'I don't feel let down" says Farrell on Sexton's ban

LAY OFF: Johnny Sexton. Picture: INPHO/Ben Brady

Nine World Cups completed and only one won by a northern hemisphere side. It’s a damning statistic and one that speaks for what has, for the most part, been a yawning gap in ability between the two rugby hotbeds on opposite sides of the equator.

If standards have been the driving force in this global imbalance then the signs are that Europe is decently-placed to record only a second triumph given the fact that Ireland and hosts France are in the top-three ranked sides in the world.

But some things remain unequal.

The Six Nations sides are only now clearing their throats for the roll call of warm-up matches. The southern hemisphere giants have already completed a truncated Rugby Championship and are now ticking off a similar number of what are effectively friendlies.

You would have to say the SANZAAR crowd are better served by that.

“Am I complaining about it? Definitely not,” said Andy Farrell. “But I’ve always thought that way. Even when I wasn’t a coach, even when I was a player involved in a World Cup, even when I wasn’t even a player, when I was playing the other code, I always thought looking at it that it was an advantage.

“But I can also see both sides of it. I can also see that the more games you play, what’s the law of averages for people getting ruled out of World Cups etc? And burnout etc... If you’ve got the right environment, continually playing like a club side, it definitely has to have its advantages. It’s just common sense, isn’t it?” 

A more localised handicap for Ireland is the absence of Johnny Sexton through suspension until their tournament opener against Romania early next month and, old news though that is, yesterday was the first chance to get Farrell’s take on it.

The choice of words used in the question was interesting in itself. Did he feel ‘let down’ by Sexton (whose conduct after Leinster’s Heineken final loss to La Rochelle prompted the disciplinary action), or by the strung-out nature of the procedure over the summer?

“I didn’t feel let down. As you know, I just roll with it anyway. What can I do about it? It is what it is. I think it was drawn out a little bit, if you pushed me a little bit, but the outcome was going to be the same anyway. So, we move on.” 

That slap on the wrists wasn’t the only potential spillover from the crushing loss to Ronan O’Gara’s side given Farrell’s squad is, as usual, backboned by a massive Leinster core, but then they suffered similarly a year before after which Ireland won a series in New Zealand.

Farrell, his players and his staff have always been quick to dispel the notion that Leinster and Ireland share an identical DNA and it’s a stance that makes all the more sense when trying to keep the memories of a painful loss away from the door.

“Leinster are just as successful as us, but I can’t help but be myself. So, the way that I coach is completely different. The environment is different, the coaches are different, the management is different.

“The way that we play, for all that people might think that we’re similar, everything’s different, you know? Everything we do is different. The knock-on effect is irrelevant at this stage.”