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How Farrell spelling comp intervention showed Ireland he was boss
It was always going to be tricky for Andy Farrell to switch from being Joe Schmidt’s four-year Ireland lieutenant into a capably respected Test rugby boss in his own right. The Englishman is now coming to the end of his second calendar year in charge and a vignette about how he set the tone for his tenure at the very start in 2020 has now emerged via Keith Earls. Ahead of the Autumn Nations Series, which continues next weekend for Ireland with the visit to Dublin of the All Blacks, the 34-year-old Earls last month published his autobiography – Fight Or Flight, My Life, My Choices.
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In the book on the 94-cap winger who also toured South Africa with the 2009 Lions, Earls revealed how he was diagnosed as bipolar in 2013, how he told Munster coach Johann van Graan he was retiring with immediate effect in September 2020, and how from about 2017 until the end of 2020 that his lung capacity was only functioning at about 50 per cent due to his liver being affected by loosened ligaments which caused a breathing dysfunction.
Earls also touched on the early days of the Farrell era as Ireland boss, the ex-England and Irish defence coach taking the reins from Schmidt following the 2019 World Cup quarter-final hammering by New Zealand. Despite having known players ever since becoming defence coach for the 2016 summer series in South Africa, Farrell decided to set out his stall by hosting one-to-one with all the players he had taken with him to Portugal for a pre-2020 Six Nations preparation camp.
Farrell struck a chord with Earls and how it wasn’t a chat for chat’s sake was reinforced some weeks later when the seasoned winger got caught up in an uncomfortable moment at an Ireland squad-bonding spelling competition. Here is how Earls outlined the revealing story in his book: “Nearly 14 years after my Leaving Cert, at a training camp in Portugal in January 2020, Andy Farrell arranged one-on-one meetings with the members of the squad.
“He was new in the job as Ireland head coach and he was establishing relationships, getting to know us and us getting to know him. In my session, we got around to talking about life after rugby. Did I have any plans for afterwards? I told him I didn’t know what I was going to do. In passing I said that I was brutal at school, I could barely read or spell, so I wouldn’t be going into some sort of white-collar, professional job. I had no qualifications like that.
One particular aspect of being an international player used to deeply frustrate Ireland's Keith Earls off the pitch…#AutumnNationsSeries #Ireland #IREvJAPhttps://t.co/cNL7luCguK
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 2, 2021
“He showed a lot of empathy, the way he replied. Faz is a working-class fella too. He didn’t have the silver spoon growing up either. He said he knew lots of people who struggled with their reading and writing, it was more common than you’d think. He said I should just practise it more, even when sending text messages and emails, use the predictive text, and the more you do it the better you’ll get at it. A couple of weeks later, we’re on a weekend camp between Six Nations games and the staff have arranged one of their evening get-togethers for a bit of craic and relaxation. We’re in a conference room in the hotel and Simon Easterby has put together a spelling competition, big complicated words that the contestants have to try and get right.
“It’s a forwards versus backs job, three forwards, three backs. And as he’s picking them I am going to myself, whatever the f*** you do, don’t pick me. Sure enough, he picks me. You’re not supposed to have a choice when there is messing like this going on. You’re supposed to get up and face whatever prank is happening. But I refuse. The lads are all joking and egging me on but I say no, I’m not going up there. Thankfully Faz steps in.
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“He remembered our chat from a few weeks earlier. So he just declares, ‘Earlsy doesn’t do spelling competitions’, and that defuses the situation. Later Simon comes up to me privately and apologises, which is very nice of him, but there’s no need because he just didn’t know.
“Funny enough, I’m not embarrassed by the episode at the time. I don’t want to stand up and make a show of myself but I am not embarrassed either when Faz said I don’t do spelling competitions. Ten years earlier I’d have been mortified. But I am getting more confident in myself as I get older and less self-conscious.”
PLAYER RATINGS: Ireland impress on Sexton's big day, with some players fully deserving of 9/10 ratings#AutumnNationsSeries #IREvJAP #Ireland https://t.co/xRmlYUDoHB
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 6, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
An 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
1 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 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.
24 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.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments