'We've got to embrace this' - Andy Farrell sees All Blacks challenge as a privilege

PRIVILEGE: Ireland Head Coach Andy Farrell urges his side to embrace All Blacks challenge in spite of a lack of game time. Picture: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Rolling back into the old day job with 11 months’ worth of issues and priorities in the in-tray and the task-completion countdown clock ticking rapidly doesn’t make for the most appealing prospect. Andy Farrell’s take?

“Beautiful! In Chicago. Look at me — living the dream.” 

Cup half-full then for Ireland’s returning head coach. Cups and half-measures are, of course, a huge part of the troubles that need shooting. We’re now two years into the four-year cycle that hurtles us all towards the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia. The consensus would be that Ireland’s evolution is lagging behind the nations around them at the upper echelon of the world rankings.

But after naming the first starting XV of his post-Lions interregnum, Farrell was in combative mood. Not in any aggressive or, for that matter, defensive, way. Let’s call it a combative positivity, with plenty of clarity too.

Take this: asked why he believes Ireland can be much-improved from last year’s autumn surrender to the All Blacks when the rivals meet at Soldier Field this Saturday, given his squad’s stark lack of game time, Farrell was instantly animated.

“Yeah, I know, and I get all that,” he said. “I understand all the chat that's going around, but what do you want us to do? Do you want us to just accept that and go, ‘it's not going to happen’?

“We've got to embrace this. We want to embrace it to see how we stand up to that type of challenge. The bigger the challenge, the more that we find out about ourselves. So I see it as a privilege.” 

He’ll surely find out plenty come Saturday afternoon local time (8.10pm Irish time). The team and replacements bench he named Thursday morning was one of those selections that you have to chew on for quite some time. A lot to digest and, given some of the reaction to the make-up and age profile of the squad initially assembled for November duty, Farrell has perhaps managed to at least begin threading that pesky needle — evolution rather than revolution.

There’s Tommy O’Brien winning a third cap on the wing bringing the kind of zip and aerial prowess that could help spark some of the attacking light that has dimmed since defeat to the All Blacks in Paris two years ago. A rejuvenated Jack Crowley is back in the No.10 jersey raring to show that his club glow-up can translate to country too. In the pack, Dan Sheehan has a chance to get more comfortable as a Test captain while Ryan Baird will occupy a berth that has been rarely his — Ireland starter.

The selection of Stuart McCloskey in the centre may not be classed as sexy but there’s something compelling about it. With Bundee Aki and Robbie Henshaw both reportedly fully fit, Farrell has turned away from both for what feels like the first time.

The hype has bubbled slowly but steadily through Chicago all week and the green invasion was beginning to be more visible around the Magnificent Mile as we shuttled from Ireland to New Zealand team base. Who still has a stranglehold on their shirts once the next four weeks are behind us will tell plenty.

“Who has the ambition to be at their best when the World Cup comes around? I reckon this autumn is a big window for us to see where we're at, not just as a team but as individuals,” said Farrell, who named seven of his 30-somethings in the XV with three more on the bench. Experience, he feels, can be undervalued.

“South Africa won the last two [World Cups] as well,” he said when the examples of older yet victorious sides such as England of 2003 or New Zealand of 2015 were raised. “Listen, experience is always important but it's not the be all and end all. It's just what's right at that moment and time but there's a long way to go between now and then. There will be people that will continue to grow and there will be people who will fall away by the wayside and that's just how it is.

“We've not got thousands of players but we always bat above our average because we're competitive, it matters to us.” 

Farrell was full of praise for Crowley and McCloskey who, he said, both richly “deserved it”. That the Ulster centre has just 21 caps seems ludicrous but at 33 he’s being trusted for a first tilt at the All Blacks. Keeping the returning Caelen Doris in reserve alongside fellow veterans like Aki and Iain Henderson was, meanwhile, easier because of the esteem Farrell holds Sheehan in as captain.

When we did get to the All Blacks base, Farrell’s counterpart was noticeably more brief in his offerings. Scott Robertson had made his own deliberations. There was no room for Leinster-bound Rieko Ioane but out-half Beauden Barrett was one of three changes to the starters. He’d noted Ireland’s moves too.

“They've got a few dings and a few players not available so you're doing your best guess,” said Robertson. “But obviously he's a big ball carrier, McCloskey, and he'll add to the team. Sometimes the guys get their occasion and they rise to it and I'm sure he will. They've got a really good strong bench so I expect the best of them.”