THE FORTUNES OF Ireland’s soccer team and their rugby counterparts have rarely felt as far apart as they do this week.

While Andy Farrell’s men prepare for a Rugby World Cup quarter-final on Saturday, the evening before — in the place that both teams call home — Stephen Kenny’s side take on Greece in a face-saving mission, their Euro 2024 qualification campaign already holed below the waterline.

Having spent time around the rugby set-up, first during Joe Schmidt’s reign and then again under Farrell during the Six Nations this spring, there won’t be any jealousy when Keith Andrews joins millions of others around the world in front of a television on Saturday night. 

“I don’t think it’s envy,” the Ireland assistant manager explained on Tuesday. “I think it’s just admiration for what they are doing, how they do it, the spirit they have.

“I have been in with them to spend some time with them behind the scenes and [see] what they do and take little snippets from them. They are very transparent in what they do, their preparations. They’ve got phenomenal people involved, so when it comes to rugby, I’m just a fan.”

In his few days with the rugby camp, Andrews had access to team meetings where he picked up insights into the high-performance culture that underpins the current success, and has also visited “many others” as he looks to challenge and improve himself as a coach.

“For international football, I’m at one end of my journey. I’m not at 60-something where I’m coming towards the end of my coaching life I suppose.

“I think international football is what you make of it as a coach, a management team, and you are constantly trying to develop in between camps, whether that’s club visits, going to study different systems; watching our players is obviously a big part of that.

“But going to different environments and cherry-picking little nuggets where you think they can transfer into your environment and your dressing room is important.”

And what did he make of Farrell himself?

“I think he’s brilliant. He’s outstanding as a man, the way he carries himself, and the staff he has around him: all the different coaching departments, sports science, everybody. [They were] very inclusive in terms of how they invited me into their environment. I was very, very impressed and very appreciative of them.”

As Ireland’s qualification campaign in the Group of Death limps to a close with automatic qualification out of reach and a back-door playoff place looking increasingly unlikely, Andrews accepted on Tuesday that “you can’t bury your head in the sand”.

The FAI have already signalled that they will review Kenny and his staff’s positions at the end of November, and Andrews knows that the only meaningful arguments they can make between now and then will come in the form of results.

“We just have to keep doing what we believe in and what we believe in is the quality of our players, that they can succeed and play in a certain way that we have implemented over a period of time. Obviously with that, results have to come.

“The performance levels against some top-tier nations were very good. The results obviously didn’t follow which are difficult to achieve.”

After opening the campaign with a narrow defeat at home to France, it was with the 2-1 defeat in Athens in June that the wheels really started to come off.

“The Greece game for us was disappointing,” Andrews said. “I certainly don’t shy away from that. I take responsibility for that — we do, as a staff.”

He added: “In terms of what I think tactically now even a few months on, I still think we should have done things a lot better than we did.

“I thought Greece played very well on the night. I do think the reaction was blown out of all proportion in terms of some comment around the scoreline and the level of the defeat.

“I’m not happy with the performance but I certainly don’t go along with the reaction of we should be beating Greece, in Greece. I certainly don’t go along with that.

“The disappointment wasn’t just outside of camp; it was inside of camp. That was earmarked as a massive game for us, there is absolutely no denying that.

“But I don’t think there is a divine right where you go to Athens and win. You have to go to Athens and perform very, very well.”

While Ireland “can’t rewind the clock” to undo the damage of June, they are determined to prove on Friday that they are capable of so much more than they showed against Gus Poyet’s men the first time around.

“Our performance against the Dutch – the first half in particular – against France, you can stand by those peformances and a lot of performances.

“But against Greece, we are capable of playing a lot better, there is absolutely no doubt of that so I would agree with that.

“That’s the challenge, to consistently get better, to consistently produce the performance, because over a period of time, the performances bring results and that belief aspect of us taking the next step.

“We have to do that.”

– Reporting by David Sneyd