Urgency for unfamiliar back row to make selection count in absence of stars, says Farrell

Though both blindside flanker Baird and scrum-half Casey have earned 33 and 30 Test caps respectively, they and the less experienced Timoney and Jansen have earned those appearances in the shadows of more established players

Andy Farrell says Ryan Baird, right, can be world-class. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Andy Farrell gave props to the unfamiliar Ireland back row and scrum-half he will start against Argentina but for Ryan Baird, Nick Timoney, Sean Jansen and Craig Casey there will be an urgency to make their selections count against quality opposition at Aviva Stadium on Friday night.

Though both blindside flanker Baird and scrum-half Casey have earned 33 and 30 Test caps respectively, they and the less experienced Timoney, at openside flanker with 14 appearances, and No.8 Jansen with just two, have earned those appearances in the shadows of more established players in their positions.

For Jansen, opportunity knocks due to injuries to captain Caelan Doris and Jack Conan, while Baird plays his first Ireland match in a year following two leg breaks after Farrell switched Tadhg Beirne to the second row and moved James Ryan to the replacements. 

Both Timoney and Casey’s chances come with Josh van der Flier and Jamison Gibson-Park joining the lock on the bench, but that is also part of the head coach’s grand plan behind selection in the run up to a World Cup campaign which begins next October.

“You have to, and you have to keep them hungry as well,” Farrell said of his star trio’s bench roles. “They will stay hungry no matter what, because that’s the type of people that they are, but you’ve got to make sure your squad is your strength, certainly for what’s coming up in the next 12 months. It’s important that we keep feeding that.

“If ever a player feels comfortable, we’re failing the group, we are. We’ve not got those players anyway. I don’t think people are comfortable, just by their nature but if you want to keep ambition growing as a group then you’ve got to keep the ambition within the individual."

Sean Jansen will have an opportunity to shine against Argentina. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Farrell praised Jansen consistency, fitness and work rate as well as mental strength having handed the Connacht man his debut against Japan in July. He also lauded Timoney’s similar traits and versatility across the back row while having no qualms about handing Casey the responsibility to run the training week alongside half-back partner Sam Prendergast.

Baird, though, came in for glowing testimony, “because he can be a world-class six and he can be a world-class second row as well. He can 100 per cent,” Farrell said of his choice at number six.

"He's thoroughly focused on being as good as he possibly can be. His professionalism is through the roof. His head's in the right place and his ambition is to be the best he can.

"But international rugby, it knocks people around in different ways. You've got to react to different sorts of pressures, etc.

"He's got the quality to be able to react in the right way.

"His point of difference is there for all to be seen with his speed and power and all of that. But his understanding of the game is growing massively. Certainly at set-piece and his leadership within that, especially at the lineout.

"I think the world's his oyster, really. It's just how you navigate your way through this next 12 months."

With all of the back row, however, there is praise mixed with an urgency to seize their chances against Los Pumas.

For Jansen, the boss feels, “he needs to hit the ground running”, whereas Timoney, “needs to take his game to another level because we've seen him do that at international level, but there's more in him”.

And though the world is Barid’s oyster, it is only “if he goes about it the right way”.

“That back row, it excites me this week,” Farrell concluded, “to see how they grab hold of it and how they take it.” The challenge has been laid down.