THE FAULTS IN Ireland’s system last season were obvious. Struggles at the set-piece, coming off second best in some of the physical exchanges, and an inability to break down some of the better organised defensive systems.
The problems highlighted above sound drastic but are fixable. As with any Six Nations, Ireland come into the tournament with a sense of optimism, the head coach describing the mood in camp as ‘buoyant.’ They have the players to remedy all those issues and most of Farrell’s key men are fit.
Looking at his matchday 23 for the trip to Wales tomorrow, there is a solid core of experience along with a splash of fresher blood and a potentially game-changing bench. The Ireland head coach is expecting a sterner challenge than some have predicted from Wayne Pivac’s side, but he knows this is a fixture Ireland should be winning.
“I suppose we could talk about how well we’ve trained, and every team does that, but it’s about performance now isn’t it?” said Farrell, speaking shortly after naming his team yesterday.
“Starting the competition off well is obviously key. Getting a victory in the Six Nations is key. This is a competition everyone wants to win at the start.
“The main thing for us is about the continuity of our performance, getting all of our bits right at set-piece, defence, attack, counter-attack, etc, and making sure that they all come together in the right format.
“Having a proper intent, showing our want to try and win this competition right from the get-go is key for us.”
Winning this Six Nations might be a step too far for now, but Ireland are certainly capable of playing better than they did at the tail-end of last year. Stringing together a run of more structured, cohesive performances would be enough to suggest this Ireland side is making some progress.
The team that lines out tomorrow is unlikely to remain in place come the visit of England on March 20. A lot of the old guard are still holding their ground, but Farrell also capped 11 new faces in 2020. He will give players opportunities and look to further develop his squad’s depth over the coming weeks.
“As this tournament goes along, we’ve all seen enough or been involved enough in these competitions to see that they all take their own way over the course of the next eight weeks,” he continued.
“Hopefully what we built in the autumn regarding the base of the squad and the players that have just sat on the outside as well – hopefully that will stand us in good stead.
“I’ve been very impressed with how we hit the ground running from day one when we came into camp. There’s a hunger there, there’s a togetherness there, there’s a unity within the squad that’s hungry to do well. The lads are really taking ownership of where they are as a group and yeah, there’s a lot of togetherness that will stay strong over the next 48 hours and hopefully that will stand us in good stead come kick-off time.”
The nature of some of those autumn defeats still stings. A demoralising loss to England, Ireland’s fourth in succession, suggested they are still some way off Eddie Jones’ team. A month previously, their inaccuracy and some sloppy errors cost them dearly against a brilliant France in Paris.
This time around Ireland need to be more assured, more clinical, and more ruthless.
“We talked about a different squad in the autumn and people being at different stages of their international career. Some young lads, going to Paris for the first time and experiencing what that looks like when there’s a title on the line – that’s a priceless experience for them.
“Regarding preparation and how they prepare for the week, how they deal with the pressure during the week and leading up to the game is one that we’ve talked about a lot.
“We always take some good learnings from any type of loss. It’s stuff that we talked about in the autumn and obviously when we first came back into camp, so we’ll see.”
His biggest call this week arguably came in the back row, where Josh van der Flier wins the race to line out alongside the familiar combination of Peter O’Mahony and CJ Stander in the absence of Caelan Doris. The Leinster flanker has previously been a mainstay of the team, starting all of the major games at the 2019 World Cup as well as all three Six Nations games before the pandemic paused last season’s championship.
Since then he’s been in and out of the team for both club and country, starting against Wales in the Autumn Nations Cup before coming off the bench in the win over Scotland. Doris’ rise, along with the form of O’Mahony and Stander, looked to have squeezed him out of the equation. His selection tomorrow is a sign of faith from his coach, with Will Connors starting on the bench and Rhys Ruddock, who has been playing some of the best rugby of his career recently, left at home.
“Josh will be himself,” Farrell said. “He’s shown some real good intent when he’s come on the field. I thought he was excellent coming on against Scotland in the last game and he had some real intent in his game.
“We’ve seen that time and time again from Josh. Just because he’s a quiet-enough character it doesn’t mean that he’s not got the intent or the physicality that everyone sees from somebody that’s flamboyant or boisterous on the field. He gets the job done really well and we’re super-excited to see Josh get his chance and show everyone what he’s about.
“Josh, in a lot of the big games that we’ve played in over the last five years, he’s been an integral part of that.”
Farrell kept it brief when asked to expand on some of the thinking behind that selection process. Van der Flier’s inclusion pushes O’Mahony, who has excelled at openside this season, back to blindside.
“Even as a 7, Peter plays the way that Peter plays and he’ll play exactly the same at 6,” Farrell responded.
