WE KNEW THERE was likely to be a strong contingent of Irish players heading away on the Lions tour this summer, but it wasn’t clear just how many of his Ireland staff Andy Farrell would also call on for the trip to Australia.
Forwards coach Paul O’Connell is the only one left, and he has now been confirmed as Ireland interim head coach for the Tests against Georgia on 5 July in Tbilisi and Portugal on 12 July in Lisbon.
Those two Ireland Tests have yet to be officially confirmed, but an Irish recce to Georgia will be undertaken in the next week or so and an announcement should follow soon.
It will be interesting to see the exact make-up of the Irish coaching staff around O’Connell. Johnny Sexton has been working as a part-time assistant since last autumn but only became part of the matchday coaching staff for the last two games of this year’s Six Nations. It remains to be seen if he will go on tour in July.
The expectation is that the Ireland staff will be made up of coaches currently working with the provinces. Munster attack coach Mike Prendergast recently head-coached Ireland A and seems a strong contender to join O’Connell’s staff this summer.
Connacht’s Colm Tucker [scrum], Leinster’s Sean O’Brien [defence], Ulster’s Jimmy Duffy [forwards], and Connacht’s Mark Sexton [backs/assistant attack coach] made up the Ireland A staff for against England A and will surely be in the mix along with the likes of Munster defence coach Denis Leamy. The new Irish coaching team will be announced next week.
This tour will undoubtedly be a brilliant opportunity for O’Connell and his assistant coaches to further their development. That’s one of the major positives of so many of Ireland’s full-time coaches linking up with the Lions.
But the simple reality is that Ireland are heading into a Test match window shorn of nearly their complete coaching staff.
Head of athletic performance Aled Walters, who only joined Ireland in the autumn, and influential head of analytics Vinny Hammond are also heading on the Lions trip, so Ireland’s backroom has been gutted.
This Ireland tour won’t be hogging headlines on the back pages, but it’s clearly an important window for the development of the squad given that so many frontliners will be away with the Lions.
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Simon Easterby had been due to lead Ireland on tour. Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
Indeed, it seems like the ideal point for fringe players and promising youngsters to really put their hands up to become more prominent figures in the next few years, whether for the 2026 Six Nations or the 2027 World Cup.
Back in 2017, Joe Schmidt led Ireland to the US and Japan while the Lions tour was ongoing. Andrew Porter, James Ryan, and Jacob Stockdale were among eight players to make their debuts. Schmidt saw first-hand how talented they were and pushed them hard to improve. Eight months later, that trio played big roles in Ireland winning a Grand Slam.
Dan Leavy and Garry Ringrose had only a handful of caps between them before that 2017 tour, but they too benefitted and were key figures in the 2018 Slam and beyond in Ringrose’s case.
The focus is so often on the next World Cup, but getting back to the top of the next Six Nations is a priority for the IRFU. The difference between winning and finishing third, as they did this year, is around €5 million in prize money. Even before that, there’s a big four-Test window to come this November. And making history at the World Cup in 2027 is obviously a huge goal.
Farrell and the IRFU could justifiably argue that what happens in Australia this summer will have more relevance to those big objectives given the magnitude of the games Irish players and coaches will be involved in.
That’s true, but it’s still a shame that the touring Irish players won’t have the chance to work directly with most of Ireland’s full-time coaches, the men who make the big decisions around selection and tactics.
The original plan was that Easterby would lead this tour to Georgia and Portugal. When he was announced as interim head coach after Farrell got the Lions job, the IRFU stated that Easterby would be head-coaching Ireland this summer.
It seemed like excellent planning, providing continuity throughout this season and leaving Farrell’s trusted lieutenant in charge of an important window for the squad. It also seemed to be a marker of Easterby accepting that he was out of the Lions frame.
However, that plan seemingly changed recently as Farrell turned to Easterby to lead his Lions defence. Felix Jones might have been in the mix but for his decision to leave England and return to the Springboks. It’s understood France didn’t make Shaun Edwards available because they want him on their tour to New Zealand.
