IT HAS NEVER been the case before that Andy Farrell has to pick a Six Nations team for the third weekend in a row.
The novelty and the challenge of this year’s championship is that it’s a week shorter, so the opening three rounds are on consecutive weekends, followed by a rest week, then the final two rounds.
So after a torrid defeat in Paris and a tense victory against Italy on Saturday, Ireland immediately switch their focus to causing an upset against England at Twickenham.
Despite England’s defeat to Scotland on Saturday, Farrell’s men will travel as underdogs, with the English being given 11-point favouritism in some quarters.
As Steve Borthwick’s men will undoubtedly be fired up to rebound and get their Six Nations title bid back on track at home, it is likely to take a high-quality performance from Ireland this Saturday.
As ever, selection will be key. Farrell indicated that Garry Ringrose was the only new injury concern from the Italy game, with the outside centre needing medical attention on his right knee after getting his leg trapped awkwardly in a tackle in the closing stages.
“He said he felt fine with strapping or whatever, so I don’t know, we’ll see,” said Farrell.
After a fine outing for the Irish outside backs against Italy, you sense that Farrell would like continuity there for the England clash.
Jamie Osborne had one of his best games at fullback for Ireland, showing confidence and skill in equal measure, while the recalled James Lowe underlined that he is still an excellent power wing with a brilliant performance.
Lowe was omitted for the France game, with Jacob Stockdale preferred, but he proved a point on Saturday.
“I mean, people write him off,” said Farrell. “These lads, it matters to them.
Robert Baloucoune took his chance on the right wing with aplomb, beginning his Six Nations debut with a good aerial win and going on to show his class on both sides of the ball.
His finish in the second half was thrillingly athletic and backing him against England seems like a no-brainer.
“It’s huge,” said Farrell of Baloucoune seizing his opportunity. “We don’t take these things lightly by swapping the team around. We swap it for all sorts of reasons and one of them is to give people an opportunity to show what they can do at this level.
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“I suppose it’s tough for anyone when their international career is stop-start, and there’s reasons for that with injury and so on. It can be frustrating, you can lose confidence and so on.
“And for him to have not played that much rugby this year, but to come into camp and show us he’s worthy of a start like that, and to back it up, is really pleasing.”
In a similar vein, blindside flanker Cormac Izuchukwu impressed as he also made his Six Nations debut.
Izuchukwu carried well seven times and did some excellent work in defence, claimed a team-leading four Irish lineout throws, while an important second-half lineout steal in the Irish 22 was probably the highlight moment.
“That’s his point of difference,” said Farrell. “He would have led the defensive lineout stuff for us all week. He’s a fantastic lineout forward.”
With Caelan Doris muscular at openside and Jack Conan providing momentum from number eight, there will surely be strong temptation to crack on with that trio again in London.
“I thought Caelan was fighting hard to show with his leadership of ‘follow me’ by how he acts. We know he’s a world-class player,” said Farrell.
“He’s been trying to fight back to his best form. I thought today he went a long way to get it back to that. I thought he was outstandingly strong in his carry.
“He took some stopping and he’s always going to be a threat over the ball as well.”
However, Nick Timoney shone off the bench once again and Farrell will also consider a recall for Josh van der Flier, who started against France but was left out of the matchday 23 for the Italy game.
Lowe’s response to being dropped for Paris shows what even a brief stint on the outside can do.
“There’s a few people that were disappointed not to play today and they’ll certainly be hoping that they can put the handle for selection this week,” said Farrell.
Second row James Ryan was superb for Ireland on Saturday, having excelled off the bench against France, so he looks like a certain starter this weekend.
Joe McCarthy had some good involvements in contact and will hope to have done enough to go again versus the English, although Farrell may be keen to bring Tadhg Beirne back into the starting XV after he was used off the bench against Italy.
Beirne can play at blindside flanker too, which would potentially see Izuchukwu going to the impact role from the bench. So there are a few ways that Farrell could go with the back five of his scrum.
The front row will be of chief concern, given how Italy dismantled the Irish scrum for a large part of Saturday’s game, winning four penalties and a free-kick in that area. Some of their wins involved total dominance of the Irish pack.
Farrell praised Tom O’Toole heavily for his impact off the bench at loosehead, as he helped Ireland to steady the ship in the final two scrums of the game. Despite his lack of experience there, the Ulster man is a live option to start in the number one shirt, which Jeremy Loughman has worn in the opening two rounds.
Rónan Kelleher is considered a stronger scrummager than Dan Sheehan, so he will be in firm consideration for a start too, while Tadhg Furlong was always likely to start against England having made his return off the bench on Saturday.
