HE HAS JUST hopped onto the bus that ferries passengers from the terminal to the plane at London City Airport when Andy Farrell spots a familiar face from his flight over from Dublin earlier.
“How did it go?” says Farrell to a sharply turned-out Irishman.
“Great,” comes the reply.
“You got the deal signed then, well done,” says Farrell.
“So did you,” points out this fella, who Farrell met for the first time on his red-eye flight over to London for his unveiling as the Lions head coach for the 2025 tour of Australia.
A good day for the visitors from Ireland, then. With Farrell installed as the Lions boss, there have already been plenty of predictions that he will draw strongly on his Irish squad for the tour to Australia. But as Farrell himself pointed out, squad selection is a long way off in around 15 months. Plenty can change before then.
And while Farrell will be keeping the Lions in mind up until he formally starts his role in December 2024, he understands that he has a massive job on his hands this year with Ireland.
His most recent outing with Ireland was hugely disappointing as they came up short against New Zealand in the World Cup quarter-finals and now he is facing into a new chapter without the immense influence of Johnny Sexton.
The upcoming Six Nations is the first one Ireland head into without Sexton since 2009. Maybe Jack Crowley or someone else will step in at number 10 and shoot the lights out straight away. Perhaps a new leader of such talismanic force will emerge in the coming months. It might be that others’ tactical control goes to a new level, that someone else becomes the player/attack Sexton was, but all of that is uncertain. It seems more likely that Sexton’s absence will be unmissable.
Another of Farrell’s leaders, Keith Earls, has retired. While he was no longer a first-choice player at the end of his career, the Limerick man was cherished by Farrell for his influence on others and the character he brought to the group.
There are injury issues on the right wing with Mack Hansen and Jimmy O’Brien ruled out of the championship, while other key players have yet to show their best form in the wake of the World Cup. It could be that some are still negotiating their way through the dejection of not fulfilling their belief that they would win the thing.
Those are the challenges but we know that Farrell is good at framing things to bring energy and optimism. He will underline the opportunities there for everyone as this Ireland team attempt to defend their Grand Slam, a rare feat.
Glancing ahead to the summer, Ireland will travel to South Africa to take on the reigning back-to-back world champions in a two-Test series that promises to be brutal and brilliant. Their recent battles have been riveting and the Springboks will feel they have a score to settle with Ireland.
For Farrell and co., it will be a demanding trip at the end of a long season but, again, the Ireland boss will tee it up as the chance for a first-ever series success on South African soil.
The autumn of 2024 promises a few more blockbusters, with Ireland set to face at least two of New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa in yet-to-be-announced Tests. Farrell did not want to miss out on those big nights in Dublin to start the Lions job earlier.
So 2024 is a huge year for Ireland. There’s lots to look forward to but it’s impossible not to look back too given what happened a few months ago in France.
Yesterday was the first time we’ve seen Farrell in a media setting since his post-match press conference immediately after the All Blacks defeat, so it would have been remiss not to ask him about the World Cup.
Fascinatingly, Farrell veered away from the “fine margins” slant that has come from Irish coaches and players themselves since that 28-24 loss to New Zealand in October.
“It can’t just be down to fine margins or the bounce of a ball, or luck,” said Farrell when asked what he had learned as a coach from last year’s World Cup.
“You’ve got to cover more bases than that and have to fight harder to make sure you’re successful.
“To play some good rugby and play some fighting rugby that everyone wants to see and get behind, blah, blah, blah, is all well and good, but you’ve got to stay with it for the duration.”
So what can his teams, whether Ireland or the Lions, do better to prevent the fine margins from coming into the equation?
“You’ve obviously got to cover all bases in regards to different ramifications, minute-by-minute, second-by-second in the international arena and at the highest order which is a Lions tour,” said Farrell.
“If you start games regularly well just because your set-piece is strong, your breakdown is strong, to presume it is going to be like that for every second of every game is pretty hard to obtain but that’s what you should be striving for.”
While Farrell has become highly regarded for creating a warm, fun environment for his Ireland team, it was notable yesterday how often he flagged winning as the real key in rugby.
That’s what has driven him since his days playing league for Wigan as a teenager. And while he has come to approach some things differently as he has matured, his hunger to win has never faded. In fact, it’s greater than ever after what happened in the World Cup.
“100%. Literally after the final whistle, there’s nothing bittersweet about it… it’s not bitter, you just learn,” said Farrell.
“It’s just life, isn’t it? You get on with it and try to get better.”
Farrell believes that this Lions tour in 2025 will be another part of that process of improvement.
The Ireland job was his first head coaching role and he wants to keep learning. Farrell is sure that touring with the Lions in 2025 after a big year with Ireland will keep those wheels turning.
“I’m going to get better as a coach and learn even more, hence why I want to coach [Ireland] in the autumn,” said Farrell.
“We’re coaching against huge, mammoth Southern Hemisphere teams in the autumn and to miss that opportunity would be tragic for me as a coach and my development.
“I love coaching. That’s what I am, a coach.”
