Farrell expects World Cup opener to be 'slicker' than 'clunky' warm up games

GALVANISED: Ireland's sluggish performances in their pre World Cup matches has galvanised Andy Farrell's side. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Forget the summer shadow boxing, Andy Farrell’s Ireland are ready to get down to serious business when their World Cup campaign gets underway tomorrow.

While the Fijians, South Africans and tournament hosts France were busy setting out their stalls and sending out strong declarations of intent ahead of the rugby’s greatest showcase, the world number one side was trundling along in third gear. That they did so and still beat Italy, England and Samoa with little fanfare last month has been seen as galvanising rather than concerning head coach Farrell ahead of their Pool B opening match against Romania.

Yesterday, having picked a strong, if not full-strength team led by Johnny Sexton to face the group outsiders, Farrell followed the consensus view that has emerged from the Irish camp all week as their pre-season preparations concluded in Tours – that Ireland are ready to hit the ground running after “clunky” summer performances.

Asked if he was expecting a statement performance from Ireland tomorrow, Farrell said: “I sure hope so. “It’s certainly not a concern because obviously… three warm-up games with different personnel and everyone is at different stages in the pre-season. It’s all galvanised to one point and this is it: the start of the competition.

“So the performance should be one that’s a hell of a lot slicker. Let’s put it that way.” 

The intention is certainly to put in a tournament tone-setting performance for the 2023 Grand Slam winners regardless of the status of the Romanians, ranked 19th in the world.

“You can’t get ahead of yourself or get away from yourself. What you have to do is make sure you play the game how you know it should be played, with the respect it needs to be played in.

“The game is going to throw up all sorts of different permutations, like any other game. We’ve got to be on point to be able to adapt and see the pictures in front of us. The game’s all about opportunities, creating opportunities, whether that be set-piece, your attack, your defence, the breakdown, etc.

“The more opportunities we create, we’ve got to be composed enough to make sure we capitalise on that, like any other game. We’re looking forward to getting going.” 

While praising the contribution of the 18 members of his 33-man squad for whom this will be their first Rugby World Cup and were therefore free of any emotional baggage connected with past tournament disappointments, Farrell also reminded them that there was serious business afoot.

Farrell did not name names but he suggested some those in his wider 39-strong squad that trained in southern France a fortnight ago before playing the Samoans had not displayed the sufficient maturity expected of his players at a World Cup.

“It’s an advantage because of the youthfulness and the quality of those players is top drawer,” Farrell said of the tournament debutants. “But they also need to understand what it is that they’re coming into.

“I said to you in the Samoa week (August 21-26) going to Biarritz, the reason we went there is that there’s a lot of distraction that goes on, certainly when you’re in a hotel that’s on the beach.

“Some people handled that brilliantly, some people didn’t. Learning from those experiences is pretty important because you don’t get second chances after this in World Cups.

“You have to wait four more years – if you’re lucky enough. Understanding what it’s all about and getting down to business is where we’re at at this stage.” 

For all that, Farrell and his party have arrived in Bordeaux from their Loire Valley base camp in Tours with a sense of positivity and a requirement to stay focused on the mission ahead.

“One of excitement, definitely. We have been excited about this for a long time but now we are here and we have just travelled down from Tours to get off the train to the match venue, it’s business, you know?

“That’s where we are at. That’s why experience within your group is a good thing as well because when you get to these type of tournaments and the euphoria that’s around it, if you’re young, inexperienced type of player, you can get lost in the carnival atmosphere etc.

“But we have experience in abundance with our group that keeps the mind focused for everyone that’s involved because from what I have experienced as a player or as a coach, as an assistant coach, teams that do well are the ones that understand that it’s just about rugby, and nothing but the rugby.

“Of course we embrace everything else that is going on around us when it’s our down-time, but when it gets to preparation and executing under pressure at the weekend, experience allows us to make sure how to go about our business.

“We are here now. We are in Bordeaux and that’s the theme over the next couple of days for sure.” 

IRELAND (v Romania): H Keenan (Leinster); K Earls (Munster), G Ringrose (Leinster), B Aki (Connacht), J Lowe (Leinster); J Sexton (Leinster) – captain, J Gibson-Park (Leinster); A Porter (Leinster), R Herring (Ulster), T Furlong (Leinster); J McCarthy (Leinster), J Ryan (Leinster); T Beirne (Munster), P O’Mahony (Munster), C Doris (Leinster).

Replacements: R Kelleher (Leinster), J Loughman (Munster), T O’Toole (Ulster), I Henderson (Ulster), J van der Flier (Leinster), C Murray (Munster), J Crowley (Munster), R Henshaw (Leinster).