“This is very different, isn’t it, for a good number of those front rows who have had to come in because of the injuries and it’s new experiences for them,” said Farrell of the pressure Ireland were under at the scrum, with firm echoes of the Springboks defeat in November.
“But also today, I think it’s good learning for the experienced ones like Tadhg and Dan and Rónan, etc.
“But the overriding part of it for me is that we was obviously under pressure against an excellent, dynamic, powerful Italian scrum but Tom O’Toole came through with flying colours and that was a fantastic story.”
Tom O'Toole will be in contention to start at loosehead. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
Farrell said he was delighted to have given Edwin Edogbo his debut, with the Munster lock making his power felt on the tighthead side in those last two scrums.
The Ireland boss felt the penalty against Edogbo late on at the breakdown was tough.
“It’s frustrating,” said Farrell. “He was told to get off the ball. And he did and he still got penalised. So I don’t know what he’s supposed to do, but anyway, we’ll look at that.”
In the Irish midfield, the outstanding Stuart McCloskey will continue at number 12 after another whopper of a display against Italy, while Farrell will hope to have Ringrose available after a subtly influential performance on Saturday. McCloskey stole the show, but Ringrose made lots of positive contributions.
Jamison Gibson-Park will be back at number nine after a lively, composed impact off the bench against the Italians. Craig Casey was handed a start on Saturday but he was left with a broken nose, as well as a yellow card.
“They’ll say that it’s his duty to get lower, but sometimes it shocks you, you know, when somebody steps back into you or whatever,” said Farrell of that high tackle incident.
“It needs cleaning up in my opinion, because you get a broken nose and you didn’t even know that it happened. It’s hard to take, isn’t it?”
Meanwhile, Jack Crowley put his hand up for a start at out-half after making a clear impact upon replacing Sam Prendergast on Saturday.
Farrell hopes that Irish supporters will all get behind whoever he picks at number 10, but it’s going to continue to cause lots of debate.
Whoever is in his team and on his bench, Farrell underlined that Ireland need to be better at backing up the good moments they’re having in games.
“Well, for example, you score an excellent try and then you try and play too much rugby in your own 22 and you get turned over,” said Farrell. “Moments like that stop the flow.
“And we need to be better at a few bits of our game management as well. On penalty advantage, for example, I thought we could have scored two tries if we hadn’t kicked the ball away too early. So those are bits that we need to tidy up.”
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Selection decisions for Farrell as Ireland aim to upset England
IT HAS NEVER been the case before that Andy Farrell has to pick a Six Nations team for the third weekend in a row.
The novelty and the challenge of this year’s championship is that it’s a week shorter, so the opening three rounds are on consecutive weekends, followed by a rest week, then the final two rounds.
So after a torrid defeat in Paris and a tense victory against Italy on Saturday, Ireland immediately switch their focus to causing an upset against England at Twickenham.
Despite England’s defeat to Scotland on Saturday, Farrell’s men will travel as underdogs, with the English being given 11-point favouritism in some quarters.
As Steve Borthwick’s men will undoubtedly be fired up to rebound and get their Six Nations title bid back on track at home, it is likely to take a high-quality performance from Ireland this Saturday.
As ever, selection will be key. Farrell indicated that Garry Ringrose was the only new injury concern from the Italy game, with the outside centre needing medical attention on his right knee after getting his leg trapped awkwardly in a tackle in the closing stages.
“He said he felt fine with strapping or whatever, so I don’t know, we’ll see,” said Farrell.
After a fine outing for the Irish outside backs against Italy, you sense that Farrell would like continuity there for the England clash.
Jamie Osborne had one of his best games at fullback for Ireland, showing confidence and skill in equal measure, while the recalled James Lowe underlined that he is still an excellent power wing with a brilliant performance.
Lowe was omitted for the France game, with Jacob Stockdale preferred, but he proved a point on Saturday.
“I mean, people write him off,” said Farrell. “These lads, it matters to them.
“I thought that he was outstanding today.”
Robert Baloucoune took his chance on the right wing with aplomb, beginning his Six Nations debut with a good aerial win and going on to show his class on both sides of the ball.
His finish in the second half was thrillingly athletic and backing him against England seems like a no-brainer.
“It’s huge,” said Farrell of Baloucoune seizing his opportunity. “We don’t take these things lightly by swapping the team around. We swap it for all sorts of reasons and one of them is to give people an opportunity to show what they can do at this level.
“I suppose it’s tough for anyone when their international career is stop-start, and there’s reasons for that with injury and so on. It can be frustrating, you can lose confidence and so on.
“And for him to have not played that much rugby this year, but to come into camp and show us he’s worthy of a start like that, and to back it up, is really pleasing.”
