SO MUCH OF what Andy Farrell has tried to do with Ireland in the last two years as they have built towards the World Cup has been about making things a little uncomfortable.
This is why he added two extra midweek games to last summer’s tour of New Zealand in between the Test series against the All Blacks. Trying to win a series down there for the first time ever wasn’t enough. Farrell willingly added more hassle to stretch his group.
Those midweek games were good for the development of players like Jimmy O’Brien, Craig Casey, Joe McCarthy, and Tom O’Toole, all of whom are now part of the World Cup squad. But the games were also a pain in the arse, one that Farrell sought out. They interrupted the usual rhythm of the training weeks. Farrell wanted Ireland’s squad stretched and strained like they will be in the coming weeks.
There was the Emerging Ireland tour last year too. It was deeply unpopular with the provinces and caused genuine friction between them and the IRFU, but Farrell and David Nucifora, the union’s performance director, felt it was the right thing to do.
Jack Crowley and McCarthy were among the standout performers and benefitted from working closely with senior Ireland attack coach Mike Catt and forwards coach Paul O’Connell, respectively. Farrell himself didn’t travel to South Africa but rather pushed his assistants to take ownership without him around.
Again, it was a nuisance in many ways but Farrell liked how it took players out of their comfort zone and then made them settle back into their provinces in search of more game time. Crowley never looked back.
Last November, Farrell pushed for an Ireland A game against the All Blacks XV to be added. There was no additional Ireland A coaching staff for the clash the evening before Ireland played South Africa. Instead, Farrell and his assistants doubled up.
It was a tough evening for the Irish side and it dented some fringe players’ hopes of senior involvement, but current World Cup squad members Casey, O’Toole, Jeremy Loughman, and McCarthy started, as did Cian Prendergast – who also played in New Zealand last summer and was close to making the World Cup squad.
While being cognisant of helping those fringe players to progress, Farrell has also been searching for means of testing how his Ireland players and coaches react to being pushed off kilter.
That’s why he was smiling at half time in Murrayfield this year when his starting pack had been decimated by injury. Cian Healy was going on at hooker, Josh van der Flier would throw into the lineout, and Farrell thought it was great.
That one wasn’t planned but Farrell welcomed the unexpected challenge with open arms.
“The key learnings are the scenarios that we’ve tried to put ourselves through in the last few years,” said Farrell when asked what he has taken from previous World Cup experiences with England and Ireland.
“Because you hear me say constantly about best-laid plans [not going right] and all that, it’s 100% that at a World Cup.
“The ones that get flustered with all that because they’re not ready for all different types of permutations are the ones that lose the plot.
“And the key to progressing in a competition like this is staying calm, keeping your feet under you, and making sure that you just roll with the punches and be the best version of yourself no matter what happens and have a no-excuse mentality.
“So we’ve tried to put ourselves in those types of positions before and we know what’s coming.”
We’ll soon find out how Ireland react if, or when, the proverbial hits the fan, as tends to be the case in World Cups. Whether or not the Irish history of disappointment in this tournament accentuates any wobbles remains to be seen. Farrell hopes his side have the mental fortitude to handle anything that’s thrown at them.
Ireland are perceived as being among the contenders but who knows what lies ahead?
“The pressures of the competition within itself, the history of all that, shows that it is going to be a wide-open competition,” said Farrell as his side look towards their opener against Romania next Saturday.
“So one step at a time. Let’s see if we can build some momentum.”
