SPEAKING AFTER IRELAND’S defeat of Japan last Saturday, Andy Farrell admitted that the demands of international camp had come as a “bit of a shock” to some of the new faces in the group.
It’s easy to see how that might happen. A tight international window, with new teammates to meet, new coaches to impress and streams of new information to digest must be a lot to take in.
For the coaching team, part of the job involves providing the high levels of detail and preparation required for Test rugby, while also striking the right balance so as not to overwhelm any newcomers.
“It’s very hard to do,” explains Ireland attack coach, Mike Catt, “especially with some guys who play completely differently or have a completely different mindset or philosophy from their clubs.
“But they’re not here because they can’t learn and they’re not here because they don’t study or anything like that.
“It’s making sure we give them every opportunity to go out and express themselves.
“I’m sure Andy said (last week), if we feel somebody hasn’t grasped what we want or how we want the game to be played, then we won’t put them in that situation to expose them.
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“It’s making sure we do our jobs properly and if we can do that, make the players feel at ease, make sure they understand, then ultimately they control their emotions on a Saturday, they’ll be able to perform in this team.”
In many cases on the training pitch or in the video rooms around the IRFU’s high performance centre, less is more.
Andy Farrell and Mike Catt during an Ireland training session on Tuesday. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
“It’s simplifying everything. We don’t have a load of time to put everything into them, so it’s really simplifying it and as a group of coaches, I think we understand our key principles in different aspects of the game that we want to install.
“And if we can do that, whoever comes in the squad, we’d like to think, is able to perform to a proper level.”
With the USA due in Dublin this Saturday, Farrell is expected to go with a more experimental lineup than the one that took the field against Japan, where an Ireland attack which has come in for criticism over the past year had some bright moments, swooping for five tries which helped smooth over some issues around the set piece and defence.
And despite playing in only their second Test match since 2019, Japan thrilled with some of their own attacking play, bringing the creativity and flair which made them such an exciting watch at the last World Cup.
“You can learn from any team who play a game like that,” Catt says.
“They are a top quality side. I think Andy said that for the past two weeks. We all know and everybody in world rugby knows they are a top quality, attacking side. Again, they showed it on the weekend, they are very hard to stop when they get going.
Their broken field stuff is pretty impressive and they have some big guys there that can create defences some massive problems. I love the way they’re coached, I love the way they’re nice and flat and they’re composed in their attack. It’s something we obviously take away from them is that composure and their skill set, for them to move the ball.”
From an Ireland perspective, one of the biggest positives from the day was the return of Joey Carbery, who played his first minutes in green since that 2019 World Cup.
“It is the first time I have worked with Joey,” Catt continued.
“It’s just the start of his recovery really in terms of where he’s at. We know what he is capable of doing, it’s just how quickly we can get him up to that speed for him to really go and impress.
“He likes attacking the line and again he has a good skill set, he’s very calm, he’s very calm in his demeanour.
“There are obviously things he needs to work on, but for the squad the way we want to play, he’s a guy who can build himself into a game and (is) going to attack the line as well as our 9s by playing quickly.
“Again, it’ll take a bit of time – we don’t have a load of time – but we do expect him to pick it up very, very quickly.”
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'You can learn from any team who play a game like that' – Catt impressed by skillful Japan attack
SPEAKING AFTER IRELAND’S defeat of Japan last Saturday, Andy Farrell admitted that the demands of international camp had come as a “bit of a shock” to some of the new faces in the group.
It’s easy to see how that might happen. A tight international window, with new teammates to meet, new coaches to impress and streams of new information to digest must be a lot to take in.
For the coaching team, part of the job involves providing the high levels of detail and preparation required for Test rugby, while also striking the right balance so as not to overwhelm any newcomers.
“It’s very hard to do,” explains Ireland attack coach, Mike Catt, “especially with some guys who play completely differently or have a completely different mindset or philosophy from their clubs.
“But they’re not here because they can’t learn and they’re not here because they don’t study or anything like that.
“It’s making sure we give them every opportunity to go out and express themselves.
“I’m sure Andy said (last week), if we feel somebody hasn’t grasped what we want or how we want the game to be played, then we won’t put them in that situation to expose them.
“It’s making sure we do our jobs properly and if we can do that, make the players feel at ease, make sure they understand, then ultimately they control their emotions on a Saturday, they’ll be able to perform in this team.”
In many cases on the training pitch or in the video rooms around the IRFU’s high performance centre, less is more.
“It’s simplifying everything. We don’t have a load of time to put everything into them, so it’s really simplifying it and as a group of coaches, I think we understand our key principles in different aspects of the game that we want to install.
“And if we can do that, whoever comes in the squad, we’d like to think, is able to perform to a proper level.”
With the USA due in Dublin this Saturday, Farrell is expected to go with a more experimental lineup than the one that took the field against Japan, where an Ireland attack which has come in for criticism over the past year had some bright moments, swooping for five tries which helped smooth over some issues around the set piece and defence.
And despite playing in only their second Test match since 2019, Japan thrilled with some of their own attacking play, bringing the creativity and flair which made them such an exciting watch at the last World Cup.
“You can learn from any team who play a game like that,” Catt says.
“They are a top quality side. I think Andy said that for the past two weeks. We all know and everybody in world rugby knows they are a top quality, attacking side. Again, they showed it on the weekend, they are very hard to stop when they get going.
From an Ireland perspective, one of the biggest positives from the day was the return of Joey Carbery, who played his first minutes in green since that 2019 World Cup.
“It is the first time I have worked with Joey,” Catt continued.
“It’s just the start of his recovery really in terms of where he’s at. We know what he is capable of doing, it’s just how quickly we can get him up to that speed for him to really go and impress.
“He likes attacking the line and again he has a good skill set, he’s very calm, he’s very calm in his demeanour.
“There are obviously things he needs to work on, but for the squad the way we want to play, he’s a guy who can build himself into a game and (is) going to attack the line as well as our 9s by playing quickly.
“Again, it’ll take a bit of time – we don’t have a load of time – but we do expect him to pick it up very, very quickly.”
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Ireland Joey Carbery learning japanese mike catt Japan