IRELAND HEAD COACH Andy Farrell says he is ready to back those players in his squad who are carrying knocks into the November international window to hit the ground running against the Springboks next week.
Farrell has a number of injury concerns across his 37-man squad, with key players light on minutes ahead of the Aviva Stadium date with the reigning world champions on 5 November.
Tighthead prop Tadhg Furlong (ankle) has featured just once across the opening six rounds of the URC, playing 40 minutes, while his Leinster teammates Hugo Keenan (abdomen) and Jamison Gibson-Park (hamstring) have yet to feature for the province this season.
All three are expected to train at the IRFU’s high performance centre this week and if they can prove their fitness, Farrell says he will back them to perform against the Springboks.
“Some players don’t need that much game time, some players are able to just hit it straight from the word go, some players need five or six games to hit the ground running,” said Farrell, speaking to the media at Abbotstown today.
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“It’s up to us to assess that. We’re not a massive playing group as well, so needs must at times.”
“No, I don’t think anyone’s in that type of bracket but having said that, where we’re at in terms of rehabilitation is concerned, some people are just getting back running now so as you go through different stages people could break down and there’s one or two, two or three in that type of bracket that we don’t know about. But certainly nobody’s ruled out at this stage.”
The Ireland boss also provided further clarity around the general health of his squad, with Tadhg Beirne (adductor), Jacob Stockdale (ankle), Calvin Nash (dead leg) and Peter O’Mahony (neck) among some of the other players set to be reintegrated to training this week.
There’s a lot going on but in general the feeling is amongst the medical staff that people are progressing really well. Most people should be back sometime this week, if not the end of the week and then there’s a couple that we’ll keep assessing throughout.
“So decent enough news actually, coming in last night and medical checks this morning. Not a bad place to be.”
Pressed on individual players, Farrell provided further detail.
On Keenan: “Hugo, I’m told will be available, he’s going to be training with us this week.
“We’re gradually building the week anyway, as we go, so Thursday, Friday is going to be a big couple of days for a few of the players. But, answering your question, we’ll just wait and see. There’s some people that can handle those type of situations better than others.”
Hugo Keenan has yet to feature for Leinster this season.
On Beirne and O’Mahony: “Yeah, confident but there’s certain stages that they’ll have to get through but they’ve pulled up in not too bad shape and they’ll go through a process and we’ll see how they are at the beginning of next week.”
Farrell was also upbeat on Joey Carbery, who is set to train fully after recovering from a shoulder injury sustained during Munster’s defeat to Leinster on Saturday.
Ireland open their November Test calendar with a massive Dublin date against the Springboks, the first meeting of the two teams since 2017.
“They’ve got a unique way of playing and they’re all on the same page, that’s their strength isn’t it?” Farrell continued.
“They know their point of difference and go after it hard and have been very successful in doing that.
“Being aware of what South Africa are about is absolutely key, because we need to know what they’re trying to achieve. How we progress our own game is just as, if not more, important.
If you want to compare it to what we’ve faced over the short period of time, the French away game, a big set who go after you in defence and setpieces are a main part of their game. They play a good territory-type, strangling game. That didn’t work out too well for us in the end (v France), so we have to show progression from that.”
Ireland follow up the Springboks fixture with games against Fiji and Australia, with an Ireland A team also taking on a New Zealand XV at the RDS on 4 November.
And following an historic summer tour in New Zealand which saw Ireland climb to top of the world rankings, Farrell wants to further development from his team over the coming weeks.
“Like always, improvement (is the ambition). There’s so much improvement that we want to prove to ourselves first and foremost that we can do so it’s great back in after watching the URC for a few weeks now.
“It’s great to be back in and have this week to get back and running and prepare properly, dust ourselves down and understand where we’re trying to go with our game and where we’re trying push on because we’ve prided ourselves on trying to get back up to speed as soon as we possibly can.
