ANDY FARRELL SAID he will discuss his future with the IRFU following the Six Nations.

The Ireland head coach’s current contract expires after the 2027 World Cup and he has recently been linked with a possible move to Saracens, where he previously played and coached, at that stage.

However, the IRFU is understood to be keen to keep Farrell onboard beyond the World Cup.

And the Ireland boss indicated that he will sit down with the union to discuss that possibility when the Six Nations is over.

“I mean, you’d expect me to say that I’m here to just concentrate on the Six Nations and what will be will be in the future,” said Farrell.

“But I suppose it’s people [putting] two and two together and making five with the connections: good friends with the owner, Owen’s there, all of that.

“You can see why that’s happened but I suppose we’ll sit down and have discussions with the IRFU in the near future, that’s for sure.”

Talks about Farrell’s future will have to wait for now as he and his team look to finish out this Six Nations strongly against Wales on Friday night and then Scotland the following weekend. Two wins would see Ireland retain the Triple Crown.

Farrell has made five changes to his starting XV, two of them injury-enforced, for the clash with Wales, while Nathan Doak will get his first Ireland cap off the bench as fellow replacements Tom Stewart and Tom Farrell make their Six Nations debuts.

“I wouldn’t say rotation,” said Farrell of his selection. “I’d say whatever’s right for the team and the group going forward. I’m making sure that we’re able to find out about people who deserve a chance to compete for a shirt.

“I suppose there’s all sorts of different dynamics within that squad. Somebody like Tom Stewart, he deserves to battle for the number two shirt because he’s been outstanding with how he’s conducted himself within the camp over the last few weeks. So he needs an opportunity to be able to show what he can do under the lights here on Friday night.

“And then you’ve other guys, certainly like the likes of Robert Baloucoune or even Stu McCloskey, who get to back up good performances.

“I’m making sure that that is a consistent thing, that they’re able to keep pushing on with the game. So, I mean, we could go through the whole group in that regard, really.”

Wales have made three changes to their side to visit the Aviva Stadium and while they are big underdogs, Farrell said he is anticipating a tough test for his team.

“It’s been written many times about the decline and how unfortunate it’s been, but at the same time we’re playing them in a Test match on Friday night and, from what I’ve seen from game one, like ourselves, they’ve got better every week,” said Farrell.

“Last week, they came very close to winning against a very strong Scottish squad. Therefore, we’ve heard from the Welsh camp the confidence they’ve got from that.

“They’re coming to Dublin on a Friday night with a spring in their step. We’ve heard that they’re very familiar with how our lads play, because of the familiarity with the URC and all of that.

“What influences that is probably the result last year against us, so it’s up to us to show that we’ve moved on as well.”