THE FIVE UNCAPPED players in Andy Farrell’s squad to tour New Zealand may have taken the headlines yesterday but there will be new faces on the sidelines too.
As Farrell unveiled his 40-man squad list for the tour, an interesting footnote was the inclusion of Connacht senior coach Pete Wilkins, with the Englishman set to ‘assist in team preparation’ across the five-game tour.
It looks a smart move. Wilkins has helped take Connacht’s attacking game to a new level and is known for his strike-plays. Ireland have previous in this department too, of course, with Ronan O’Gara, Felix Jones and Girvan Dempsey all joining Joe Schmidt’s Ireland squad on their tour of Japan and the USA in 2017.
And Farrell believes Wilkins has the tools to make a real impact on this summer’s tour, a challenge he believes will be ‘priceless’ for his squad.
“He’s everything in the game,” Farrell said.
“He started off as a skills coach and recently with Connacht he’s coached their defence and last year coached their attack so he knows all aspects of the game very well. And it’s good for us to get somebody in from the outside as well, to give us feedback along the way.
“We are pretty joined up as an Irish nation – as far as rugby is concerned anyway. We’ve got good relationships with all of the provinces and this is a big tour.
“We have five coaches including myself and we will need all hands on deck. This is a Lions-esque tour, certainly for the first Test match week and with the Maoris in the third Test match week, so there are going to be many moving parts that are different, which is great in a way as well because it gets people out of their comfort zone.”
Of the five uncapped players included, there were no major surprises.
Leinster lock Joe McCarthy – who only made his debut for the province earlier this year – was fast-tracked in to train with the Ireland squad during the Six Nations, while versatile Leinster backs Ciarán Frawley and Jimmy O’Brien, Connacht backrow Cian Prendergast and Munster loosehead Jeremy Loughman have all also spent time in camp.
“Jimmy, he’s been in camp before and I was very impressed with… you find out in regards to how a player handles coming into camp, whether he can get up to speed very quickly, whether he’s able to handle the pressure of performing with peers that are of a very high standard and he fitted in very well because he’s a well-balanced player,” Farrell explained.
“He can play many positions, he’s got many aspects to his game that are pretty good and on a tour like this, people like that become an integral part of it.
As far as Cian Prendergast, well, like a few others that’s in the group, there’s potential there that we hope will blossom on a tour like this. We think he’s got the attitude, the nature to put his best foot forward and be himself on a tour like this. Where some lads would see it as a daunting task, his mentality is completely different to that.
“Like every squad there’s always going to be an element of potential, there’s always got to be an element of giving people a chance to grab hold of an opportunity, a chance to see how they work in our environment.
“Jeremy’s not been in too much, but it’s a position we need to grow. We see potential in Jeremy, but the likes of Jeremy – he’s got to make sure that he grabs his chance.
“I’d a chat with him this morning, actually, about the exact situation; this is his chance and this is where he steps up to the plate or not. This is where we find strength in depth, to see if people can handle pressure at the highest level.
“I’ve been super impressed with Joe, he came into camp for two days (during the Six Nations) and was himself straight away. He adapted very quickly.
“He added to the quality of the training session and it just goes to show, because of all that, he’s played in some big games at the end of the season.
“Although there were one or two errors in his game (against the Bulls) at the weekend, I thought he was excellent.
“He offered himself constantly, he was a threat to the line, he’s got good footwork, great work-rate, good field awareness, he’s not trying to play tidy all the time – he gets off the line, he’s a menace at the breakdown.
“There’s tremendous potential there, hopefully we’ll come away with a gem at the end of this tour with Joe.”
- Originally published at 07.45
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