In a similar vein, blindside flanker Cormac Izuchukwu impressed as he also made his Six Nations debut.
Izuchukwu carried well seven times and did some excellent work in defence, claimed a team-leading four Irish lineout throws, while an important second-half lineout steal in the Irish 22 was probably the highlight moment.
“That’s his point of difference,” said Farrell. “He would have led the defensive lineout stuff for us all week. He’s a fantastic lineout forward.”
With Caelan Doris muscular at openside and Jack Conan providing momentum from number eight, there will surely be strong temptation to crack on with that trio again in London.
“I thought Caelan was fighting hard to show with his leadership of ‘follow me’ by how he acts. We know he’s a world-class player,” said Farrell.
“He’s been trying to fight back to his best form. I thought today he went a long way to get it back to that. I thought he was outstandingly strong in his carry.
“He took some stopping and he’s always going to be a threat over the ball as well.”
However, Nick Timoney shone off the bench once again and Farrell will also consider a recall for Josh van der Flier, who started against France but was left out of the matchday 23 for the Italy game.
Lowe’s response to being dropped for Paris shows what even a brief stint on the outside can do.
“There’s a few people that were disappointed not to play today and they’ll certainly be hoping that they can put the handle for selection this week,” said Farrell.
Second row James Ryan was superb for Ireland on Saturday, having excelled off the bench against France, so he looks like a certain starter this weekend.
Joe McCarthy had some good involvements in contact and will hope to have done enough to go again versus the English, although Farrell may be keen to bring Tadhg Beirne back into the starting XV after he was used off the bench against Italy.
Beirne can play at blindside flanker too, which would potentially see Izuchukwu going to the impact role from the bench. So there are a few ways that Farrell could go with the back five of his scrum.
The front row will be of chief concern, given how Italy dismantled the Irish scrum for a large part of Saturday’s game, winning four penalties and a free-kick in that area. Some of their wins involved total dominance of the Irish pack.
Farrell praised Tom O’Toole heavily for his impact off the bench at loosehead, as he helped Ireland to steady the ship in the final two scrums of the game. Despite his lack of experience there, the Ulster man is a live option to start in the number one shirt, which Jeremy Loughman has worn in the opening two rounds.
Rónan Kelleher is considered a stronger scrummager than Dan Sheehan, so he will be in firm consideration for a start too, while Tadhg Furlong was always likely to start against England having made his return off the bench on Saturday.
“This is very different, isn’t it, for a good number of those front rows who have had to come in because of the injuries and it’s new experiences for them,” said Farrell of the pressure Ireland were under at the scrum, with firm echoes of the Springboks defeat in November.
“But also today, I think it’s good learning for the experienced ones like Tadhg and Dan and Rónan, etc.
“But the overriding part of it for me is that we was obviously under pressure against an excellent, dynamic, powerful Italian scrum but Tom O’Toole came through with flying colours and that was a fantastic story.”
Farrell said he was delighted to have given Edwin Edogbo his debut, with the Munster lock making his power felt on the tighthead side in those last two scrums.
The Ireland boss felt the penalty against Edogbo late on at the breakdown was tough.
“It’s frustrating,” said Farrell. “He was told to get off the ball. And he did and he still got penalised. So I don’t know what he’s supposed to do, but anyway, we’ll look at that.”
In the Irish midfield, the outstanding Stuart McCloskey will continue at number 12 after another whopper of a display against Italy, while Farrell will hope to have Ringrose available after a subtly influential performance on Saturday. McCloskey stole the show, but Ringrose made lots of positive contributions.
Jamison Gibson-Park will be back at number nine after a lively, composed impact off the bench against the Italians. Craig Casey was handed a start on Saturday but he was left with a broken nose, as well as a yellow card.
“They’ll say that it’s his duty to get lower, but sometimes it shocks you, you know, when somebody steps back into you or whatever,” said Farrell of that high tackle incident.
“It needs cleaning up in my opinion, because you get a broken nose and you didn’t even know that it happened. It’s hard to take, isn’t it?”
Meanwhile, Jack Crowley put his hand up for a start at out-half after making a clear impact upon replacing Sam Prendergast on Saturday.
Farrell hopes that Irish supporters will all get behind whoever he picks at number 10, but it’s going to continue to cause lots of debate.
Whoever is in his team and on his bench, Farrell underlined that Ireland need to be better at backing up the good moments they’re having in games.
“Well, for example, you score an excellent try and then you try and play too much rugby in your own 22 and you get turned over,” said Farrell. “Moments like that stop the flow.
“And we need to be better at a few bits of our game management as well. On penalty advantage, for example, I thought we could have scored two tries if we hadn’t kicked the ball away too early. So those are bits that we need to tidy up.”
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