ONE OF THE greatest gifts Andy Farrell has given his Ireland team is genuine belief.
This has been a few years in the making. He brought in performance coach Gary Keegan to help with the project, initially on a part-time basis but then full-time in the last couple of seasons to drive it on. Keegan knows all about winning and high performance.
Farrell appreciates that the mental side of the game is as important as the physical and technical and tactical.
All of these parts work together. So Farrell has pushed for his players to use their skills. In fact, early in his tenure, he asked the Irish players why they shouldn’t be able to play the most skillful, intelligent style of rugby of anyone in the world. Why was that reserved for teams like the All Blacks?
Irish players didn’t really see themselves as intuitive and creative. Under Joe Schmidt, it had been about nailing the detail and being in the right place at the right time. That was wildly successful for a long time, but the players almost became a little robotic.
Traditionally, Irish players had prided themselves on being full of heart and passion, of being able to get to big emotional peaks when they pulled off important wins. But there’s a limit to how effective all of that is.
So Farrell challenged them to believe that they could play a different type of rugby and he challenged themselves to start believing they could genuinely be the best team in the world.
It has taken lots of hard work, with plenty of bumps in the road along the way, but the end product is that Ireland head into a World Cup quarter-final against the All Blacks with the tag of favourites resting comfortably.
“I suppose an inferiority complex is what’s happened in the past in terms of getting to world number one and thinking that we’re going to fall off a cliff because this shouldn’t be happening to Ireland,” said Farrell yesterday.
“But what we’ve tried to do is throw ourselves into challenges and meet them head-on and embrace that.
“We don’t want to be second best, we want to be first best.
“We also realise that people are chasing you down hard. You’ve seen that with the All Blacks over the last 20 years, that’s why they’re so respected because it’s very hard to stay at the top.
“The guys that are the favourites are the ones I’ve always looked at throughout my career and envied really, because of how hard it is to do that.
“It’s the place we want to be. If you’re serious about getting better and being the team that you want to be, that’s the world that you’ve got to live in.”
This is why Farrell said this week, with all the pressure of knock-out rugby, is “proper living.” He genuinely loves it and he has pushed his players to want it too.
Self-belief is no guarantee of success, of course, but it certainly does no harm.
And at the same time, Farrell knows that it’s only natural for his players to feel anxiety.
Whereas human beings often try to fight that feeling, Ireland have been training themselves to acknowledge the sensation and move past it.
“Of course, things start to creep in, but we’ve tools and experience to combat all that,” said Farrell.
“The main part is to remember that we’re a bloody good team that play together and when we do that, you’re not on your own, are you, so you can get away from those type of thoughts.”
Ireland’s confidence is starting to rub off on their supporters. Before the pool-clinching victory over Scotland last weekend, it was evident how many of the Irish fans felt their side would win and win well.
There didn’t seem to be any great apprehension about Irish rugby’s history in this competition and while there might be a bit more of it this weekend, there are plenty of fans who will travel to Paris with conviction their team will win.
Farrell is excited that the Green Army will be a big part of it all.
“We know they’re going to turn up in their droves again,” said the Ireland boss.
“And not just that, the French people, the local people that are coming and singing their national anthem… we feel like they’re part of that occasion, we’re enjoying that as well.”
The world is watching and under Farrell, Ireland want it that way.