Last chance for hopefuls as Ireland strive for greater cohesion
IN THE MIX: Joe McCarthy during an Ireland rugby captain's run at Parc des Sports Jean Dauger in Bayonne, France. Pic: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Ireland’s players will need little motivating to put their best foot forward at Stade Jean Dauger Saturday night when they close out their summer schedule against Samoa.
A World Cup pool opener against Romania is just 14 days away and the hours that follow Saturday evening’s Test match in Bayonne will contain either the best news a player can ever hear, or the worst.
Andy Farrell has one more game to decide on the 33 players he will bring back to France next Thursday for his first World Cup as a head coach and that means delivering some devastating information to five of the current party that have soldiered through the last 10 weeks that their efforts have come up short.
The Ireland boss will reveal his hand Sunday afternoon back in Dublin before the squad disperses and no rousing speech will be needed ahead of kick-off other than a reminder to the players on the fringes that the best way to advance individual claims for selection is to do it as part of a successful, cohesive collective. While for those in more secure situations, there is no room for complacency as Farrell looks for increased momentum after less than fluent victories over Italy and England this month.
That was the message from match captain Iain Henderson on Friday as he prepared to lead Ireland for the second time this summer in the absence of suspended skipper Johnny Sexton.
"I think a lot of the players are fully aware that this is an opportunity for them,” Henderson said following the captain’s run at Stade Jean Dauger.
“Yes, there will be a handful of players who won't make the squad. But for the rest of the players, Faz has been pretty clear with how he selects his teams in training and selects his team for matches. He doesn't have his full Test match, whoever it may be — South Africa, World Cup final, New Zealand, France — squad selected yet. So players within the squad are fighting for a starting position or maybe a position in the 23.
“When I say fighting for it, we’re not fighting against each other, we’re fighting to get everyone playing and training as best as possible, which is brilliant to be a part of, and exciting to see the young guys really sticking their hands up and training really well.
“So that will be a huge motivator for tomorrow plus as well, pulling on the jersey and playing for Ireland and getting a Test cap at any stage, be it the game before a World Cup or the first game in pre-season or whenever it may be is always special for everyone.”
With rain forecast for Bayonne Saturday evening the running hi-tempo rugby craved by both teams with ball in play time at a maximum may not be easy to deliver. Yet Farrell is delighted to be facing a quality Samoan squad, with one eye on a pool game against Tonga, boasting former All Blacks and Wallabies who have been able to switch back to the lands of their birth, or of parents and grandparents, following World Rugby’s changing of qualification rules.
Samoa, coached by Seilala Mapasua with assistance from Tana Umaga and Leinster attack coach Andrew Goodman, are on a different level to the side Ireland faced in Japan at the 2019 World Cup, when Joe Schmidt’s side won 47-5 in Fukuoka despite losing Bundee Aki to a red card.
“They’ve got fantastic players and a bloody good coaching staff when you look at it, so we know they’ll be organised,” Farrell said. “Being organised and having all the flair, the size, the power, the strength; them trying to impose their game on us is something that we need to manage and come out the other side of that and be ourselves and impose our game on them as well.
“So, I think we couldn’t wish for better really in regards to the next steps for us.”
Samoa’s physicality is by now a given, as it is for all the Pacific Island sides, but Farrell explained just what it is they bring to the contact area that sets them apart from similarly powerful players on the other side of the world.
“Well, there’s certainly no fear from their part, of putting their body on the line. And when you’ve watched the games that they’ve played, the pressure that would be coming at you, certainly defensively, is something that we need to navigate our way around.
“But on top of that, the blend for them which is powerful is the skill level and the footwork and the speed that they’ve got, and it normally accumulates into a powerful gameplan. So when they’re well coached and organised it makes them unbelievably difficult to play against.”
Farrell knows Ireland cannot simply match power with power and added: “Physicality for us doesn’t come from proving how physical we can be, it’s about accuracy, it’s about timing, about feel of the game and understanding how you get yourselves into those sweet spots so that you can be accurate and physical on the back of that.
“So that’s a great test for us this weekend.”
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).
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).
D Paia’Aua (Toulon); E Fidow (Rugby NY), UJ Seuteni (La Rochelle), T Manu (Chiefs), N Ah Wong (Bay Of Plenty); L Sopoaga (Lyon), J Taumateine (Moana Pasifika); James Lay (Blues), S Lam (Perpignan), P Alo-Emile (Stade Francais); C Vui (Bristol) – captain, T McFarland (Saracens); T Seu (Toyota Industries Shuttles), F Lee (Clermont), S Luatua (Bristol).
S Malolo (San Diego Legion), Jordan Lay (Blues), M Alaalatoa (Leinster), M Fai’ilagi (Moana Pasifika), SJ Taufua (Lyon), E Enari (Moana Pasifika), C Leali’ifano (Moana Pasifika), N Foma’I (Moana Pasifika).
Wayne Barnes (England).
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