“That as we all know is the art of international rugby because nobody really cares whether you’ve got five days or six months of preparation, so to get back up to speed for that first game and be at our best is where we want to be and I think we all know it’s where we have to be coming up a good team like South Africa.”
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'Nobody’s ruled out' - Farrell will back key players against Springboks despite injury concerns
IRELAND HEAD COACH Andy Farrell says he is ready to back those players in his squad who are carrying knocks into the November international window to hit the ground running against the Springboks next week.
Farrell has a number of injury concerns across his 37-man squad, with key players light on minutes ahead of the Aviva Stadium date with the reigning world champions on 5 November.
Tighthead prop Tadhg Furlong (ankle) has featured just once across the opening six rounds of the URC, playing 40 minutes, while his Leinster teammates Hugo Keenan (abdomen) and Jamison Gibson-Park (hamstring) have yet to feature for the province this season.
All three are expected to train at the IRFU’s high performance centre this week and if they can prove their fitness, Farrell says he will back them to perform against the Springboks.
“Some players don’t need that much game time, some players are able to just hit it straight from the word go, some players need five or six games to hit the ground running,” said Farrell, speaking to the media at Abbotstown today.
“It’s up to us to assess that. We’re not a massive playing group as well, so needs must at times.”
After the IRFU issued a positive injury update this morning, Farrell added that nobody is ruled out of selection yet.
“No, I don’t think anyone’s in that type of bracket but having said that, where we’re at in terms of rehabilitation is concerned, some people are just getting back running now so as you go through different stages people could break down and there’s one or two, two or three in that type of bracket that we don’t know about. But certainly nobody’s ruled out at this stage.”
The Ireland boss also provided further clarity around the general health of his squad, with Tadhg Beirne (adductor), Jacob Stockdale (ankle), Calvin Nash (dead leg) and Peter O’Mahony (neck) among some of the other players set to be reintegrated to training this week.
“So decent enough news actually, coming in last night and medical checks this morning. Not a bad place to be.”
Pressed on individual players, Farrell provided further detail.
On Keenan: “Hugo, I’m told will be available, he’s going to be training with us this week.
“We’re gradually building the week anyway, as we go, so Thursday, Friday is going to be a big couple of days for a few of the players. But, answering your question, we’ll just wait and see. There’s some people that can handle those type of situations better than others.”
On Beirne and O’Mahony: “Yeah, confident but there’s certain stages that they’ll have to get through but they’ve pulled up in not too bad shape and they’ll go through a process and we’ll see how they are at the beginning of next week.”
Farrell was also upbeat on Joey Carbery, who is set to train fully after recovering from a shoulder injury sustained during Munster’s defeat to Leinster on Saturday.
Ireland open their November Test calendar with a massive Dublin date against the Springboks, the first meeting of the two teams since 2017.
“They’ve got a unique way of playing and they’re all on the same page, that’s their strength isn’t it?” Farrell continued.
“They know their point of difference and go after it hard and have been very successful in doing that.
“Being aware of what South Africa are about is absolutely key, because we need to know what they’re trying to achieve. How we progress our own game is just as, if not more, important.
Ireland follow up the Springboks fixture with games against Fiji and Australia, with an Ireland A team also taking on a New Zealand XV at the RDS on 4 November.
And following an historic summer tour in New Zealand which saw Ireland climb to top of the world rankings, Farrell wants to further development from his team over the coming weeks.
“Like always, improvement (is the ambition). There’s so much improvement that we want to prove to ourselves first and foremost that we can do so it’s great back in after watching the URC for a few weeks now.
“It’s great to be back in and have this week to get back and running and prepare properly, dust ourselves down and understand where we’re trying to go with our game and where we’re trying push on because we’ve prided ourselves on trying to get back up to speed as soon as we possibly can.
“That as we all know is the art of international rugby because nobody really cares whether you’ve got five days or six months of preparation, so to get back up to speed for that first game and be at our best is where we want to be and I think we all know it’s where we have to be coming up a good team like South Africa.”
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