WHEN THE FIRST cuts were confirmed on Wednesday evening, they came with little warning.
While Andy Farrell had hinted that he might whittle his squad down before the announcement of his final 33 for the World Cup on Monday 28 August, Ireland hadn’t indicated any schedule for releasing the first crop of players.
So when the IRFU sent out a 75-word statement to let people know that Gavin Coombes, Caolin Blade, Calvin Nash, Jamie Osborne, and Kieran Treadwell had been cut ahead of Saturday’s clash with England, there was surprise in many quarters.
Initially, the intimation from Ireland camp was that everyone would get a shot in one of the three warm-up games but Farrell confirmed that wasn’t going to be the case after their win over Italy two weekends ago. Coombes, Osborne, and Treadwell are gone without a pre-season outing. They’ll need to rebound from the disappointment quickly and be ready if injuries result in a recall.
Speaking yesterday, Ireland boss Farrell explained that he felt the time was right to reduce the number of players in his wider squad, with the previous 42 now down to 38 after a call-up for Jeremy Loughman to cover the injured Dave Kilcoyne.
“I don’t like putting dates on things because it has to be a feel, what’s right for the group, and you get a sense of where the group is going and what needs to happen for it to kick on,” said Farrell.
“I suppose we’ve kept a lot of players a lot longer than other nations have, there’s reasons for that.
“There has to be times when you narrow it down, we go to France for a week next week to Biarritz, playing in Bayonne [against Samoa]. Getting the numbers down is pretty important with the numbers that we’ll have in the World Cup, etc.
“It’s more of a feel than anything else.”
The reality is that Farrell has had the vast majority of his squad picked for some time now. But he insisted that his mind remains open ahead of the announcement in a week-and-a-half’s time.
“We obviously are close and we’ve been juggling with it all the way through,” said Farrell.
“We’ve known in the background what that should or could look like but at the same time, we have a look at what’s been happening week in, week out, and different permutations on who’s fit and who doesn’t perform, etc.
“It changes your mind all the time because that guy could be a utility player for example and he covers three or four or five positions. So, we’ll see how we go again after this weekend and next.”
Many of the other World Cup teams have already named their final 33-man World Cup squads, but Farrell felt it was important to keep a bigger group connected in Ireland camp for as long as possible.
“I’ve been in so many groups, I can understand why guys do narrow it down quickly because people can be a hindrance if they feel that they might not be involved,” said Farrell.
“Doom and gloom around the corridors is not good. We don’t have that with any of our players. Every single player that came into the squad initially has done nothing but be the best team-mate they could possibly be.
“When you take into account where we are today and after our last warm-up game against Samoa, we’re still six weeks to the quarter-final, nine weeks until hopefully a final.
“It’s a long time to be disconnected, especially when the provinces are at the stage of their pre-season which is nowhere near where we’re at.
“Having said that, we’re pretty joined-up in the sense that the players who have just gone back have got the continuation of a programme.
“And the other guys who drop out will go into the provincial warm-up games that have been arranged to keep them going, keep them connected, making sure that when things do happen – and they will – they’ll be ready.”