How about the overall dynamic of the back row? Van der Flier has his own strengths but is not a player in the same mould of Doris, whose ball-carrying ability brought real dynamism at number eight in the autumn.
“Well, obviously CJ goes there (to number eight) and Pete and Josh are pretty handy at carrying the ball as well, so that’s how we see it.”
Farrell believes this team has the quality and depth to close the gap on England and France. An assured showing tomorrow will cement that idea in his head. A couple of big wins in this Six Nations would do nicely, but he wants more than that. The desire is for a team that not only wins, but wins in style.
“The Six Nations tends to be won by the team that wins the most, so yeah, winning first and foremost has got to be key. But obviously we take pride in our performance as well. That’s got to come hand in hand as well.”
Bernard Jackman, Mike Sherry and Murray Kinsella chat about gender reveal parties, Paul O’Connell’s qualities, and the 2021 Six Nations :
The42 Rugby Weekly / SoundCloud
His interviews wouldn’t leave you inspired or with confidence! We’ve no ball carrying ability at international level with that backrow and just 1 superb tackler. Definition of insanity is playing the same players and expecting a different result. We have younger and more dynamic backrows coming through but we go back to the POM, CJS combination again that has failed to compete with counterparts from England- surely time to look at it differently and accelerate the progression of some the younger guys
@BMJF: that english back row is very strong. In fairness to pom and cj theyve competed well against most br’s in world rugby. Josh is the problem at this level, hes a bit underpowered, doesn’t offer much at either the lineout, carrying or the breakdown. To put your argument in context, James Ryan has regularly been outclassed by itoje, I still wouldnt want to drop him though
@Tim Magner: read an interesting stat this morning that in the last 5 6 nation tournaments the Irish player with the most MOTM awards was CJ. The second on the list was POM.
@BMJF: any players outside of Munster players you feel should be dropped?
@Jim Demps: Be interesting to see how many of POMs have been in the last 2 years. I don’t think people question his contribution to Ireland over the years but he’s been anonymous is too many big games in more recent times.
@Tim Magner: In fairness Josh and CJ are high 90s for tackles made while POM is 85 percent. None of the 3 offer much go forward at this level. Stander carries the most but rarely makes ground. POM would be the weakest carrier and also loses possession more than the others.
In truth the 2 form backrowers are Ruddock and Coombes. Personally I’d start both and POM/Josh or Connors at 7.
At 9 this season Cooney has the most assists, clean breaks and McGrath has the most meters made and defenders beaten yet neither can make the squad. Sexton at 10 hasn’t looked great this year, Billy burns looks much more dangerous.
6 – 10 exact same as the world cup, didn’t work then don’t know why we think it’ll work now especially when we’ve players playing better. Same old story of picking on reputation
@Rocky Raccoon: two thirds of those for POM were in the last 2 tournaments
@Tim Magner: you think Josh Van Der Flier is the problem yet CJ and Pom get a free pass? Of course you do….. It’s interesting that the 7 always seems to be the scapegoat for the 6 and 8 not being physical enough and not big enough for this level. Pom is a lineout operator pure and simple. Offers no carrying threat, no dominant tackles. His weaknesses in open play are well known at this point. Is generally underpowered. I love CJ but the man can’t/won’t pass and doesn’t have the footwork to be a real threat if there are no other carriers in the pack with him. So it is very easy for any proper teams to play them. But let’s ignore the central contracted players being a huge issue and blame the Leinster 7.
@Jim Demps: would you also find it interesting that likely all of those awards came from Donal Lenihan or Alan Quinlan etc? Interesting
@Jim Demps: POM got none last tournament, Stander 2 and Connors 1. Year before POM got 2, the Scotland one was a joke, he was poor, 3 tackles and 3 carries for 2 meters. Heaslip was asked for motm and panicked because he’d given it no thought and gave it to POM for “his leadership”. Ryan was the best player
@Umpaloompa: this is comical Ali stuff. He got a motm because a guy who’s played at the highest level panicked when asked a question he he he he. This is one of the funniest comments I’ve seen on here
@Timmy O’Toole: Did you watch the game? POM was pretty poor. Heaslip was a quality player but he was poor at coms and was definitely unprepared for the question…
@Umpaloompa: you’re a gas man
@Umpaloompa: I like ruddock, hes a hard grafter and he is playing well. Yet for the whole of his career hes struggled to keep a first team spot at leinster. Even now in say a hcup final, would he start? Maybe he would
@Carmine Lorenzo: the “likely” in that comment kind of throws the rest of it in the bin. Go back and have a look who handed them out and don’t be lazy with the opinions.
@Tim Magner: I think they would start him, I think if they could rewind the clock they’d have started him v sarries. He’s the best 6 in the country this year with Coombes very close behind yet neither are in the squad.
