Ireland stocktake: Andy Farrell's drive to raise standards continues unabated
PULLING TOGETHER: Dan Sheehan of Ireland at the back of a maul during the Bank of Ireland Nations Series match between Ireland and Australia at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
Andy Farrell leads a delegation of Ireland and IRFU management to France this week as preparations continue towards providing the ideal environment for his squad at next year’s World Cup.
It is the sort of reconnaissance trip commonplace in modern professional sport that goes on behind the scenes 10 months out from a major tournament, but the head coach will embark on the mission to Ireland’s World Cup base in the Loire Valley city of Tours knowing his team are also heading in the right direction on the pitch.
This month’s Autumn Nations Series may not have been easy on the eye in the way Ireland’s 2-1 series defeat of the All Blacks this summer, or indeed the Six Nations victories that delivered a first Triple Crown since 2018 were. Yet in grinding out a hard-bitten win over world champions South Africa, negotiating a scrappy, stop-start affair against an ill-disciplined Fiji and edging past a desperate Australia over the last three Saturdays, Farrell’s men have answered many different and new questions about their adaptability to think on their feet and cope with tough, physical opponents who have been able to knock them out of their regular rhythms.
So while the parallels with the team with which Joe Schmidt ended 2018 and turned into a World Cup year are all too easy and obvious to draw, the differences are equally apparent. Four years ago, Ireland’s defeat of the All Blacks in Dublin that November, a first win on home soil over rugby’s long-time standard bearers, felt like the team had arrived at their promised land and having reached that high point, the team’s subsequent unravelling over the following months that resulted in another deeply disappointing World Cup showing was depressingly inevitable.
The 2022 version of events, however, feels not so much an end-point as a stepping stone. That much is apparent by the exposure given to a much wider group of players over the last six months than any previous head coach had dared, with summer tour games against the Maori All Blacks, sending an Emerging Ireland squad to play Currie Cup sides in South Africa and an A international against a strong second string All Blacks XV.
Not all went according to plan in that regard but aside from the team performances, Farrell has been able to cap a quintet of players this November on the strength of their individual aptitude in those games, the pick of them being versatile back Jimmy O’Brien, whose adaptability has been showcased with encouraging displays at outside centre, full-back and on the wing in his first three appearances.
The gauntlet has been thrown down to more established internationals who have missed Test windows this year, not least the 98-capped veteran Keith Earls and his Munster back-three team-mate Andrew Conway, who are now playing catch-up while O’Brien’s reliable left boot has also shown the absent James Lowe that there are alternatives. This year has seen Mack Hansen brought into the fold thanks to his Cork-born mother and establish himself as a genuine starting wing contender for the upcoming Six Nations.
Yet the drive to raise standards even further continues unabated. Farrell, his assistants and players, have spoken repeatedly on the subject.
Farrell spoke of the need to keep innovating Ireland’s gameplan in 2023 following the 13-10 defeat of the Wallabies on Saturday night and even as Josh van der Flier was soaking in the plaudits after collecting his World Rugby Player of the Year award in Monaco on Sunday evening, the flanker he found time to speak of his personal quest for continued improvement.
The stimulus for that was a dinner table shared with rugby greats Conrad Smith, Bryan Habana and Dan Carter and van der Flier said: “Chatting to them, it definitely drives you on to kind of not make it a once-off season that goes really well. You look at the legends of the game like them that have played to that top level for 15 years or so.
“So, that’s certainly going to drive me on. No doubt the way we’ve been pushed by the coaches in Ireland to perform and to try and improve, I think you’ve probably seen that in the individual performances as well as the team performance.”
It has been a stellar year for the Ireland men, make no mistake, and they have undoubtedly reached new heights with an exciting all-court game. Yet the peak is still somewhere further up the mountain and Farrell will ensure his players keep climbing.
- Six Nations Triple Crown
- First Test victory in New Zealand
- First series win in New Zealand
- First time since 2017 Ireland have beaten NZ, SA and Aus in calendar year.
World Rugby Player Of The Year: Josh van der Flier
Played 11 Won 9 Lost 2
Beat Wales 29-7 – Dublin, February 5
Lost to France 32-24 – Paris, February 12
Beat Italy 57-6 – Dublin, February 27
Beat England 32-15 – London, March 12
Beat Scotland 26-5 – Dublin, March 19
Lost to New Zealand 42-19 – Auckland, July 2
Beat New Zealand 23-12 – Dunedin, July 9
Beat New Zealand 32-22 – Wellington, July 16
Beat South Africa 19-16 – Dublin, November 5
Beat Fiji 35-17 – Dublin, November 12
Beat Australia 13-10 – Dublin, November 19
100th cap: Conor Murray v South Africa
1000 Test points: Johnny Sexton v New Zealand, 3rd Test
1st time captain: Tadhg Furlong v Fiji
Test debuts: Mack Hansen (v Wal), Michael Lowry (v Ita), Jimmy O’Brien (v SA), Jeremy Loughman (v Fij), Cian Prendergast (v Fij), Jack Crowley (v Fij), Joe McCarthy (v Aus)
Players used: 45
Most minutes: 802 Tadhg Beirne (all 11 Tests), 797 Caelan Doris (11), 792 Josh van der Flier (10), 726 Garry Ringrose (10), 720 Mack Hansen (9), 713 Hugo Keenan (10).
Played 3 Won 1 Lost 2
Lost to Maori All Blacks 32-17 – Hamilton, June 29
Beat Maori All Blacks 30-24 – Wellington, July 12
Lost to All Blacks XV 47-19 – Dublin, November 4
Played 3 Won 3
Beat Griquas 57-4 - Bloemfontein, September 30
Beat Pumas 28-24 - Bloemfontein, October
Beat Cheetahs 21-14 - Bloemfontein, October
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