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.”
Mr Farrell is a smart cookie,here’s hoping his tests will pay off over the tournament.he can’t do much better than what he has done to prepare for this World Cup
@Jb Walshe: I would respectfully disagree. We are still heavily reliant on an injury prone 38 year old out half. Farrell hasn’t tried many alternatives in the biggest matches over the last few years, let’s hope it all turns out ok but if Sexton goes down with another concussion or knock….
@Aidan Farrell: our reliance on Sexton is arguably not as great as it was and I don’t think we could have done much more to mitigate it. All teams are reliant on one or two key players. Byrne is more than capable of stepping in and is arguably limited more by his ceiling than his lack of game time. Crowley is the next great thing and has been brought along in the background and carefully developed Andy Farrell style. It’s not obvious to me that he would have been benefitting more from being thrown in at the deep end. Plenty of minutes were lost when Carberry was dropped but that’s life. You have to make difficult decisions as a coach
@Aidan Farrell: He has picked at different times: Joey Carberry, Billy Burns, Ross Byrne, Harry Byrne, Ciaran Frawley, Jack Crowley; off the top of my head.
Billy Burns missed a kick to touch against Wales to lose the match, and Farrell backed him and picked him for the next game. “back up” fly halves have started against France, Australia etc.
That none of them have usurped Sexton is not down to Farrell not picking or backing them. It is as much about those players not showing the required quality as well as the continued excellence of Jonny Sexton.
As Petter has said, the gameplan has developed and is no longer so reliant on Sexton, there are distributors and decision makers throughout the team, and we often see players like Hansen, Ringrose or even Beirne putting others through gaps.
@Aidan Farrell: So, who is you think should have been tried in these games? And when?
@Aidan Farrell: Over 4 years Farrell has used 8 players at 10: Johnny Sexton, Billy Burns; Joey Carberry; Harry Byrne; Ciaran Frawley; Jake Flannery (Emerging Ireland Squad); Jack Crowley; Ross Byrne. I haven’t checked, but I am pretty confident no Irish coach in history has created so many opportunities for 10s but none have the ability to perform like Johnny. It is just a crazy situation that, at 38, Johnny is still better than any 10 we have ever had before and therefore, relatively speaking, it seems like we are over reliant. 2 or 3 of the other boys would walk into an English / Welsh / Australian team. Would probably make the bench for SA. Over the next 4 years all may be overtaken by Sam Prendergast and we could end up complaining that we are over reliant on him too!!
@Paul Ennis: A bit of quick research – JS used 7 players at 10 over 6 years, DK 7 over 5 years, EOS 5 over 7 years?? AF has already matched the last 2 coaches in terms of players capped at 10 and also had the foresight to send an Emerging Ireland team to SA to give Jake Flannery a chance too.
@Paul Ennis: am currently hopeful for a Crowley v Sam P contest in the next cycle
@Kevin Ryan: Would be very exciting. Regardless of how this world cup goes, Ireland look in good shape for 4 years time. 18 of the current squad are under the age of 31 which means most of them should be available for 2027. A sprinkling from the U20s, a handful of the boys who didn’t make the cut and we could have even better opportunities to come.
You can only pick the players you have , sexton if fit is our best choice at game management if fit he plays against Romania. Ireland will need luck and no injuries to get to quarter finals after that it’s in the lap of the gods. Come on Ireland