BY THE TIME you’re reading this, Andy Farrell’s Ireland will have done their World Cup review as a group. Well, they might be heading towards the end of it if things really dragged on.
Their first meeting together this afternoon, as they assembled in Dublin ahead of the Six Nations, involved discussing what they can learn from last year’s World Cup quarter-final exit at the hands of New Zealand.
This is standard practice, in fairness. Nearly every national team begins a new campaign by reviewing what they did the last time they were together. There has been plenty of URC and Champions Cup action since October but Ireland’s last outing together was a painful one. They want to be better than they were at the World Cup.
So today, they’ve been digging into some of the stuff they didn’t get right in France.
“We’ll be open and honest,” said Farrell earlier today at the Six Nations launch at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin.
“It’s the only way you move on, by addressing things and we’ll certainly be doing that over the next couple of weeks.”
Not that Farrell is still wallowing in the disappointment of Ireland coming up short in their goal to win the World Cup for the first time.
He was in cheery form this morning as he stressed that he is looking ahead, even if the review is part of that process. His sights are set on trying to beat France in Marseille on Friday 2 February as Ireland’s Grand Slam defence begins.
Mentally, he has already put the World Cup behind him.
“I’m over it,” said Farrell. “I don’t buy into either, is it bittersweet, everything that went on as far as the feeling within the World Cup? I was unbelievably proud of how we connected with our fans and did it together.
“That, for me, continues by how we get back on the horse and I’m not saying that will translate to another big W in Marseille, I’m not saying that. We’re talking about being proud about how we go about our business, to want to keep evolving our game.
“The journey continues. If you look at what we’ve got, first game in Marseille, unbelievable stadium, unbelievable atmosphere, a lot of the Irish who had flights for the [World Cup] semi-final, I heard a lot of them transferred them to Marseille so they’re expecting a performance from us.
“We’ve got to stand up to responsibilities like that. Again, it doesn’t guarantee us being successful. We’ve got to show fight and then the rest of the Six Nations is ahead of us.”
Farrell mentioned his excitement about the two-Test trip to South Africa in July too. In his eyes, it doesn’t get much better for players, coaches, and fans than having a series against the back-to-back world champions ahead this summer.
And while many people on the outside of this group see this Six Nations as the start of a completely new chapter for Ireland, particularly with Johnny Sexton and Keith Earls having retired, Farrell doesn’t buy into that narrative.
His 34-man Six Nations squad doesn’t include a raft of uncapped players – although seven of them are hoping for Six Nations debuts – and Farrell certainly isn’t thinking about a new four-year World Cup cycle leading up to 2027.
“Not for me,” said Farrell when he was asked if he sees this as the start of a new era.
“I don’t know what everyone else is saying but for me, if you look at the squad that we’ve picked over the last couple of years, we’ve capped a lot of players. A good few of them are under 10 caps or so and some have not been involved with the squad over the last 12 months, 16 months. So trying to grow the squad in that sense is pretty important.
“Is this a new start? It’s not because of everything we’ve been through. We want to continue to grow and continue to evolve our game and you don’t do that by cutting the legs off of it and going again.
“Competition for places is premium and it has to stay that way. This is the start of a new Six Nations. I don’t buy into the four-year cycle that comes around World Cups.”
Farrell says he has seen many examples of sides, both in rugby and other sports, who try to start again completely fresh and end up damaging the team and the individuals within it by doing so.
“Dealing with it here and now and the medium term is very important to be able to fix the long term in good shape, in my opinion,” said Farrell. “That’s my experience of it over the years.”
There will still be change for Ireland. There’s a new captain, for starters, with Farrell praising Peter O’Mahony as someone who can walk into a team environment and “make the room feel right.”
The injury-enforced absence of Mack Hansen means there’s an opening on the right wing, particularly as Jimmy O’Brien has also been ruled out of the Six Nations.
Farrell said there is an opportunity for Jacob Stockdale, Jordan Larmour, or Calvin Nash with Hansen missing, adding that he has an open mind around that selection and also Ireland’s number 10 jersey.
With Sexton having retired, Munster man Jack Crowley is the widespread favourite to take over as the starting out-half. Leinster’s Harry Byrne and Ciarán Frawley are also part of the Six Nations squad, while 20-year-old Sam Prendergast will join them in Portugal for a pre-championship training camp that kicks off on Wednesday.
Farrell said Frawley is “certainly” in the mix as an out-half along with Crowley and Byrne.
“Jack has been around for quite some time now and he’s seen how Johnny goes about his daily life and making sure Jack doesn’t get his place and making sure that Jack keeps on competing,” said Farrell.
“Now, Harry, the same train of thought, that Harry gets to work with Johnny every single day [in Leinster]. Hopefully how Johnny has been, certainly as a leader but more importantly for those guys as a number 10, a world-class, once-in-a-generation type of player, a number 10 over the last four or five years.
“If they haven’t learned something from that, and not just that, if they are not excited about wanting to take the challenge on and say, ‘I am going to make that my position,’ then we are going to get to find out about a lot of people’s characters and those three players in the next couple of weeks, that’s for sure.”
