ANDY FARRELL HAS six more Tests with Ireland before he temporarily hands over the reins and departs for Lions duty.
The two-game series against the Springboks in July will be spicy, then Ireland have home clashes with New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji, and Australia in November. Farrell bows out after those autumn Tests and formally starts as Lions head coach.
That means the IRFU needs to appoint a stand-in Ireland boss while Farrell is away. The interim head coach will be in charge for the 2025 Six Nations and an as-yet-unconfirmed summer tour next year.
Current defence coach Simon Easterby is the favourite to step up in Farrell’s absence, all the more so given that he was head coach for Emerging Ireland in 2022 and will take up the same role for the Emerging tour to South Africa this October.
Easterby had two years in charge of the Scarlets before he joined Ireland in 2014, meaning he is the only one of Farrell’s current assistants who has been a head coach in club rugby.
As things stand, the IRFU has not made any announcement on the interim head coach role, with new performance director David Humphreys indicating it will be after the upcoming tour of South Africa.
“It’s a very exciting opportunity for someone to step in,” said Humphreys.
“You talk about coaching succession, this will give us a chance to bring someone else in at a very important time for the national team and test them in probably the highest pressure environment in the Six Nations. Andy’s away for six months but he’ll still be very much involved in that process of who’s going to come in.
“After South Africa, we’re planning to sit down and look at how we’re going to run the next season.”
If Easterby is the one to step up as head coach, Ireland may need to add an additional coach to the staff for the six-month period.
Paul O’Connell is the Ireland forwards coach, John Fogarty is their scrum specialist, and Andrew Goodman is coming in as backs coach this summer as Mike Catt departs following the tour of South Africa, which Goodman is expected to be part of too.
Head coach Farrell currently directs the Irish attack so when he leaves for Lions duty, Goodman could take on increased responsibility to run the overall team attack rather than just his backs role which focuses on set-piece plays and other specific backs work.
If Easterby is to be interim head coach, he could still run the defence but it might be that Ireland need another body on the coaching front. Humphreys said the IRFU could look to the provinces for temporary help in that regard.
“That will be part of the discussion, of course,” said Humphreys. “Once we know who’s coming in to fill Andy’s shoes on an interim basis, we’ll then look at the overall makeup of the coaching team. If that requires some other expertise, we’ll work at whether that comes from within or outside.
“That’s a decision for a few months’ time.”
