BACK BEFORE THE start of the 2020 Six Nations, Ireland established a new six-man leadership group as the Andy Farrell era kicked off.

Johnny Sexton was named as the new captain, while Peter O’Mahony, Iain Henderson, James Ryan, Garry Ringrose, and Tadhg Furlong completed the leadership group, which is still exactly the same today.

At the time, Farrell gave us a clear idea of how he wanted his Ireland environment to operate. The players were going to have more of a say than had been the case before under Joe Schmidt.

“I want it to be a little bit inclusive,” said Farrell. “It’s their team, they’ve got to make decisions on the pitch. They’ve got to make decisions on what they want to do off the pitch as well, to buy into things properly.

“We can try to build on things together and, obviously, if there’s a decision that needs to be made, I’m firmly in the seat to be able to do that.”

So while Farrell acknowledged that he was happy to make the big decisions, he wanted his players – represented by this leadership group – to have major input on the squad’s tactical approach and off-pitch culture and standards. 

The relentlessly communicative and driven Sexton was the new captain, taking over from Rory Best, but Farrell hoped to see people around him finding their voices. It remains a work in progress, but Sexton himself is encouraged by the development over the past 13 months.

“I think it’s going really well,” said Sexton yesterday. “The group by nature, the larger group, are a quiet group and even the leadership group are a quiet bunch.

“They lead by their actions more so than their words but I think they’ve really come out of their shell over the last year.

Sexton took over the Ireland captaincy last year. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO

“Obviously, Faz has been encouraging them and I suppose the under the last – I don’t want to call it a regime because it sounds strict but, you know, under Joe it was… Joe did have a leadership group but he didn’t encourage them as much as Faz does to really take ownership of it and drive things.

“It’s good both ways. Like, under Joe it was brilliant. You sit in, you get the plan, the way to go forward and you buy in and you do own it and you do take control of it but it’s just different.

“But it’s brilliant as well here, you’re trying to get guys to improve themselves as people, as leaders and we’re going in the right direction and the guys have been brilliant so far.”

Tighthead prop Furlong was the most interesting addition to Ireland’s new leadership group last year. The Wexford man himself was surprised to be included.

Furlong was absent from Ireland’s autumn schedule last year due to injury but Sexton is enthusiastic about the contributions the 28-year-old is making now that he’s back in action.

“He’s one of the guys that has massively stepped up, especially since he’s come back from his injury,” said Sexton. “We missed him. He was in the leadership group last year as well but we missed him in that regard. 

“Again, a quietly spoken guy but he’s really switched on, especially for a prop. He’s got an outstanding rugby brain.

“He’s got his finger on the pulse, he knows the mood of the group, he senses things really well. He knows when we’re a little bit off and since he’s come back – I don’t know what he did over the last 10 months – he’s really come out of his shell and taken a huge leadership role within the group. And going forward he’ll play a massive part in that as well.”

Leinster senior coach Stuart Lancaster has previously spoken about the quietness of many of the players in the province’s squad, detailing how he has helped to bring some of the more introverted personalities out of their shells. 

Stuart Lancaster has encouraged the likes of Garry Ringrose to speak more often. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO

Lancaster has facilitated psychometric testing in Leinster which has helped players to appreciate their personality traits and styles, as well as how different some of their team-mates are. Each personality is graded as a different colour.

Sexton, unsurprisingly, was “planted firmly in the red” – usually indicating someone who is assertive, decisive, driven, and an obvious leader – when he did the testing in Leinster, while he hints that Sean O’Brien, now with London Irish, was also red.

“The ones Stuart did, the traits come back in different colours. Some lads were yellow and blue – we had a lot of them – and one or two reds, one of which moved on to another club.

“So, you learn a lot about yourself doing them. I was reluctant to do it for a while, it didn’t sit well with me but I did it. You learn about yourself and you learn about the other guys and how they react.

“When I first came in [to Leinster], you had a load of senior players…. Leo [Cullen], Shane Jennings, Brian O’Driscoll, Shane Horgan – these types of characters who were, I suppose, very similar to me.

“You’d do something and act in a certain way and they’d react well to it, see positives in it.

“When you’re a senior player and guys come out of school, you just have to be different. They’re different people, they were brought up differently and it was a huge insight. I was delighted I did it.

“But it doesn’t make you perfect in any way in terms of dealing with people. You’re always learning.”