ANDY FARRELL HAD a decent idea this day might come, although he surely wouldn’t have anticipated just how quickly, and certainly the extent to which the bodies would begin to fall.
Six Nations championships take on a life of their own. Farrell acknowledged as much last week, but eight changes to the matchday 23 is quite the turnover between rounds one and two. That all of the four switches in the starting team take key leaders out of the picture must be a concern. The fact they were all forced upon him only adds to the feeling that it has been a chaotic week in the Ireland camp.
Farrell probably knew he would be without Peter O’Mahony as soon as the flanker’s left arm went thundering into Tomas Francis last Sunday. James Ryan dropped out earlier this week, Johnny Sexton followed suit on Thursday while Conor Murray’s exclusion was a shock. Farrell said the scrum-half’s unavailability was only confirmed in the hour before the team was released.
Consider they were already without Caelan Doris and Jacob Stockdale, and the result is an Ireland matchday squad with a very unfamiliar look to it. Of the four half-backs in the squad to play France there is a total of just 21 caps. Rhys Ruddock makes his first Six Nations start, 11 years on from his Ireland debut. Tadhg Beirne and Iain Henderson haven’t started together in the second row since a November 2018 win against the USA.
One week in, and Farrell’s Six Nations plans have already gone wildly off script. Speaking shortly after naming his team yesterday, the Ireland head coach said he has confidence in his new-look team to perform this weekend, pointing to the opportunities handed out to some of those incoming players over the past 12 months.
“There’s a few new faces in the squad over the last year but that’s what it is for, so that we can build for the future and for the here and now as well,” Farrell said.
“You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t but the autumn now seems like it was the right way to go, with giving people opportunities to play big games. You get criticised for that, (but) I suppose that hopefully will stand us in good stead for this weekend.”
The fortunes of Billy Burns and Jamison Gibson-Park will go a long way to deciding how Ireland fare. Both will feel the pressure to perform in positions which have looked problematic for Ireland. The status of Sexton and Murray as Ireland’s first-choice half-back pairing has never really come under serious threat.
The identity of who should be the next men up, however, has been a much more lively debate, with regular chopping and changing suggesting even the coaches haven’t been quite so sure.
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Billy Burns during Wednesday's training session at the HPC. IRFU / INPHO
IRFU / INPHO / INPHO
Burns and Gibson-Park are both fine players, but need good performances to keep the heat off.
“I suppose to get to be those experienced players, they have to deal with situations like this,” Farrell continued.
“That’s the challenge of international rugby, that if you want a long and fruitful international career, these are the games that you want to be involved in. Those young lads who have come into the French side have taken their chance, and they’re becoming a little bit more experienced as they go.”
Some of the more experienced heads are also set for milestone occasions. Henderson captains Ireland for first time, while there must have periods where Ruddock thought this day would never come. The fact that he starts tomorrow is down to his willingness to take Farrell’s message on board.
“The application to his game, there’s a few things we talked about in terms of the intent in his game,” Farrell said. “His work-rate has been unquestionable, but the accuracy and intent of his game improved over the last few months for Leinster and that’s what we’ve seen in training here as well.”
The players will see this fixture as an opportunity to make a real statement.
Iain Henderson captains Ireland for the first time. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
So will their boss. Missing a few key men, coming off the back of a defeat and with the form team in Europe in town, a win would give Farrell the first landmark win of his career as a head coach.
“From the start of the week, you would imagine, wouldn’t you, that the lads would have been gutted coming off a loss but they were buoyant on Monday. You get the general chats around the group and then you get to work on Tuesday, they were certainly buoyant because they know that they performed pretty well in parts (against Wales).
“They know that it was an opportunity that got away from them but at the same time they know there’s a week ahead with a massive challenge against a really good side to show again how much improvement we’ve got. And they’ve trained like that this week. Plus we’re playing at home. We love playing at home and there’s no better opponent really than the guys you are tipping as favourites. So why would we not get excited about that?”
With France there is an element of having to expect the unexpected. Few teams are as willing to go off the cuff and take risks. Unforced errors cost Ireland dearly when they last met in Paris, but even if you do everything right, Fabien Galthié’s exceptional young side have players who can create something out of nothing.
“You’ve got to control the game,” Farrell explained.
“The way that France like to play is that they kick a lot of ball. They don’t over play at all. They have no dead rucks. In their game management they kick a hell of a lot because they want to play in the right parts of the field, and the right parts of the field is obviously in your half, for them.
“So they’re after quick turnover ball and on counter-attack they’re very dangerous. They’re really hot on defensive breakdown pressure-wise. Obviously they’re after turnover ball or penalties where they kick you into the corner, they’ve got a good set-piece. So it’s not allowing them access, which is absolutely key at the same time, making sure that our kick-chase and our transition defence is where it needs to be.”
Farrell’s players will have been hurting this week. Defeats sting. Some were subjected to unwarranted abuse on social media, his captain was angered by shocking comments from two French neurologists, and one of his leaders was suspended for the bulk of Ireland’s championship. Defeat tomorrow would leave Ireland, and the head coach, staring into a long few weeks.
“The pressure that we put on ourselves is all that matters to us,” Farrell insisted.
“The outside pressure is irrelevant, really. If we let that seep in, it does become a distraction, but we work hard on making sure that doesn’t happen.”
