'I love what I do here': Easterby distances himself from Wales link but stops short of denying interest 

Ireland interim head coach Simon Easterby. Pic: Tom Maher/Inpho

Ireland interim head coach Simon Easterby has distanced himself from speculation linking him as Warren Gatland’s successor at Wales but did not issue a flat denial of his interest in the vacancy.

Ireland travel to Cardiff on Thursday ahead of their Guinness Six Nations clash with a Welsh side under new temporary management following Gatland’s exit after a dismal run of 14 successive Test defeats.

Former Ireland back-rower Easterby was the Scarlets head coach before he joined Joe Schmidt’s coaching staff in 2014, replacing John Plumtree as forwards coach. He became defence coach under Schmidt’s successor Andy Farrell and is currently filling in for the absent boss while on his sabbatical with the British & Irish Lions.

Easterby still lives in Wales and his name was thrown into the hat as soon as Gatland’s departure was revealed following their round two championship loss to Italy in Rome. 

Glasgow Warriors head coach Franco Smith is another in the frame but Cardiff boss Matt Sherratt has the reins until the end of the Six Nations and has said he is not interested in the role full-time.

Easterby was at a Dublin Airport hotel on Thursday morning having named a much-changed Ireland team for Saturday’s Triple Crown bid following wins over England and Scotland in the first two rounds. 

Yet having discussed his selection of Dan Sheehan as a first-time Test captain in the absence of injured skipper Caelan Doris, and the six changes and one positional switch to face the winless Welsh, the interim head coach was asked whether he was aware of the speculation linking him with the Welsh Rugby Union.

“I didn’t really know that I had been linked,” Easterby said with a wry smile. “No, of course there’s been speculation and that’s what it is, speculation.

“I’m not in control of that. I love what I do here. I’ve been in this position with the team for a long time and I’m very fortunate with the people I get to work with, both management and players, and for me it’s a dream job.

“Speculation is exactly that, it’s speculation, and not something that I can control.” Yet asked whether he would rule himself out of becoming the next permanent Wales head coach, Easterby replied: “Right now this is my only focus and what happens in the future - in a year’s time you could lose your job and we know in sport it’s fairly fluid around people moving from thing to thing.

“But, like I said, whatever is going on I’ve had no contact with the WRU. For me, it’s all guns blazing towards Cardiff on Saturday and make sure that me and the other coaches prepare the team, and whatever speculation goes on outside of that is outside my control.”

As to the business at hand, Easterby handed Sheehan his first start at hooker since last July with Ronan Kelleher absent with a neck injury sustained against the Scots, while Jack Conan is in for Doris at No.8 following the captain’s knee injury.

Hugo Keenan is rested with Jamie Osborne named at full-back for his sixth Ireland cap having starred at number 15 in last summer’s drawn series with world champions South Africa. The other backline changes see Mack Hansen restored to the right wing at the expense of Murrayfield try scorer Calvin Nash following his late withdrawal from that match due to a tight hamstring, while Ireland’s midfield rotation continues with Garry Ringrose back at outside centre, Robbie Henshaw moving from 13 to inside centre and Bundee Aki dropping to the replacements to fill the 23 jersey vacated by Ringrose.

Among the forwards, Joe McCarthy returns to the second row for his first appearance of the Six Nations campaign following a head injury sustained ahead of the opening round in training camp, while Thomas Clarkson is handed his first Ireland start after making his debut in November, replacing Finlay Bealham at tighthead prop.

Sheehan, 26, has returned to starting hooker after a six-month absence having sustained a serious ACL injury in the first Test against the Springboks in Pretoria. 

He made his international comeback with a barnstorming, try-scoring appearance off the bench in the bonus-point win over England in Dublin and his return to play was further managed with another replacement outing against the Scots.

Sheehan will become Ireland’s 111th Test captain on Saturday and Easterby said: “Dan has a lot of influence in the way he plays and he’s been part of the leadership group for a good while in the team.

“We probably just feel like he is in a really good place himself coming back from injury and the way he influenced the game in the first couple of rounds coming off the bench.

“Obviously with Caelan not available this weekend, we just felt like it was a good time for Dan to grow that leadership within the group, to grow another player to experience something a little bit different around the week and how he handles that.

“He’s captained Leinster at various teams as well, so it’s not something he hasn’t done before.” Growing experience and squad depth was the motivation behind Osborne and Clarkson’s selections, Easterby said.

“I think it’s an exciting team and I think part of the challenge for all of us as coaches in particular, to select a 15 is tough at times because we have got such competition and part of the competition comes from giving guys opportunity in training, guys going back and playing for their provinces in the fallow weeks, but I think for certain position, we feel like we need to keep growing depth and we need to keep growing experience.

“It’s one thing playing in November internationals, which the likes of Jamie did against Fiji but it’s another thing getting the experience of playing in the Millennium Stadium with the roof closed in a Six Nations game.

“So those types of things for Jamie and Tom will be new and we believe they will thrive in the environment. Until you get those chances you don’t really know and I think that’s the excitement of what we have selected.

“There is still plenty of experience in the group but there are also guys making their first starts in Six Nations games. It’s an exciting challenge for those to come in and make their mark.” 

While second-round starters James Ryan, Aki and Bealham all drop to the bench there are fresh faces among the replacements with Leinster loosehead prop Jack Boyle in line for his Ireland debut, while hooker Gus McCarthy and back-rower Cian Prendergast are set for maiden Six Nations appearances.

IRELAND: J Osborne (Leinster); M Hansen (Connacht), G Ringrose (Leinster), R Henshaw (Leinster), J Lowe (Leinster); S Prendergast (Leinster), J Gibson-Park (Leinster); A Porter (Leinster), D Sheehan (Leinster), T Clarkson (Leinster); J McCarthy (Leinster), T Beirne (Munster); P O’Mahony (Munster), J van der Flier (Leinster), J Conan (Leinster). 

Replacements: G McCarthy (Leinster), J Boyle (Leinster), F Bealham (Connacht), J Ryan (Leinster), C Prendergast (Connacht), C Murray (Munster), J Crowley (Munster), B Aki (Connacht).