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3 hot takes as Andy Farrell names Ireland team to host France
By Liam Heagney
Having produced the most impressive performance out of all the teams in Guinness Six Nations round one, Andy Farrell and Ireland will be looking to underline their title credentials when defending champions France visit Dublin on Saturday. Here are three RugbyPass hot takes on the selection announced on Thursday:
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Rolling with the injury punches
One of the most impressive characteristics of this Ireland team this past year under Farrell has been their resilience in rolling with the punches. Injuries used to have an unsettling effect on the consistency of their performances, but the attitude of this current bunch is ‘next man up’ rather than any bemoaning of bad luck.
Look at how they have taken some very late-in-the-week changes in their step: Nick Timoney versus Argentina after Jack Conan pulled up lame, Stuart McCloskey against South Africa after Robbie Henshaw was ruled out the day before, Jack Crowley versus Australia after Johnny Sexton pulled out during the warm-up.
That list continued last weekend in Cardiff with Conor Murray going from bench to start and Dave Kilcoyne named on the bench just hours before the start after respective issues with Jamison Gibson-Park and Cian Healy. That was after the scare that should have been the injury loss of Tadhg Furlong and the starting of Finlay Bealham.
This week’s problem surrounded Dan Sheehan, the Leinster youngster whose fast-track emergence has been a joy to behold. He had become one of Farrell’s calling cards during the improved sequence of results, but he now misses out due to a tweaked hamstring with Rob Herring named to start against the French and Ronan Kelleher coming onto the bench.
Ireland won’t flinch at this latest upheaval. Instead, they have very much become a squad that embraces these types of hitches, an approach that can only stand them in good stead when it comes to the World Cup later this year. That is the tournament where they have repeatedly failed to react positively to setbacks, but Farrell appears to be developing the necessary robustness in this Ireland team to cope with enforced change.
Old dogs can learn new tricks
It’s curious how a single aspect of a player’s play can negatively colour what he can overall bring to the entire mix. That is the territory Conor Murray occupies now that he is a 30-something in this Ireland team. Farrell’s preference for the more all-court game of Gibson-Park was one of the attributes that accelerated the progress of the Irish since the head coach was promoted from assistant to succeed Joe Schmidt.
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The Kiwi had a very specific way for his team to play and it involved the likes of Murray sending the ball skywards with a multitude of deliberately timed box kicks. That is not to say Gibson-Park doesn’t give it leather. He does. It’s just his energy elsewhere makes Ireland tick at a faster pace and it’s far easier on the eye than how Murray used to slow the play down and take as much time as possible with the ball at the base of a ruck before booting it up.
Thing is, the veteran showed before he got injured versus South Africa in November that he can play differently for Farrell, and there was nothing sluggish either about the way he helped Ireland orchestrate their decisive fast start last week against Wales.
It demonstrates that old dogs can certainly learn new tricks and as much as what the now injured Gibson-Park has brought to the Irish piece is to be admired, his Six Nations record in starts versus the French was two losses compared to Murray who has five wins and two draws in his nine championship starts as well as a 2015 World Cup win.
Those were different times admittedly, but Murray’s presence must surely be a good omen given how frequently he was involved in beating the French.
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Big scrum test gets even bigger
It’s amazing the difference a week can make in Test rugby. There we were heading into round one with alarm bells sounding over the fact that Bealham, a frequent Ireland sub, was being pressed into action for a rare start at No3 under Farrell due to the unavailability of the injured Furlong.
The concern was misplaced given how the front-rower fared in Cardiff and it is telling that even though it is now the more potent French who are coming to Dublin, the general concerns about the Irish scrum holding its own are less muted than heading into round one.
Set-piece remains the one area where Ireland haven’t had the level of steeled consistency they would like, but it says a lot about their psyche that concerns over their scrum have been limited despite Furlong’s current absence.
Thing is, though, while the credibility of Beaham has never been as high as it is now, he himself will know only too well that a week is indeed a very long time in Test rugby and he can’t fail now that his status is so lofty.
IRELAND (vs France, Saturday – 2:15pm): H Keenan (Leinster); M Hansen (Connacht), G Ringrose (Leinster), S McCloskey (Ulster), J Lowe (Leinster); J Sexton (Leinster, capt), C Murray (Munster); A Porter (Leinster), R Herring (Ulster), F Bealham (Connacht), T Beirne (Munster), J Ryan (Leinster), P O’Mahony (Munster), J van der Flier (Leinster), C Doris (Leinster). Reps: R Kelleher (Leinster), D Kilcoyne (Munster), T O’Toole (Ulster), I Henderson (Ulster), J Conan (Leinster), C Casey (Munster), R Byrne (Leinster), B Aki (Connacht).
