THE CULT OF the head coach lives on in rugby. There are countless people around them who play a part – forwards coaches, skills coaches, nutritionists, mental skills experts, logistics managers, physiotherapists, S&C specialists… the list goes on.
But this sport focuses on the figure at the top of the pile. Perhaps it’s not truly reflective of how collective an effort rugby is, but there’s a reason we concentrate so much on the likes of Andy Farrell. There is a force to their personalities that you just cannot miss, a magnetism that invites others to buy into the plan.
The culture Farrell has created with Ireland is one where players have autonomy, where they feel comfortable being themselves. Farrell would stress that it’s not all about him, but he’s the one making the decision for the environment to be that way. This Ireland team is completely in his image.
The same is true of France and Fabien Galthié, or of Rassie Erasmus and South Africa. Their assistant coaches are crucial, of course. Shaun Edwards has been integral to les Bleus and Jacques Nienaber is key to the Springboks, just as Paul O’Connell is highly influential in Ireland camp.
Even still, Galthié, Erasmus, and Farrell make the decisions to give these coaches space to influence their players. No one is going to really blame those assistants if things go pear-shaped. The top man takes the vast majority of the heat.
Farrell has exuded composure since taking on the Ireland job, even when things weren’t going great at the start. He sensed it would take time to change the Irish habits and mindset. He was right, but it was worth the wait.
The Englishman was renowned as a tough man when he was putting together a legendary rugby league career and then switching into union. As a defence coach, he was famed for inspirational speeches that included phrases like “f*cking destroy and enjoy” and “let’s take them to the hurt arena.”
Farrell still has an edge about him. As we saw in Bordeaux on Thursday, he’s not afraid to voice his displeasure. He can be cutting if it’s needed, but it rarely is. Instead, what has surprised most about Farrell in his first head coach role is the soft touch he brings.
Irish players don’t live in fear of making mistakes and are encouraged to enjoy each other’s company. Backed by IRFU performance director David Nucifora, Farrell has done everything in his power to make Ireland’s players happy and focused on the job. He wants no excuses, so takes the possibility away.
He has warmly embraced the player’s families. Some head coaches just wouldn’t consider having the families around as much as Ireland do. The players’ loved ones have been with them every step of the way. Take this World Cup, for example.
At Farrell’s behest, the IRFU has arranged charter flights in and out of France for every match weekend for the players’ wives, partners, and kids. Hotels and match tickets have been sorted too. In times gone by, all of these logistics were stressful for the players. Now there is simply no worry at all.
At the same time as making sure the players are comfortable off the pitch, he has enjoyed challenging them to handle adversity on it. It was a failing of Ireland’s in the past that when they hit a speed bump they’d lose their nerve behind the wheel. Farrell has tried to teach them how to patch things up, smile through the ordeal, and accelerate out the other side. His decision to add Gary Keegan to the set-up permanently in 2022 has been a huge part of this. In a field where there are undoubtedly some spoofers, Keegan’s expertise in mental skills has been appreciated by the Irish players. The pressure of a World Cup will be the litmus test of this work.
The other surprise about Farrell has been his vision for the team on the pitch. Given that he was a defence coach for the best part of a decade, you wondered how he would approach the attacking side of the game. Ireland took time to get motoring but in November 2021, Farrell’s plan became clear as the slick, fluid, multi-option attack that has become so familiar was fully unleashed for the first time. Mike Catt has the ‘attack coach’ title with Ireland but their approach is Farrell’s philosophy.
There is complexity to Ireland’s attack, of course, but Farrell speaks about rugby in simple, clear, concise terms. He believes that if players are connected, make good decisions, and work hard, the results will follow. His clarity of communication on this side of the game has been welcomed.
Another way in which Farrell has surprised has been how he speaks to the players behind the scenes. Those who have been there say he can often catch the squad off guard with his words after matches. Sometimes they’ll expect anger or disappointment from Farrell and he’ll actually pick them up. Other times, they’ll be happy with themselves and Farrell will take a more critical, demanding viewpoint.
After their first Test defeat in New Zealand last year, despondent Irish players sat in the changing room at Eden Park possibly expecting a bollicking, but Farrell came in and calmly told them that they would win the second and third Tests. He was certain the scoreline hadn’t been reflective of the two teams’ quality. He was right.
While Farrell is a firm decision-maker himself, he has been willing to give those around him space to have an influence. The decision to bring O’Connell into the fold in early 2021 has been pivotal for Ireland, with almost immediate results. The players love O’Connell’s attention to detail, his relentless winning mindset, and his training-ground expertise. O’Connell clearly loves his role being so intently focused on the nitty-gritty of the rugby while Farrell takes care of the bigger picture.
One of Farrell’s other key moves was wedding himself to Johnny Sexton by making the veteran out-half his captain. Sexton had skippered Ireland for just the first time at the 2019 World Cup against Russia when he was 34.
Farrell could have gone with someone else, Peter O’Mahony or James Ryan perhaps, but Sexton was ecstatic with the honour. He was Farrell’s public defender in that tricky early period, telling us all that it would come good. Sexton was right and he has been reinvigorated as a player after that tough 2019.
There’s nothing like triumph to convince people to support a sports team but it’s a plain fact that some Irish people would enjoy seeing this team fail. There is a begrudgery towards Irish rugby in some parts of the country that might not ever shift. But it has surely helped that Farrell is a man of the people.
He might not be Irish but he is from a working-class background, he comes across as salt of the earth, and he has had to battle for everything he has gained. That helps to make him a likeable figure and an ideal figurehead for the Irish rugby team.
Farrell has won a Grand Slam, a series in New Zealand, and has notched a few other major wins as Ireland boss. All along, though, he has been thinking about this World Cup and how best to approach it.
Can he join the exclusive club of World Cup-winning coaches? Many people would say no, but Farrell has surprised us all before.
