Six Nations prep has never gone better, insists Farrell 

CLEAR MESSAGE: Head Coach Andy Farrell. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Ireland left the Algarve bound for Cardiff on Thursday night with a pep in their in their step and a Pep in Andy Farrell’s mind as the head coach and Manchester City supporter lauded his squad’s preparation for the 2023 Guinness Six Nations as the best of his three-year tenure.

SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP

Your home for the latest news, views and analysis of this year's Six Nations Championship from our award winning sports team.

SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP

Your home for the latest news, views and analysis of this year's Six Nations Championship from our award winning sports team.

The Ireland boss will take his world number one-ranked side into a tricky championship opener against Wales hoping the development he has watched at this warm-weather training camp near Faro can transfer into a performance that can secure a first Six Nations win at the Principality Stadium since 2013.

There was just one ripple in the calmness with which the Irish headed for Wales, Farrell’s team selection upset by the absence of tighthead prop Tadhg Furlong, his long-standing deputy Finlay Bealham handed a first championship start with Tom O’Toole moved onto the bench as a result. Otherwise, all was looking rosy for the head coach.

"I think it's been our best prep, I really do,” Farrell said. “It's another thing translating that, but we talk about how we translate the standards that we set in training.

"In that regard it's been top drawer.

"Probably because guys are coming in on the first day, being able to get up to speed very quickly. You would naturally hope that's been a progression and that's what we've seen over the last 12 days."

Ireland had signed off on an undoubtedly successful 2022 with a less-than-stellar closing performance against Australia in Dublin last November, giving Farrell the perfect opportunity to increase the intensity of his drive for higher standards. He has liked what he has seen thus far.

“The reason that it has been pretty good is because there’s an appetite to get better. That’s the main point. How are we going to progress our game and what does that look like, and let’s go after it and let’s see what we can do.

“We also know that Wales are going to have a say in that, and that progression, so how we are mentally attuned is going to be key as well because we know it’s going to be a big physical battle. How we mentally handle the occasions is going to be key.” 

The mental strength of this Ireland side has been one of the core elements of Farrell’s tenure and players have this week spoken highly of the benefits they have gained working with IRFU performance coach Gary Keegan, particularly in preparing for the white-hot atmosphere that will await them under the Principality Stadium roof..

“I think it’s where we can make the biggest strides,” Farrell said of the sports psychology remit. 

“I think we’ve made a start, I don’t think we’re anywhere near where we can get to. The game is a very emotional one, and being able to control those emotions so that we can do what we say we’re going to do is key to us.” 

Farrell also spoke in that regard about his obsession with the way successful teams maintained their position at the tops of their sports with a special nod to his beloved Manchester City’s command performance in a 3-1 win at Leeds United on December 28. 

To the Ireland boss it was a masterclass of mental fortitude and character from Pep Guardiola’s men but his interest in the subject is not bound by his sporting favourites, he has found it in every winning team.

“I’d seen how people coped with it. I’m obsessed with why teams keep being successful, why they are able to stay at the top because everyone is trying to hunt them down.

“The Man Uniteds of the golden years. I’m a Man City supporter but I was in awe of how they kept on winning title after title, because it’s so hard to do and the mentality and the fight to want to go out and attack the game in your manner is pretty key.

“I used an example of Man City playing Leeds away this year. A lot of superstars were in that side and Leeds went for them, physically went after them and it’s a tough old place to go, Leeds is. It’s hostile.

“Leeds were playing unbelievably well and I thought ‘wow, City, we’re going to see the character of the side here’. And City went after them, broke them, 1-0, broke them 2-0, game over 3-0.

“It takes a strong character, a strong mentality as a team to go to somebody’s backyard that means a lot to them and play your own game.” 

The message to his Ireland team is clear as they prepare for the lion’s den in Cardiff. Be bold, be brave, break them.

WALES: L Williams (Cardiff); J Adams (Cardiff), G North (Ospreys), J Hawkins (Ospreys), R Dyer (Dragons); D Biggar (Toulon), T Williams (Cardiff); G Thomas (Ospreys), K Owens (Scarlets) – captain, T Francis (Ospreys); A Beard (Ospreys), A W Jones (Ospreys); J Morgan (Ospreys), J Tipuric (Ospreys), T Faletau (Cardiff).

Replacements: S Baldwin (Ospreys), R Carre (Cardiff), D Lewis (Cardiff), D Jenkins (Exeter), T Reffell (Leicester), R Webb (Ospreys), O Williams (Ospreys), A Cuthbert (Ospreys).

IRELAND: H Keenan (Leinster); M Hansen (Connacht), G Ringrose (Leinster), S McCloskey (Ulster), J Lowe (Leinster); J Sexton (Leinster) - captain, J Gibson-Park (Leinster); A Porter (Leinster), D Sheehan (Leinster), F Bealham (Connacht); T Beirne (Munster), J Ryan (Leinster); P O’Mahony (Munster), J van der Flier (Leinster), C Doris (Leinster).

Replacements: R Herring (Ulster), C Healy (Leinster), T O’Toole (Ulster), I Henderson (Ulster), J Conan (Leinster), C Murray (Munster), R Byrne (Leinster), B Aki (Connacht) 

Referee: Karl Dickson (England)