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'I love Eddie's comments, I love reading them. I think it's great for the game'
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell regards attempted mind games from England counterpart Eddie Jones as unnecessary but admits to finding them entertaining.
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Jones has sought to gain the upper hand going into Saturday’s crunch Guinness Six Nations clash by declaring the Irish “red-hot favourites” and the most cohesive team in the world.
Farrell worked under Jones at Saracens during his playing career before later being dismissed from his position in England’s backroom staff shortly after the Australian was appointed to his current role in 2015.
While the Englishman retains a healthy respect for his well-travelled weekend rival, he has no desire to become embroiled in what he regards as a needless pre-match battle of wits.
“I don’t know what it is. I don’t care, to be fair,” replied Farrell when asked about the intent behind Jones’ remarks and his reluctance to engage.
“I love Eddie’s comments, I love reading them. I think it’s great for the game and I love his character, his charisma. I’ve learnt a lot off him.
“As you know, I’ve worked under him, I’ve been the captain of the side for him and I like being in his company.
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“But, in answer to your question, I don’t see the need (to engage with it). I don’t get it sometimes.
“But I like reading it, I think it’s intriguing.”
Farrell was defeated on his two previous Twickenham trips as Ireland boss, both in 2020.
However, he masterminded a 32-18 Dublin victory at the end of last year’s championship to condemn England to a fifth-placed finish – their worst performance in the history of the Six Nations.
A repeat of that result this weekend would see Farrell’s men retain hope of championship glory going into the final round, while eliminating England from title contention and possibly casting fresh doubt on Jones’ future.
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Farrell has guided the Irish to 10 wins from 11 outings since his own position was questioned last year and feels pressure comes with the territory.
“It’s certainly part and parcel of the modern game,” he said.
“We’re all under pressure the whole time and we all realise that. You look at Eddie’s record across his career, it is second to none, so that says it all really.”
Speaking about the increased scrutiny he faced 12 months ago, he said: “I never doubted anything.
“First and foremost, if you’ve been involved in top-level sport for long enough you realise you have to able to take the rough with the smooth and obviously the outside noise creeps in every now and again.
“But it’s up to you to realise what’s going to make your team better and that’s just you being yourself.
“I suppose experience just allows you to bat away the noise and get on with the job in hand and Eddie’s the most experienced man in world rugby at that.”
Despite Ireland’s recent resurgence, Farrell is still awaiting the first major away scalp of his tenure.
He has lost five of seven Tests on the road, with 2021 victories in Italy and Scotland the exceptions.
“It’s part of the next step for us as a team, making sure we go to places like this and be at our best, because we know that England are going to come at us and we know they’re going to cause us problems, but we’re confident in our own ability,” he said.
“We’re a good side. We need to make sure we’re able to be at our best on the day of what is going to be a fantastic occasion.
“We know that there’s going to be thousands of Irish at Twickenham as well and we want to hear them sing through our performance.”
Comments on RugbyPass
After 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.
2 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.
31 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 commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
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