Farrell won't waste a minute on World Cup countdown

11 November 2026; Head coach Andy Farrell during an Ireland men's rugby squad training session at the IRFU High Performance Centre in Abbotstown, Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Andy Farrell has no intention of wasting any of Ireland’s eight remaining competitive opportunities to test his squad before next autumn’s World Cup in Australia, and that includes Saturday night’s visit of Fiji to Aviva Stadium.

Whatever about the immediate challenge of boosting his team’s Nations Championship standing in the Northern Hemisphere rankings during the first three weeks of this month’s Test window, the head coach is on a twin mission to build a squad instilled with the belief it can mix it with the best in the game when it really matters, Down Under starting next October.