The one major difference from the Joe Schmidt era Paul O'Connell has spotted under Andy Farrell
New Ireland assistant Paul O’Connell has outlined the one clear difference he has experienced so far during his short time working with the Andy Farrell regime compared to what he experienced as a player under Farrell’s predecessor Joe Schmidt.
Talismanic second row O’Connell captained Schmidt’s Ireland to successive Six Nations titles before retiring from playing after an injury at the 2015 World Cup. He has since coached at different levels of the game, mixing experiences from the Munster academy with Ireland U20s and Stade Francais.
Inactive since leaving the Stade set-up under Heyneke Meyer in June 2019, O’Connell was sounded out by Ireland boss Farrell after their third-place Autumn Nations Cup finish last December to see might he be interested in becoming involved at Test level.
It was a surprise offer as he didn’t sense there was an opportunity there. However, he agreed to become Ireland’s forwards coach and he has found one aspect of his experience so far contrastingly different to what he had previously known under the Schmidt regime six years ago.
Appearing at his first media conference since it was announced on January 7 he was joining the Farrell ticket, O’Connell was asked if he had been struck by any noticeable then and now contrasts so far in the preparations for next Sunday’s Guinness Six Nations opener away to Wales.
ANALYSIS: @heagneyl ??? looks back on Andy Farrell's first year in charge of Ireland #ICTYMI https://t.co/kLL7qJ2PZ8
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 3, 2021
“We are in the HPC now and that has made a big change to it because you have pitch-side televisions, you have TVs in the gym so you are able to have these mini-meetings, short meetings where you are able to go from a meeting to a little bit of technical work back to meeting to a little bit of technical work,” he said, highlighting how the team now trains at a rugby specific facility at Sports Campus Ireland rather at Carton House, their hotel base.
“There was going to be a natural change anyway from when Joe finished to when Andy took over. When we had meetings with Joe, he loved a meeting. He was box office when he delivered and he was always trying to keep everything under 30 minutes so there wasn’t a lot of questions.
“But I always enjoyed then debating things after the meeting with him and I never felt like I couldn’t question him or argue with him and I loved his environment. It’s probably similar here, just shorter meetings because there is more time for questioning.
“In fairness, the question that Tom O’Toole asks in a meeting today and the answer he gets is probably a question that seven or eight people should be asking as well so it’s probably good that we have those discussions and debates. And that’s the way players learn now. It’s isn’t about long meetings.
“It’s short, sharp meetings, they watch things on their phone. You can send them things on their phone. That wasn’t there towards the end of my time when I retired. We were into a meeting, into the group, we had a meeting, it was generally half an hour long and hen the questioning would happen afterwards over dinner or lunch or whatever that was. It’s different here.
“Look, the Crusaders have been very good at it from when you chat to Rog [Ronan O’Gara, the ex-Crusaders assistant now at La Rochelle], it’s collaborative, trying to get players to coach, trying to get them to own what they are doing. If someone can coach something, explain it really well to someone else, they know what they are doing and it’s a great way to check for their learning and their understanding.”
Reflecting on Farrell reaching out to him to come and join Ireland, O’Connell admitted the approach took him by surprise. “It did. I would speak to him [Farrell] a lot and I would speak to other coaches a lot. I just find watching the game interesting.
“I find even the rugby matches that people find boring these days where there is a lot of kicking, I always find it interesting trying to figure out why teams are doing what they are doing. There is generally a logical reason behind it so I’d always be picking up the phone to coaches. But we hadn’t ever discussed that so it was a surprise.”
"My fear is that if it goes too far from what is a touring side with 30,000 fans to games at home with no fans, will it keep its special place in rugby’s hearts?"
– A solution from Keith Wood to the current impasse, w/@chrisjonespress ???#LionsRugbyhttps://t.co/Su3rZl9I79
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 2, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments