Andy Farrell appears to hail from the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' school of thought
Ireland coaches habitually don’t do shouting from the rooftops. The Grand Slam-winning Declan Kidney used to go about his business as quiet as a church mouse and while fellow Grand Slammer Joe Schmidt was prone to the odd showbiz appearance on Irish TV talk show The Late, Late Show, rugby insights were Kidney-like scarce due to the soft line of questioning.
New boss Andy Farrell appears to hail from the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ school of thought judging how he has set out his stall following his promotion from assistant coach.
In December only handpicked media organisations were invited to attend a cosy Ferrero-Rocher-on-the-table pre-Christmas gathering, and the air of aloofness continued on Wednesday with the manner of his first Six Nations squad announcement.
Whereas counterparts Gregor Townsend and Wayne Pivac whetted the appetite by fronting up respectively in Scotland and Wales and hosted media conferences to unveil their 38-man squads for the upcoming Guinness-sponsored tournament, Farrell’s selection of his 35 was contrastingly low key – a filtered four-minute 26-second video being released on his behalf by the IRFU.
His unchallenged message was that his squad is dynamic, powerful and aggressive with a lot of skill and speed, a nice soundbite if rah-rah soundbites are your thing twelve-and-a-half weeks on from the crucifixion that was Farrell’s defence getting filleted by the All Blacks at the World Cup.
(Continue reading below…)
New Ireland captain Johnny Sexton speaks about the 2020 Six Nations
A lot of road must be travelled before the new Ireland coach genuinely gets away from that lingering stink. That process starts with the need for him to bag back-to-back home wins next month versus Scotland and Wales, the rivals who were all answers and explanations on Wednesday when declaring their hands in Edinburgh and Cardiff.
With Farrell alternatively limiting queries about Ireland’s squad to in-house IRFU TV ahead of next week’s official tournament media melee in London, RugbyPass delves into some of the minutiae regarding the squad chosen.
Shaking up selection…
Thirty days is a long time in rugby. It was December 16 when Farrell announced a 45-strong post-World Cup stocktake, a mini pre-Christmas camp that took place in Dublin. Just over four weeks later, some of those initially picked learned the hard way how quickly you can fall off a list that is now down to 35.
Joey Carbery and Quinn Roux at least had the solace that injury shunted them out of the reckoning, but others such as Stuart McCloskey and Rhys Ruddock, a regular captain during the Schmidt era for matches versus the lesser nations, will be bruised at getting cut loose. You would have particularly felt McCloskey was someone who could really benefit from being under Farrell’s wing, given the coach used to play that midfield role himself as a Test player.
The season of goodwill didn't apply across the board in Ireland on Monday as new coach Andy Farrell only met with media handpicked by the IRFU rather than accommodating all media
https://t.co/T2p46YiKa1— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 24, 2019
Other frustrated souls will be Jean Kleyn, Schmidt’s controversial World Cup inclusion at the expense of the shabbily treated but now recalled Devin Toner, and Niall Scannell, the hooker who had been back-up to the now-retired Rory Best throughout 2019, featuring in nine of the 14 matches.
Caolin Blade, Jamison Gibson-Park, Mike Haley, Rory Scannell and Marty Moore are the others to disappear off the radar, but Farrell’s selection encouragingly acknowledged the recent form of two inclusions from outside the loop, Jack McGrath and Jack O’Donoghue.
Their elevation is promising in the sense that Ireland could do with a dose of fluidity to help keep players on the toes and have them aware they cannot take anything for granted. It is an attitude badly needed after the desultory stale way 2019 panned out.
Nurturing the next wave…
While it was all about favourites when it came to actual team selection, Schmidt made it a habit of allowing youngsters to be in and around the Ireland squad. Linking up the national under-20s squad was a preferred method, but Farrell has interestingly designated the selection of four additional picks as development players who will train with the seniors in the fortnight leading into the opening match versus Scotland on February 1.
The tactic ensures that young Will Connors, chosen in the December 45 but not in Wednesday’s 35, can continue his apprenticeship without feeling he has been dropped.