@Carmine Lorenzo: thats a pretty lazy analysis of pom. I think his carrying is ok, especially in the wider channels, hes a threat at the breakdown and is an excellent ruck clearer. As for cj, theres this myth amongst ye that hes a poor carrier, theres a reason he gets so much attention from defending teams when he gets the ball. If leavy was fully fit then josh doesn’t play for leinster or ireland, its pretty simple. If doris is fully fit then pom or cj would also lose out aswell if leavy is there.
@Tim Magner: CJs not a poor carrier but with POM and VDF he’s the only carrying threat and teams know he’ll run straight into the first defender(He’s excellent at this). Dorris is a huge loss so it makes less sense that they wouldn’t bring in a second carrier in Ruddock or Coombes or even Conan who is similar to Dorris that he has good footwork.
I think Farrell is a bit out of his depth and when pressure is on reverts to type
@Umpaloompa: I definately don’t like the balance of the br. The original poster though gave mitigating factors for josh in that in his opinion hes a superb tackler. I do think at international level though, of the 3, hes not the one id pick. Just my opinion, I dont mind if ye disagree, thats what the comment section is for
@Tim Magner: Ah I don’t disagree man, I think the 3 of them are excellent players, but Josh and POM haven’t worked together too many times and CJs doesn’t get to shine. We should leave out Josh or POM and bring in one of the others. I said earlier but 6 Ruddock 7 Leavy 8 Coombes is currently a stronger back row
@Umpaloompa: yea, its a disaster doris got knocked out, literally even. Id be much more confident if he was starting
@Jim Demps: given by the likes of lennihan and toland. Lennihan gave POM man of the match in the Scotland v England game today
@Carmine Lorenzo: quite simply if JVDF was playing 7 v england last year after farrell missed that tackle, josh would not have let them out of their 22.
Lenihan gives a munster player man of the match every game simply because he doesn’t know the names of any other players.
@Tim Magner: Ok so POM is an “ok” carrier, a threat at the breakdown and clears rucks well. The real bare minimum, probably not even, for a back row no? His carrying in the wide channels where he falls into the first tackle or gets bundled into touch would say that he’s a poor carrier. Those carries are non-existent infield. He’s also very little threat at the breakdown. Re CJ, I thing he’s great don’t get me wrong. But are you not admitting then that with this “extra attention” opposition give him that his effectiveness is greatly reduced? He runs into brick walls and can’t add more subtlety to his game. He is effectively marked out of it. So with these clear flaws and drawbacks with the 6 and the 8, it’s only Van Der Flier who is the problem? Why are pom and CJ immune?
@Carmine Lorenzo: so whos better? What irish back rows have done better than pom and cj over the last few years? Leavy was excellent in the back row with both of them, in the win over the all blacks in Dublin he was probably the least effective though. Is it conan? Hes played a good few times and always looked the least of the 3 of them. Doris? Looks a fine player alright. I dont think anyone outside of leinster would put josh anywhere near the calibre of pom and cj. So we’re down to ruddock who in fairness has looked a bit of a flat track bully, none of his coaches seem to trust him in the biggest games. Out of all the names listed there, theres 2 lions
Wish AF and team nothing but the best. Just not convinced he will get us back to the heights of Schmidt era. (Not withstanding different squad) sure hope I’m wrong though.
@Lads you cant do that: Yes they can!
So excited!!!
AF does not inspire confidence.
@Derek Mccarthy: ….mebbe, but this is his squad and his definitive test and AF is canny enough to know that. Almost every one of his squad can say they are playing for at least a look at the Lions squad so I’m waiting till 6N is over to judge.
It would be so nice to see our 12 asked to do more in attack. First scrum in the Wales 22, Sexton will feed Henshaw to drive up the middle. He has good hands and he can step away from defenders. He needs to be better used
@Ricky Wright: The lines Henshaw ran against munster were brilliant. I hope its not going to revert back to our 12 and 13 running straight into 2 or 3 defenders everytime they get the ball.
Rated highly by those in the game and is well liked by the players, the only bump in the road are the fans.
As several have said, the jury is still out on AF. He doesn’t inspire confidence. He was long enough under JS to have learned his craft but I don’t see him springboarding from there. I hope I’m wrong but he may be a more effective #2 than top dog. Is he the Brian Cowen of Rugby?
@lambda sensor: Can he sing? Lakes of Pontchartrain, for example?
It was on one bright March morning
I bid New Orleans adieu.
And I took the road to Jackson town,
My fortune to renew,
I cursed all foreign money,
No credit could I gain,
Which filled my heart with longing for
The lakes of Pontchartrain
Really like jvdf . An absolute tackle machine the only negative I would say is that he gotten bullied by the English back row on the last few outings but that’s probably a collective rather than just him . But for giving it all on the pitch he doesn’t stop until the tank is empty .