SO MUCH OF what Andy Farrell has tried to do with Ireland in the last two years as they have built towards the World Cup has been about making things a little uncomfortable.
This is why he added two extra midweek games to last summer’s tour of New Zealand in between the Test series against the All Blacks. Trying to win a series down there for the first time ever wasn’t enough. Farrell willingly added more hassle to stretch his group.
Those midweek games were good for the development of players like Jimmy O’Brien, Craig Casey, Joe McCarthy, and Tom O’Toole, all of whom are now part of the World Cup squad. But the games were also a pain in the arse, one that Farrell sought out. They interrupted the usual rhythm of the training weeks. Farrell wanted Ireland’s squad stretched and strained like they will be in the coming weeks.
There was the Emerging Ireland tour last year too. It was deeply unpopular with the provinces and caused genuine friction between them and the IRFU, but Farrell and David Nucifora, the union’s performance director, felt it was the right thing to do.
Jack Crowley and McCarthy were among the standout performers and benefitted from working closely with senior Ireland attack coach Mike Catt and forwards coach Paul O’Connell, respectively. Farrell himself didn’t travel to South Africa but rather pushed his assistants to take ownership without him around.
Again, it was a nuisance in many ways but Farrell liked how it took players out of their comfort zone and then made them settle back into their provinces in search of more game time. Crowley never looked back.
Last November, Farrell pushed for an Ireland A game against the All Blacks XV to be added. There was no additional Ireland A coaching staff for the clash the evening before Ireland played South Africa. Instead, Farrell and his assistants doubled up.
It was a tough evening for the Irish side and it dented some fringe players’ hopes of senior involvement, but current World Cup squad members Casey, O’Toole, Jeremy Loughman, and McCarthy started, as did Cian Prendergast – who also played in New Zealand last summer and was close to making the World Cup squad.
While being cognisant of helping those fringe players to progress, Farrell has also been searching for means of testing how his Ireland players and coaches react to being pushed off kilter.
That’s why he was smiling at half time in Murrayfield this year when his starting pack had been decimated by injury. Cian Healy was going on at hooker, Josh van der Flier would throw into the lineout, and Farrell thought it was great.
That one wasn’t planned but Farrell welcomed the unexpected challenge with open arms.
“The key learnings are the scenarios that we’ve tried to put ourselves through in the last few years,” said Farrell when asked what he has taken from previous World Cup experiences with England and Ireland.
“Because you hear me say constantly about best-laid plans [not going right] and all that, it’s 100% that at a World Cup.
“The ones that get flustered with all that because they’re not ready for all different types of permutations are the ones that lose the plot.
“And the key to progressing in a competition like this is staying calm, keeping your feet under you, and making sure that you just roll with the punches and be the best version of yourself no matter what happens and have a no-excuse mentality.
“So we’ve tried to put ourselves in those types of positions before and we know what’s coming.”
We’ll soon find out how Ireland react if, or when, the proverbial hits the fan, as tends to be the case in World Cups. Whether or not the Irish history of disappointment in this tournament accentuates any wobbles remains to be seen. Farrell hopes his side have the mental fortitude to handle anything that’s thrown at them.
Ireland are perceived as being among the contenders but who knows what lies ahead?
“The pressures of the competition within itself, the history of all that, shows that it is going to be a wide-open competition,” said Farrell as his side look towards their opener against Romania next Saturday.
“So one step at a time. Let’s see if we can build some momentum.”
Stopped reading after the first sentence
@my name: thanks for telling us
@Fab John: Thanks for saying, thanks for telling us.
Before this turns into the predictable and at this stage boring tirade of abuse aimed at LA, think about this. You have got your dream job, something you have worked incredibly hard for, say, eg, the top law firm in the country. You’re full of optimism and hope. You begin to notice work colleagues starting work when most people are in bed and leaving when it’s dark. They’re praised for their work by the boss, so gregarious and popular around colleagues, so confident at meetings and at parties with the opposite sex. They’re getting promotion after promotion. They’re successful. And you’re finding yourself stuck at the same desk. One night at a staff party, one of these successful colleagues tells you his secret, take this and you will have it all. That’s what happened to LA…a victim.
@Shane Kelly: oh please, let’s not call him a victim in this ffs. yes it was a culture within cycling, but nobody did it more brazen, more systematic and nobody bullied and abused his position within in his team and within the UCI than him.