Bernard Jackman, Murray Kinsella and Gavan Casey preview Ireland-France and give their thoughts on an eventful week from Cardiff onwards:
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Farrell tells players to seize their chance as his Six Nations plans go wildly off script
LAST UPDATE | 13 Feb 2021
ANDY FARRELL HAD a decent idea this day might come, although he surely wouldn’t have anticipated just how quickly, and certainly the extent to which the bodies would begin to fall.
Six Nations championships take on a life of their own. Farrell acknowledged as much last week, but eight changes to the matchday 23 is quite the turnover between rounds one and two. That all of the four switches in the starting team take key leaders out of the picture must be a concern. The fact they were all forced upon him only adds to the feeling that it has been a chaotic week in the Ireland camp.
Farrell probably knew he would be without Peter O’Mahony as soon as the flanker’s left arm went thundering into Tomas Francis last Sunday. James Ryan dropped out earlier this week, Johnny Sexton followed suit on Thursday while Conor Murray’s exclusion was a shock. Farrell said the scrum-half’s unavailability was only confirmed in the hour before the team was released.
Consider they were already without Caelan Doris and Jacob Stockdale, and the result is an Ireland matchday squad with a very unfamiliar look to it. Of the four half-backs in the squad to play France there is a total of just 21 caps. Rhys Ruddock makes his first Six Nations start, 11 years on from his Ireland debut. Tadhg Beirne and Iain Henderson haven’t started together in the second row since a November 2018 win against the USA.
One week in, and Farrell’s Six Nations plans have already gone wildly off script. Speaking shortly after naming his team yesterday, the Ireland head coach said he has confidence in his new-look team to perform this weekend, pointing to the opportunities handed out to some of those incoming players over the past 12 months.
“There’s a few new faces in the squad over the last year but that’s what it is for, so that we can build for the future and for the here and now as well,” Farrell said.
“You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t but the autumn now seems like it was the right way to go, with giving people opportunities to play big games. You get criticised for that, (but) I suppose that hopefully will stand us in good stead for this weekend.”
The fortunes of Billy Burns and Jamison Gibson-Park will go a long way to deciding how Ireland fare. Both will feel the pressure to perform in positions which have looked problematic for Ireland. The status of Sexton and Murray as Ireland’s first-choice half-back pairing has never really come under serious threat.
The identity of who should be the next men up, however, has been a much more lively debate, with regular chopping and changing suggesting even the coaches haven’t been quite so sure.
Burns and Gibson-Park are both fine players, but need good performances to keep the heat off.
“I suppose to get to be those experienced players, they have to deal with situations like this,” Farrell continued.
“That’s the challenge of international rugby, that if you want a long and fruitful international career, these are the games that you want to be involved in. Those young lads who have come into the French side have taken their chance, and they’re becoming a little bit more experienced as they go.”
Some of the more experienced heads are also set for milestone occasions. Henderson captains Ireland for first time, while there must have periods where Ruddock thought this day would never come. The fact that he starts tomorrow is down to his willingness to take Farrell’s message on board.
“The application to his game, there’s a few things we talked about in terms of the intent in his game,” Farrell said. “His work-rate has been unquestionable, but the accuracy and intent of his game improved over the last few months for Leinster and that’s what we’ve seen in training here as well.”
The players will see this fixture as an opportunity to make a real statement.
So will their boss. Missing a few key men, coming off the back of a defeat and with the form team in Europe in town, a win would give Farrell the first landmark win of his career as a head coach.
“From the start of the week, you would imagine, wouldn’t you, that the lads would have been gutted coming off a loss but they were buoyant on Monday. You get the general chats around the group and then you get to work on Tuesday, they were certainly buoyant because they know that they performed pretty well in parts (against Wales).
With France there is an element of having to expect the unexpected. Few teams are as willing to go off the cuff and take risks. Unforced errors cost Ireland dearly when they last met in Paris, but even if you do everything right, Fabien Galthié’s exceptional young side have players who can create something out of nothing.
“You’ve got to control the game,” Farrell explained.
“The way that France like to play is that they kick a lot of ball. They don’t over play at all. They have no dead rucks. In their game management they kick a hell of a lot because they want to play in the right parts of the field, and the right parts of the field is obviously in your half, for them.
“So they’re after quick turnover ball and on counter-attack they’re very dangerous. They’re really hot on defensive breakdown pressure-wise. Obviously they’re after turnover ball or penalties where they kick you into the corner, they’ve got a good set-piece. So it’s not allowing them access, which is absolutely key at the same time, making sure that our kick-chase and our transition defence is where it needs to be.”
Farrell’s players will have been hurting this week. Defeats sting. Some were subjected to unwarranted abuse on social media, his captain was angered by shocking comments from two French neurologists, and one of his leaders was suspended for the bulk of Ireland’s championship. Defeat tomorrow would leave Ireland, and the head coach, staring into a long few weeks.
“The pressure that we put on ourselves is all that matters to us,” Farrell insisted.
“The outside pressure is irrelevant, really. If we let that seep in, it does become a distraction, but we work hard on making sure that doesn’t happen.”
Bernard Jackman, Murray Kinsella and Gavan Casey preview Ireland-France and give their thoughts on an eventful week from Cardiff onwards:
The42 Rugby Weekly / SoundCloud
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