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'He's regarded very highly but we also have a huge respect for the IRFU'
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell is “regarded very highly” by the Rugby Football Union as plans to identify Eddie Jones’ successor as England boss continue.
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Jones eased mounting pressure on his position by masterminding this month’s 2-1 tour win in Australia but is due to step down when his contract ends following next year’s World Cup.
Farrell, whose own deal expires at the end of the 2023 tournament in France, has rapidly enhanced his reputation after guiding the in-form Irish to a historic series victory in New Zealand on the back of a Six Nations Triple Crown.
RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney previously stated an English candidate would be the overwhelming preference to replace Australian Jones.
He has put together a Twickenham “war room” to aid recruitment and, asked specifically about the suitability of Wigan-born Farrell, replied: “He’s doing well, isn’t he?
“A couple of years ago, he wasn’t doing so well and there was a lot of pressure around him at the time.
“I think it was only two years ago where there were calls to get rid of Andy Farrell, Mike Catt (his assistant), that whole group.
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“But they’ve come through that and they’re doing very well.
“He’s regarded very highly but we also have a huge respect for the Irish Rugby Football Union. He’s under contract through to ’23 and then whatever happens after ’23, happens after ’23.”
Farrell served as England defence coach from 2011 to 2015 before being sacked shortly after Jones was appointed following a dismal home World Cup under the tenure of Stuart Lancaster.
The former dual-code international, 47, has rebuilt his coaching career across the Irish Sea and joins Leicester’s Steve Borthwick, Exeter’s Rob Baxter and England forwards coach Richard Cockerill on a list of potential homegrown contenders.
Sweeney acknowledges there there is an abundance of English talent to consider as the RFU also weigh up backroom staff possibilities.
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“Clearly we’ve developed options,” he said. “We’re fortunate at the moment that we’ve got a really good group of terrific English coaches coming through.
“The question is, ‘are they ready to succeed in 2023?’. And, if they are, what sort of structure do we put around them?
“Previously, the conversation has been around just the head coach, but each head coach is slightly different.
“You’ll have some head coaches who are very, very strong on the pure coaching aspect. You have others who are a bit more like a director of rugby in terms of management or leadership, so therefore it’s equally important not just the head coach but the entire coaching set-up we put around that.
“And we want to be more directive from an RFU perspective in terms of how that goes. We’re comfortable we’ve got a very good coaching succession plan in place.”
Sweeney also spoke of the need to provide prospective England coaching staff with Test-level experience and suggested forging links with an emerging nation such as Georgia could be beneficial.
He said: “We may have a really high potential English coach but how do we actually – in the same way that many companies do – take somebody and fast track them?
“Do you try and place an English coach as being head coach of Georgia for a while?
“Longer term, we need to make sure that we are developing all of those coaches up to be the best coaches they can be in a high-pressure, international environment.”
Asked if there had been discussions with Georgia, Sweeney replied: “We haven’t, but all the emerging nations will say, ‘how do we work closer together?’
“It’s an opportunity, an avenue that we haven’t used in the past. Andy Robinson is in Romania now, but that was under his own steam. I don’t see why we can’t build that into our overall coach development programme.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Dagg is still trying to get enough headlines to make himself relevant enough to get a job. The Crusaders went back to square one at all levels. Shelve this season and nail the next one.
4 Go to commentsHe was in such great form. Sad for him but only a short term injury and it will be great to see him back for the finals.
1 Go to commentsAfter their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
3 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
36 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to comments