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'You don't feel that sword is hanging over your head now'
Andy Farrell has said Ireland naming their World Cup squad six days ahead of plan has handed Joe Schmidt’s men a boost for the Japan tournament.
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Brian O’Driscoll claimed it “beggars belief” that Ireland omitted reliable lock Devin Toner from their final 31-man World Cup squad, with Jean Kleyn selected instead.
Assistant coach Farrell insisted Ireland had been able to shake off the criticism and bond closer together, with the Pool A opener against Scotland fast approaching on September 22.
Johnny Sexton, Robbie Henshaw and Keith Earls will make their first starts of the pre-season in Ireland’s final World Cup warm-up – Saturday’s clash with Wales in Dublin.
“Well, we’re in a bubble in our camp, but naming the group, it’s brought us closer together. Why? Because the team’s been picked and the wait is over,” said Farrell. “So the cohesion throughout the group is one of a much higher standard.
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“People are getting first starts and trying to get different combinations going. Yes we’re down to 31 but we’re still in a lot of competition. These guys get the chance to put their best foot forward for the World Cup now.
“They [Sexton, Henshaw and Earls] are all raring to go, they have been held back for at least a week or two, and can’t wait to get going this weekend. We’re after a performance we’re proud of, with it being Rory Best and Joe Schmidt’s last games at the Aviva. But we’ve also got to take the right mental attitude moving forward into Japan.”
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A dozen changes for Ireland for their rematch with Wales
https://t.co/rDWVlBlqR1— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 5, 2019
Captain Best, the 37-year-old who is retiring after the World Cup, will win his 120th cap in Dublin before leading Ireland to Japan. The Ulster stalwart admitted relief at having his place nailed down for the finals.
“You don’t feel that sword’s hanging over your head now,” said Best, admitting Ireland had plenty of soul searching to do after their record 57-15 loss against England at Twickenham a fortnight ago.
“We’re certainly ready to play this Saturday and that’s the first thing for us, to get a performance this Saturday. It’s the last game of the calendar year, the last game before we go. We’re looking forward to putting in a performance, a few not bad players in for their first game of the season.
Coming soon to RugbyPass…
?? We travelled behind the scenes with the Tonga National team as they prepare for their 2019 Rugby World Cup campaign. pic.twitter.com/y9L89wTqtZ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 5, 2019
“We know that we’re never as good as people say we are and the flip side is we’re never as bad as people say we are. Certainly a week ago on Monday past there, we were more disappointed than anyone.
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“I can tell you the biggest disappointment was within the team room at Carton House. We just made sure we got a few things addressed that weren’t going the way we wanted them to, and to give ourselves a few things we can hang our hat on. And we’ll see now whether we can take ownership of that at the World Cup.”
– Press Association
WATCH: The RugbyPass stadium guide to Yokohama where Ireland will open their World Cup campaign versus Scotland
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 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
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!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 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.
27 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.
27 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 comments