Picking on merit - Farrell makes no apology for Wales coaching snub

Nor will the head coach bow to quotas on the basis of nationality when it comes to naming his playing squad on May 8.

Andy Farrell has confirmed his Assistant Coaches for the Lions Tour of Australia. John Dalziel (Scotland), Simon Easterby (Ireland), John Fogarty (Ireland), Andrew Goodman (Ireland) and Richard Wigglesworth (England) will all join the coaching team this summer. Pic:  Dan Sheridan, Inpho

Three from Ireland, an Englishman and a Scot. 

Andy Farrell made no apology for not picking a Welsh assistant for this summer’s British & Irish Lions tour to Australia and the head coach will not bow to quotas on the basis of nationality when it comes to naming his playing squad on May 8.

Speaking at the headquarters of Lions kit manufacturers Canterbury, in the centre of London’s jewelery quarter on Hatton Garden, Farrell might have said he had unearthed diamonds for his backroom staff. Instead the head coach said he was confident he had selected a group of coaches who would not be too precious, nor confined to “working in silos”.

The Ireland boss has leant heavily on his national coaching group, with his defence coach Simon Easterby, attack coach Andrew Goodman and scrum coach John Fogarty named alongside England attack coach Richard Wigglesworth and Scotland’s forwards coach John Dalziel set to comprise the think tank plotting the downfall of Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies across three Tests this July and August.

Farrell made clear he had done his homework based on character and skill-set rather than place of birth or national affiliation and tellingly he declined to conform to tradition by handing them specific roles for the nine-game tour Down Under.

Asked for the key ingredient behind his selection process, Farrell said: “There are a few. You start at the top with character and personality, selflessness; that type of stuff is an absolute given on a tour like this.

“They can see the game from a holistic point of view and a specialised point of view and they can be inter-changeable. Just because of the dynamics of how this works, people can’t be too precious about giving a little bit of what they are coaching to another sector of the game.

"People need to be cohesive and give to the group. The players 100 per cent feed off that. When they see a coaching group working in silos, it doesn’t feel right to them. When they see a tight-knit coaching group with people who are all on the same page and are good people at the same time, it fits for this type of tour." 

Farrell pulled no punches when asked if all four nations should have been represented in his coaching group.

“I know that’s idealistic for everyone, but surely this has to be done on merit for who fits. Is Simon (Easterby) Welsh? He’s a Yorkshireman, in Wales most of his life and coaches a little bit in Ireland.

“You’ll see in the weeks to come we’re nearly there with the high performance team, and the team behind the team. The blend is thorough throughout. That isn’t just to do that, either, that is just on merit because they’re the right people.” 

The applies to the make up of the Lions squad, set to be announced on May 8.

“I’ve never been like that. Surely everyone in here is an individual. Imagine not going on a Lions tour because someone thinks that somebody else not as good deserves a place because of the dynamics (of picking by nationality). Surely that’s not fair.”