Farrell must be careful not to dump the baby with water

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It was a disappointing end to the Six Nations for Ireland after preparing for a second-half showdown against France in Paris.

Ireland subsequently lost their way and was defeated before the final minutes of the game against the French who are back in their prime and are really fueling their talent at the right time with a World Cup at home starting to play in their minds. .

There will be calls for a massive overhaul on the Irish setup, but make no mistake. Ireland got in a great position and some mistakes disappointed them. Suddenly, social media experts are calling for Johnny Sexton to retire, Jacob Stockdale is in no shape to put his boots on right now, and Andy Farrell should lose his job.

This is not how sport works. Some of the best people in the sport will tell you that you can never get too high, but you can’t go too low either. That’s the challenge for everyone, both in and out of the setup.

Eliminate some mistakes from Ireland’s performance, in miserable conditions, away from a structured French team on defense and it is not all doom and gloom. However, not changing anything would be a big mistake and something will have to give.

Stockdale is a great talent and has the ability to be a monumental player for Ireland in the next World Cup, just like he was against New Zealand when Ireland went on to beat them. Last weekend was not his best performance. Conditions were bad over the weekend, but that can’t be an excuse for the Ulster man.

You have to change your expectations of the game and adapt to what is considered a positive outcome. He lost a lot of the ball and sometimes all his full back needs to do is blur the situation and kill the ball to allow others to regroup.

You don’t have to pick up the ball on the run, beat a few defenders, and run it over the last man’s head to have a positive game. Despite the mistakes, Stockdale kept showing up, which is very positive for him, but there was also a bit of naivety. We wouldn’t have seen those mistakes from people like Rob Kearney and that’s the guy we need to replace.

Stockdale’s left boot is an advantage when he comes out of his own half, but he needs the ball to go off the field more often than it currently is.

He might as well be fighting for his place on the wing again with the likes of Keenan, Conway, Earls and Larmour when they are all in shape again.

The Fall Nations Cup is an opportunity to try out some combinations. However, this is not a time for wholesale changes. Unfortunately, there is a larger picture here too. Internationally, you can’t bet on massively experimental teams because rankings and points are very important.

A few losses on the rebound and you could find yourself in dangerous territory with not just team confidence but qualification as well. These rankings matter a lot when entering big tournaments and a team in free fall can have a lot of difficulty recovering if it continues to draw top-tier nations in the big competitions.

There is the possibility of experimenting with side options. Will Andrew Conway ever get a chance to fill the void? Is it Shane Daly’s turn to get a hat and start caring for it for years to come? Will Keenan have the same impact on the game from a more central position? It’s time to find out who is Rob Kearney’s long-term replacement.

Stockdale looked like a decent punt given his prowess in the air, his ability to kick, and his overall attack threat. Perhaps Farrell and his management will back him up on the positives of his game and he can learn from some of the mistakes over the weekend, but he will have to weed the mistakes out of his game fairly quickly if he wants to stay in contention.

The French defense was a real challenge for Ireland. Ireland resorted to a power play that worked to some degree considering the weather in Paris, but it took them the entire ten-minute period to convert the try Keenan nearly scored before Anthony Bouthier was trashed.

Johnny Sexton talks to his Irish teammates after conceding a try

It was physically demanding and it cost Ireland a lot. James Ryan and CJ Stander coped with the task. They could have done it with the power of Iain Henderson and Tadhg Furlong, who have spoken out at big games in the past.

Is Ryan Baird ready to add his frame to the mix? Andrew Porter has also improved in the last two games and everything is going well, we may see Dan Leavy return to the Irish camp.

No need to reassemble the package. Depending on how the game plan unfolds in the next year, there will likely be some changes to the starting team, and the bench will be reinforced with players who will have a greater impact.

The workforce is a key factor in the next 6-12 months. Which younger players will be supported to make an impact on the squad and to drive group standards?

Craig Casey had another man of the match performance at Rodney Parade, albeit without the buzz from the Dragons crowd, but he’s on an upward trajectory and if he continues like this, he could have more of a voice in the team next. year.

Jamison Gibson-Park also offers something different to Conor Murray and he should have had more opportunities to impact the game last week. Murray was the right choice in jersey number 9, but Gibson-Park plays in a different style. The game could have been played with a different tactic before it reached the breaking point on Saturday night. The change happened too late to influence the game.

We need intermediaries that can be pulled out of the bank to change the style of play. Like Joey Carbery and Ian Madigan they have done it with the number 10 jersey in the past.

Bringing in a second-choice player into a mold similar to the starting half is not going to change the course of a game when it doesn’t go our way. Carbery is a loss for Farrell and unfortunately he will not be returning to challenge Sexton anytime soon. I’m not sure anyone else will do it this season.

The game plan will undoubtedly continue to unfold when conditions permit and a handful of players will get their chance in the coming weeks. The direction he takes is up to Andy Farrell and his coaches, something we will be eagerly awaiting before the Fall Nations Cup begins.



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