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3 hot takes as Andy Farrell names Ireland team to host France

By Liam Heagney
Dan Sheehan won't play for Ireland against France (Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

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.

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Captain Jonny Sexton reacts to Romain Ntmack comments on Ireland being comfortable favourites

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Captain Jonny Sexton reacts to Romain Ntmack comments on Ireland being comfortable favourites

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.

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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).

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Jon 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 10 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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