Ryan Baird, Robert Baloucoune and Harry Byrne, the younger brother of Ross, are the other three who should benefit from a whole heap of insight before switching back to their provinces for some February Guinness PRO14 action. With just four teams to pick from, development must be at the heart of the national team strategy, so empowering young guns with the knowledge they wouldn’t otherwise receive is positive.
The curveball in all this well-intentioned stuff, though, is the inclusion of 21-year-old Tom O’Toole in the main squad. He hasn’t started in all that many league games with Ulster and has yet to do so in Europe, yet he has jumped the queue ahead of provincial colleague Moore and Munster’s John Ryan, who was at the recent World Cup.
Although Drogheda-born, he appears to be a pet project of high-performance boss David Nucifora as he grew up in Brisbane and came to the IRFU’s attention after making the Queensland Reds development and Queensland schoolboys sides in 2015. How the novice settles in at Test level will be intriguing.
Overall, Farrell’s dalliance with youth most be genuine and not a superficial gimmick. He has to trust in fresh talent and not repeat the slapdash situation that was the inexperienced Jack Carty being handed a first competitive Test start at the recent World Cup after a four-year cycle to prepare.
Captain Sexton is a risk…
It was early October in Kobe when Johnny Sexton became the 106th player to captain Ireland. Farrell claims this was the week that convinced him the veteran out-half should be his chosen one to lead the team on a permanent basis in 2020.
If so, you’d have to hope that what Sexton did in the private in the Japanese coastal city is what has got him the responsibility as Ireland were desperately lethargic that Thursday evening under his baton under the enclosed stadium roof, leading by a meagre 21-0 before out-half gave way at the interval.
What will be a massive issue for Sexton to handle – aside from being far too injury prone and too old with the 2023 World Cup in mind – is his communication with the referees on Ireland’s dance card in the coming weeks, Mathieu Raynal (vs Scotland), Romain Poite (vs Wales), Jaco Peyper (vs England), Nic Berry (vs Italy) and Wayne Barnes (vs France).
Ireland’s No10 often been involved in testy exchanges with officials so how he copes now that he is the skipper will be closely scrutinised. Ex-captain Best had a certain charm in the way he went about talking to referees and it is something Sexton needs to take on board.
Of course, this risk could have been been negated altogether if Farrell went for broke and appointed the Paul O’Connell-like James Ryan as captain. Now that would been a bold long-term statement for the 2023 World Cup.
Portugal in the sun…
Farrell will be hoping preparing for a match in Portugal doesn’t become a bad omen. It was last August when Ireland jetted to London from an Iberian warm-weather camp to get badly exposed by England in a World Cup warm-up, the embarrassing defensive cave-in a premonition of what was to transpire some weeks later versus the All Blacks in Tokyo.
Ireland’s Six Nations plan is to have a week preparing in Quinta da Lago before heading back to Dublin a few days before their opener at home to Scotland. The new boss will have his fingers firmly crossed that this latest preparatory stint in the sun doesn’t lead to a repeat of the disaster that took place at Twickenham.
His selection will be critical… namely, who is best placed to take over from Best, what can be done to energise the tame back row, does Conor Murray deserve to hold on at No9 (a player on a central contract has no divine right to play when outperformed by a non central contract player) and what is the most potent midfield combination? They’re big questions needing big answers. Over to you, Andy.
The RugbyPass 23 to face Scotland
15. Jordan Larmour; 14 Andrew Conway, 13. Robbie Henshaw, 12. Bundee Aki, 11. Jacob Stockdale; 10. Johnny Sexton, 9. John Cooney; 1. Cian Healy, 2. Ronan Kelleher, 3, Tadhg Furlong, 4. Iain Henderson, 5. James Ryan, 6. Peter O’Mahony, 7. Josh van der Flier, 8. Max Deegan. Reps: 16. Rob Herring, 17. Dave Kilcoyne, 18. Andrew Porter, 19. Ultan Dillane, 20. CJ Stander, 21, Conor Murray, 22, Billy Burns. 23. Keith Earls.
WATCH: Andy Farrell talks Ireland selection and captaincy
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments