Chris Farrell: Performance last Sunday has vindicated my move to Munster

Chris Farrell believes his World Cup debut for Ireland last weekend vindicated his decision to quit Ulster early in his career.

The Munster centre, 26, called time on an injury-blighted spell with his native province at the age of 21 to start afresh in France with Grenoble and having finally forged a successful career in the Top14, returned to Ireland with Munster in 2017 to pursue his dream of playing Test rugby.

Last Sunday saw Farrell win his eighth Ireland cap off the bench as a first-half replacement for Bundee Aki and impress in midfield in a 27-3 victory over Scotland with a near-60 minute performance at inside centre that has put him in the frame for another cap this Saturday against Japan in Shizuoka.

“It certainly made it all worthwhile,” he said of his career moves. “I never doubted what I was doing. I took risks and it paid off.

“I was only out of the academy in Ulster. I was 21 and leaving the country at that stage having not really made a massive mark in the provincial game or anything.

"It was a shot in the dark and I said I'd have a crack at it. It was a good opportunity to play on a stage against top internationals but I thought the international thing (for me) was probably gone unless things went really, really well. And fortunately, they probably did - things worked out quite well.

“Coming back to Ireland I've improved, mostly at the basics. In France, they might not put so much emphasis on the basics."

"Coming back you just realise how important those things are. In these high-pressure games, the basics really to come to the fore. You've got to look after the ball, you've got to do the simple things well. The best teams tend to do all those things well and have a few little intricacies on top of that. So if you can build the game on that, I think you become a good team.”

Ireland were certainly back in the groove in Yokohama last Sunday, getting their 2019 World Cup campaign off to a flying start with that resounding win over the Scots, though Farrell had not bargained on playing such a big part in the game.

“I didn't expect to get on so early. When you're on the bench you think, ‘it'll be the second half before I get a chance to have an impact in the game.’ Obviously it was unfortunate for Bundee, he picked up a knock and had to go off.

“But it was unbelievable, the amount of support we had there. To see Japanese nationals with the green colour on during our game against Scotland is outstanding and the noise they made for us during the game - and after the game when we went to thank them in the middle of the pitch (as the team bowed to the 63,731 crowd) was exciting.”