Tom Farrell eager to cap Ireland debut with more Test chances

The Munster man made his Test debut on Saturday at 32 years of age.

BLOSSOMING LATE: Ireland’s Tom Farrell tackled by Warner Dearns of Japan. Pic: INPHO/Gary Carr

Tom Farrell thought his chance to play for Ireland had come and gone last summer. Now the Munster centre is targeting more opportunities after making his Test debut on Saturday at the grand old age of 32.

Perseverance has been a cornerstone of the Dubliner’s career having left his native Leinster for a stint in England with Bedford Blues and then returning home for a seven-year stint at Connacht that came to an abrupt end in 2024.

With no new contract offer on the table, Farrell was all set to sign for a club abroad until Munster came in with a late bid and he grasped that lifeline with an exceptional first season. But international honours remained out of reach.

No more so than the summer just gone when, with Andy Farrell needing 16 of his Ireland players in with him in Australia, there were suddenly a whole host of berths that needed filling for the two-Test tour of Georgia and Portugal.

“I obviously knew that the Lions lads were going to be gone, so I thought there might be a window there. For whatever reason, I didn't get picked, so then I just knuckled down in Munster and enjoyed my rugby there. I kind of put it to one side and I've really enjoyed my time with Munster.

“The environment there is brilliant and just gave me an opportunity to put my game out there and kind of focus on that really, to be honest. I didn't really think about Ireland and then, I was doing a walk-through to prepare for a URC game and then I got a call to come into camp. Two weeks later I’m making my first appearance.” 

Farrell explained last week that he was of a mind to trial some younger players in Georgia and Portugal, which is fair enough, and the fact is that Farrell wasn’t named in the initial squad for these November internationals either.

It was injury doubts over Bundee Aki and Robbie Henshaw that prompted the head coach to call on Farrell at the eleventh hour, and his chance of that first cap needed injuries to Stuart McCloskey and Garry Ringrose to finally open up the door in the midfield.

All of which suggests that Farrell will have a job to do if he is to add to that sole cap, not just in the coming weeks when Australia and South Africa come to town, but down the road when the Six Nations and summer tour come around again.

“I do want more, yeah, massively. I know the personnel that's there and they've been there for so long, so I'm aware of that. But yeah, I do want more. We'll see how it goes come Monday or Tuesday, but I'd be lying if I said I don't.” 

As for Saturday just gone, well, he’ll always have that no matter what happens next.

There was emotion when he was told the team selection and at the hotel on Thursday night when Farrell presented him his jersey in a by-now traditional ceremony that included his wife and daughter and parents.

Any pre-match nerves didn’t stop him banking a solid eight hours sleep and the early kick-off meant there was little time for match-day butterflies. They were no sooner finished breakfast than out the door to the stadium.

And then there was the game itself.

“The first half was... to be honest, I was blowing. I was finding my feet. Probably as a unit, we weren't really firing. I thought we were a bit better in the second-half. We were a bit more in sync, a bit more cohesive, kind of finding each other a bit more.

“I was thinking just briefly there that there was a lot of changes and new combinations in the team and the backline in particular, so, all in all, for the second-half performance I thought we did quite well.” 

Andy Farrell has explained how different the Munster man is now to the player first called up to the Ireland squad by Joe Schmidt in 2019. The man himself looks back now and admits he was “probably a bit raw” and didn’t get the demands of Test rugby.

He had no idea until told after the Japan game that he is now the oldest back to make his debut for Ireland in the professional era. It should be an encouraging story for a whole heap of players looking to reach or return to the top level.

More than a few of them are teammates at Munster. Players like Gavin Coombes and John Hodnett who have had either a small taste of the Test arena or haven’t yet been elevated to it. What advice would he give them?

“As clichéd as it is, just keep the head down, stick with it. Don't focus on the Irish stuff. I just kind of focused on Munster and enjoyed it really, because I was getting to that stage of my career where I was getting that bit older and I was like, ‘I'm just gonna enjoy my rugby at Munster here see where it takes me’.”