Healy, it just never stops.

This is the Ireland thread and it's a discussion about the Irish SH position. How awful Casey was against Connacht and how thoroughly outplayed he was by two other Irish SHs is relevant I'm afraid, no matter how much you wish it wasn't.

The level of bitterness lmao