@Shane Kelly: that gave me a laugh
@Shane Kelly: Ok, I accept yer points. Yes, to me his biggest crime was when he was outed, he continued to lie, lie and lie. It’s scandalous and unforgivable the way he treated the Andreus and Emily O Reilly. I accept that. Fine, hold him accountable for that. But do not take 7 TdF from him when every other rider in the tour, every winner, even your great Irish heroes were at it. That’s just childish when put into context with pro cycling in general. Childish.
@Shane Kelly: How are things going in the Monastery brother, continue to pray for the those who knew not what they did but please don’t put LA in that category.
@Gerry Ryan deG: Yes, LA goes in that category brother Gerry. LA wasn’t the monster he became when he began cycling. He was faced with a choice, dope or go back to Texas and to God knows what. You and I brother Gerry and any brother or sister out there would have done the same thing. Think of me in your prayers tonight brother.
@Shane Kelly: Ah stop with your anyone would have done the same thing??? or go back to texas??? Paul Kimmage didn’t and went back to Coolock.
@Shane Kelly: are you script writer for the new series of normal people? pure fantasy. the lad was the biggest bully in sport or in any industry, a repeated lier and cheat. Victim maybe if he made one mistake and made amends, what LA did was calculated and toxic throughout his long rain
@Ardmore02: Paul Kimmage has done the sport of cycling a huge service for obvious reasons. He was faced with the choice and made his decision. He will however, never know the elation of winning a stage of the tdf, winning a classic or even a grand tour. There’s a part of him I’m sure that thinks, ‘what if’. What if he’d done what every other rider was doing and continues to do? How far could he have gone? Green jersey? He’d be like Roche and Kelly, that’s what. Venerated!!! A hero!!! And no one would give two bloody hoots.
@Seagoat returns: Nah, I’m not into writing stuff like Lord of the rings or the harry potter. You need to read a few books related to LA and the American Post team. LA should be viewed in two different periods. LA, the hugely talented amateur in the USA and LA, the hugely successful pro cyclist in Europe. I’m not disagreeing with much of what you said, he became a bully and liar. That’s a fact. But why did he become a totally different person from the man who left Texas? He was backed into a corner, forced to dope or go home. A victim of the system. If you call that as good as writing about ‘my precious’, fair enough. But it’s the hard truth.
@Shane Kelly: go watch the clip on YouTube where he tries to publicly destroy Paul Kimmage for doing his job. Walsh and Kimmage as well as others were taken to court and came close to losing their jobs and careers. I’ve seen Armstrong described as a psychopaths I agree.
Armstrong is the picture perfect narcissist.
Even after admitting to cheating, he’s still in denial.
@Colm O’Sullivan: Most people are narcissists today, selfies?? Google LA and Oprah. I think it’s fairly clear he admitted everything way back then.
Armstrong would ride his granny if he thought it would give him an advantage.
@kieran lynch: Just LA? High achievers don’t reach the pinnacle of their profession by playing nice guys or gals. But I think they’d draw the line at their grandmother.
Cheats disrespect the very sport they participate in. Who even watches the cycling tours anymore. Not me anyway. As soon as I see cycling I automatically switch channel away from eurosport. Lance had a lot to do with this decision. Most rational people know its full of cheats and turn off. The same has happened in athletics. Very few watch any more with the same level of interest as most likely doping is going on. Most world records in Athletics should probably be removed from the record books post 1986. So cheats ruin it for everyone and I would have no respect for anyone that cheats and would avoid them at all costs. Cheating is one of the worst things about humanity but unfortunately its an epidemic in some sports.
@Imagine !: There is performance enhancing drugs used in every single sport and to deny that is irrational. So what are you going to do, go shopping in IKEA with the missus for the rest of your life? July won’t be the same without the TdF, the greatest spectator sport on Earth!! imho of course.
@Imagine !: not some sports! ALL SPORTS! Your seriously naive to think only a few sports have drug cheats! Its rampant worldwide in all sports! Don’t be using cycling as an example when every sports at it, and I’d be checking viewing figures about not many people watching it anymore, one of the most watched sports in the world now
@Shane Kelly: Totally agree with the tdf being the greatest spectator sport. amazing atmosphere when there are 1000′s of fans lining the roads millimetres from the riders.
Someone said decline in viewing numbers. Did you just pluck that one from the sky?. 3.5 billion ppeople tuned in to last year’s edition worldwide and 12 million lines the road.
Hardly a decrease in viewers now.
Anyone know where I could watch this?? Nwtdlix or Amazon?
@The Great Cornholio: Nwtdlix definitely won’t have it.