'Everyone's come bouncing into camp' says Simon Easterby as Ireland prepare for Six Nations defence
GLADIATORS, READY: Ireland head coach Simon Easterby at the launch of the 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations Championship at the Colosseum in Rome. Pic: ©INPHO/Billy Stickland
Simon Easterby believes Ireland are better placed to hit the ground running in this season’s Guinness Six Nations than they were last November after the interim head coach welcomed his players into camp for the first time.
With Andy Farrell stepping back from the head coach role for eight months to concentrate on a similar role with the British & Irish Lions ahead of their summer tour to Australia, defence coach Easterby has been tasked with leading Ireland in their bid for a historic third title in a row.
Ireland kick off their campaign on Saturday, February 1 with a home opener against England with Easterby getting preparations underway in Dublin on Monday as his 36-player squad gathered ahead of a warm-weather training camp in Portugal starting on Wednesday.
The temporary boss and captain Caelan Doris diverted to Rome on Tuesday for the official launch of the 2025 championship with Easterby suggesting the squad was not entirely in sync with one another during the Autumn Nations Series, when Ireland started their four-Test campaign with a poor performance in a home defeat to New Zealand.
A high-level European campaign though has seen Irish players return to national camp battle-hardened and in good form.
"It's great, I think maybe that early part of the season players are coming back in slightly different times,” Easterby said. "But there was a nice chunk of games for players, towards the back end of those European games there's some meaningful rugby, a bit of jeopardy.
"So, players are under a little bit more pressure… Every game had something riding on it, which is great for us because they come with that form and a little bit of pressure that they've been through in the last few weeks.
"It's good, everyone's come bouncing into camp and, yeah, it felt good yesterday when we got back together."
Ireland will leave four players behind when they depart for the Algarve and their training base at Quinta do Lago, with hooker Dan Sheehan, uncapped prop Jack Boyle and wing James Lowe being given game time with Leinster against the Stormers in the URC this Saturday while scrum-half Caolin Blade will play on Friday night for Connacht at Glasgow.
For Sheehan it will be his first minutes of action since a serious knee injury in last summer’s first Test against South Africa while Lowe has not played since November. If both come through their returns to play, the expectation is they will be in line for immediate returns to the starting line-up to face England at the Aviva Stadium.
Less clear is the selection for starting fly-half with Sam Prendergast favourite to retain the number 10 jersey but Jack Crowley is staking a claim after a convincing display for Munster against Northampton Saints last Saturday.
"Those two in particular have come in with a bit of form and I thought Jack played really well in Northampton,” Easterby said as he addressed the selection battle at 10.
"Even though Munster lost the game, they played really well. Fine margins from the game went for Northampton.
"Sam has had great opportunity in Leinster since we broke up from the November internationals and he's really taken that.
"Ciarán Frawley's had a few injuries since November and that's given Sam more opportunity and he's been able to spend more time in that jersey which has been great for us, and there's always a balance between who starts and who comes off the bench.
"That guy off the bench can often have a massive as Jack did in the autumn, as Ciarán Frawley did in South Africa.
"So, I think the dynamics of whoever starts and whoever comes off the bench can work from week to week.
"You need to someone to start the game well, of course you do, but you also need someone strong enough and ballsy enough to do something like Ciarán Frawley did in South Africa."
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