Andy Farrell coaxing new tune from Ulster players can be inspiration for Munster’s inbetweeners

There are a host of players at the Munster High Performance Centre in Limerick who must have taken note of the changing demographics in the Ireland squad.

ON THE FRINGES: Munster players like Calvin Nash, Gavin Coombes and Shane Daly have all spent varying degrees of time in Ireland camp. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

There really hasn’t been enough made of Andy Farrell’s grumpy shot across his own bows after Ireland’s opening Six Nations loss to France.

The head coach knows the media, and he knows how to use it. His observation that his team had lacked “intent” and “fight” in the course of that convincing and worrying setback in Paris was a very public and pointed admonition of his men.

Farrell and his staff and his players had consistently played down the concerning trend of defeats to the game’s heavyweights in recent seasons. Maybe he had just had enough. It certainly sounded like this was his line in the sand.

But it was dicey stuff. Isn’t it the head man or woman’s role to make sure that a team is at the right pitch? And what did it say about Ireland that they were so meh on the first night of the Championship against the tournament favourites?

Either way, the head man pointed the finger downwards.

Eddie Jones puts this well: you can call out your players publicly once, but you can’t do it twice. Eddie O’Sullivan has touched on this too. Farrell’s criticisms that first night were effectively a case of the Englishman turning over a sandglass.

He had put himself and his team on the clock.

It looks now, after the record win over England in Twickenham, as if this most admired leaders of men got the mood music just right. He demanded a response and he got it. A week after a lucky win over Italy, that is.

Ireland have turned the midway point of this tournament with wind in their sails. A Triple Crown, and a likely second place in the table that would come with that, is there for the taking given Wales and Scotland are on course to visit Dublin.

No-one is questioning intent for now.

A resurgent Ulster contingent has played an outsized role in that. It’s just two years since we had the low of a first ever Irish matchday squad lining out without any representation from the northern province. And now this.

Stuart McCloskey and Robert Baloucoune have been sensations so far. Nick Timoney and Tom O’Toole have put in big shifts off the bench. Jacob Stockdale has got a run. It’s a reversal of fortunes that should be noted down south in Munster.

Both provinces had five men in the 23 in Twickenham. Munster actually had one more in the starting 15, but there are a host of their teammates back in the HPC in Limerick who must have taken note of the changing demographics in that national squad.

If younger prospects like Evan O’Connell, Ruadhan Quinn, Brian Gleeson and Sean Edogbo can still see a road rising up to meet them then there are others who have already had some of the peaks and troughs that come with that type of journey.

Tom Ahern, Gavin Coombes, Shane Daly, John Hodnett, Oli Jager, Alex Kendellen and Calvin Nash have all spent varying degrees of time in national camp. Some have prospered more than others. Form and injury have taken different tolls.

What the Ulster contingent has shown is that it’s never too late to go again.

McCloskey is 33 now and in the form of his life in the 13 shirt. Timoney has hit 30. Baloucoune is 28. Jager aside, all of those Munster players named are still in their 20s, and people like Dan Kelly and Diarmuid Kilgallen should harbour their own ambitions.

Timoney spoke this week about Farrell’s man management skills: how adept he is at instilling belief in players, the “ability to not ever belittle people”, and to make long-time fringe players feel like anything other than overlooked or downtrodden.

There are a few points to make here.

Players getting jerseys that were rarely offered before will naturally wax lyrical about their coach in public. And the Ulster players making inroads at Test level right now are benefitting from a rising tide that is lifting all their boats in Belfast.

The work being done by Richie Murphy, Mark Sexton et al in the province has been plain as day in the URC this season. Their troops have marched to the beat of a happy drum on and off the field. Munster are not in the same place.

A fast start under Clayton McMillan has stalled in the past few months. An exit from the pool stages of the Champions Cup has been followed by news that Mike Prendergast will finish his term as attack coach come the summer.

Tadhg Beirne gave a wry smile when asked about that and the ongoing turnover of coaches shortly after the news landed last week. Conor Murray laid bare his frustrations with this Groundhog Day syndrome in his autobiography.

Plenty has been said about some individual Munster players and their struggles to break new ground with Ireland. What the Ulster model shows is that a modicum of stability and a spoonful or two of good consistent coaching can go a very long way.

And that it really is never too late.