Farrell looking for another step forward in World Cup preparations

Andy Farrell does not want Monday’s squad announcement to distract from what remains a Test match that needs to be won by the Grand Slam winners.

ANOTHER STEP FORWARD: Ireland Head Coach Andy Farrell is looking for his side to take another step up as they ramp up their RWC preparations. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Andy Farrell’s relentless drive for improvement from his Ireland players in the most exacting of conditions has clocked up another week here in southern France and now comes the final examination of their progress before the serious business of the Rugby World Cup.

Tomorrow night’s meeting with Samoa is the last of three pre-tournament tune-ups of this summer series of Test matches. And after what Farrell described as a “clunky” opening win over Italy on August 5, and less than satisfying rust-shaking exercise for many of his first-choice players that nevertheless produced a five-try-to-one, 29-10 victory over Six Nations rivals England last Saturday, the Irish round off their week of intense heat and growing pressure around imminent squad selection by breaking new ground at Stade Jean Dauger.

An 8:45pm local time kick off in temperatures that could still be in the mid-to-high 20° centigrade following training sessions in plus-30C heat against a physically intense and dynamically athletic Pacific Island side ticks so many boxes for the Ireland boss as the clock ticks towards Monday’s grand unveiling of the 33-man squad he wants to bring back to France next Thursday for their tilt at the William Webb Ellis Trophy.

Some of the matchday 23 he has picked for tomorrow’s Test will not be on the plane next week ahead of an opening Pool B encounter with Romania, some may unfortunately sustain injuries that end their hopes before Monday’s announcement. Yet Farrell has over the past two years hard-wired his squad to roll with such punches and get on with their jobs without excuses. 

Which is why he made last summer’s tour to New Zealand even more difficult by arranging two midweek matches against the Maori All Blacks, and put his fringe players further under the cosh by having them face the All Blacks A team in November. It is why he relishes finding new challenges for them to rise to, such as this trial run for a typical tournament week, though he was still warning of more difficult problems to solve in the weeks to come.

“This is a great week for us, as in mimicking the weeks that could be coming up for us in all sorts of different ways,” Farrell said. “Between the Romania game to the Tonga game the heat could still be around which it certainly is this week.

“There’s plenty of distractions which there’s definitely going to be in the World Cup. Walking around on a day off you feel like you’re on holiday so that isn’t how you prepare for a Test match.

“So there’s plenty of distractions. The same referee (Wayne Barnes has the whistle for the Tonga game on September 16), a night match which is later than normal for us, so this is a brilliant week to see how we cope with all those bits.

“For whatever has happened this week, happens most weeks to be fair, but this was our first back-to-back week with games, so how we manage people… I’m not saying that it’s been an easy week because there’s always something going on with all sorts of different players, but this is going to be a breeze in comparison to what’s coming around the corner when we get one, two, there, four, hopefully five games into the tournament.” 

Farrell has handed Jack Crowley the reins at fly-half for his third Ireland start since his debut against Fiji last November. The Munster playmaker will have scrum-half and provincial team-mate Conor Murray at his side in a starting team captained by lock Iain Henderson that boasts three Test centurions - Murray, loosehead prop Cian Healy and left wing Keith Earls.

There are 12 changes from last week’s England win with only right wing and try-scoring man of the match Mack Hansen, lock Tadhg Beirne and openside flanker Josh van der Flier retained.

Farrell does not want Monday’s squad announcement and the imminent loss of five players from the current playing group to distract from what remains a Test match that needs to be won by the Grand Slam winners.

“We’re fully concentrating on the game in hand because it’s another Test match for us that we need to take a step forward in. So, working out all the different permutations in and around what happens this week is at the forefront of my mind.

“Just being more consistent with what we’re trying to achieve as a group and trying to take ourselves to another level,” he replied when asked what was on his wishlist for Saturday.

“We know where we want to go and I feel like we’re getting up that ladder but this is another opportunity to get into the World Cup to take that step.

“So, I don’t know. It’s completely different opposition. We’re over here, it’s hot, there might be a chance of rain. We’ve not played in rain yet, so that might be a good thing. So, whatever comes our way we need to adapt to.” 

IRELAND (v Samoa): J O'Brien (Leinster); M Hansen (Connacht), R Henshaw (Leinster), S McCloskey (Ulster), K Earls (Munster); J Crowley (Munster), C Murray (Munster); C Healy (Leinster), T Stewart (Ulster), F Bealham (Connacht); I Henderson (Ulster) – captain, T Beirne (Munster); R Baird (Leinster), J van der Flier (Leinster), C Doris (Leinster).

Replacements: R Herring (Ulster), J Loughman (Munster), T O'Toole (Ulster), J Ryan (Leinster), P O'Mahony (Munster), C Casey (Munster), R Byrne (Leinster), G Ringrose (Leinster).