How Andy Farrell wants every player to take responsibility

'The aim is to make sure that everyone is leading in a certain way because we all have to take responsibility for their team'

LEADERSHIP: Head coach Andy Farrell during Ireland rugby squad training at Sky Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

It was at the top of Andy Farrell’s order of business when he took over as Ireland’s head coach back in December 2019 and last Saturday’s defeat of the All Blacks in New Zealand was proof positive that player leadership and responsibility has come an awful long way in the years since.

There is more to the leadership of this team than seen in the captaincy of Johnny Sexton and as important as the talismanic fly-half, and his right-hand men James Ryan and Peter O’Mahony, are to Farrell and Ireland’s march towards the next World Cup in France 14 months hence, it is the layers of ownership the boss has added from the top down that will mark the class of 2023 out as the most rounded squad this nation has sent to the most important tournament in Test rugby.