Andrew Goodman, John Fogarty and Simon Easterby will tour with the Lions. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
It’s a huge honour for Easterby to get the call and fully-deserved too. When Ireland won the Grand Slam in 2023, his defence was superb and the same was true when they earned another title in 2024. Ireland’s attack has drawn more plaudits over the last few years, but Easterby’s defence has been equally important.
So, Ireland are now going to a second interim head coach in O’Connell. Again, it’s brilliant for O’Connell to get a chance to learn in the top job and he is an invaluable figure in this set-up, but he has never been a head coach before.
That didn’t stop Farrell from making a success of his appointment as Ireland head coach, of course, but O’Connell stepping up even as interim head coach hadn’t been on the cards until the change of plan with Easterby.
What all of this means is that Irish players on tour this July won’t be working with head coach and attack leader Farrell, defence expert Easterby, scrum specialist Fogarty, assistant attack coach Goodman, analysis leader Hammond, or strength and conditioning boss Walters.
Nor will any of those key figures be seeing how Irish players handle the challenges on tour. They’ll be relying on second-hand reports about which personalities came to the fore, who shrank away, how everyone trained, and so on.
Furthermore, Ireland’s coaches won’t have this window together to drive things on when it comes to tactics in attack, defence, the set-piece, and kicking game. Their performances this season suggest evolution is required but that will largely have to wait until the autumn.
Clearly, the sense is that there is no drama with so many key personnel missing the two-Test tour and the IRFU will also understandably believe that everyone involved with the Lions will be much better for being part of something so big. It’s also worth pointing out that the IRFU is part of the Lions and makes money from these tours, so there is value aside from the rugby itself.
But it’s hard to shake the nagging feeling that Ireland’s summer tour is now diminished a little more than could have been the case.
It has the feel of an Emerging Ireland tour about it, but it certainly isn’t that. Ireland have two Test games ahead in a window that will hopefully give a handful of players chances to make a claim for starring roles in the future.
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O'Connell to lead important Ireland tour shorn of other Irish coaches
WE KNEW THERE was likely to be a strong contingent of Irish players heading away on the Lions tour this summer, but it wasn’t clear just how many of his Ireland staff Andy Farrell would also call on for the trip to Australia.
Forwards coach Paul O’Connell is the only one left, and he has now been confirmed as Ireland interim head coach for the Tests against Georgia on 5 July in Tbilisi and Portugal on 12 July in Lisbon.
Those two Ireland Tests have yet to be officially confirmed, but an Irish recce to Georgia will be undertaken in the next week or so and an announcement should follow soon.
It will be interesting to see the exact make-up of the Irish coaching staff around O’Connell. Johnny Sexton has been working as a part-time assistant since last autumn but only became part of the matchday coaching staff for the last two games of this year’s Six Nations. It remains to be seen if he will go on tour in July.
The expectation is that the Ireland staff will be made up of coaches currently working with the provinces. Munster attack coach Mike Prendergast recently head-coached Ireland A and seems a strong contender to join O’Connell’s staff this summer.
Connacht’s Colm Tucker [scrum], Leinster’s Sean O’Brien [defence], Ulster’s Jimmy Duffy [forwards], and Connacht’s Mark Sexton [backs/assistant attack coach] made up the Ireland A staff for against England A and will surely be in the mix along with the likes of Munster defence coach Denis Leamy. The new Irish coaching team will be announced next week.
This tour will undoubtedly be a brilliant opportunity for O’Connell and his assistant coaches to further their development. That’s one of the major positives of so many of Ireland’s full-time coaches linking up with the Lions.
But the simple reality is that Ireland are heading into a Test match window shorn of nearly their complete coaching staff.
Head of athletic performance Aled Walters, who only joined Ireland in the autumn, and influential head of analytics Vinny Hammond are also heading on the Lions trip, so Ireland’s backroom has been gutted.
This Ireland tour won’t be hogging headlines on the back pages, but it’s clearly an important window for the development of the squad given that so many frontliners will be away with the Lions.
Indeed, it seems like the ideal point for fringe players and promising youngsters to really put their hands up to become more prominent figures in the next few years, whether for the 2026 Six Nations or the 2027 World Cup.
Back in 2017, Joe Schmidt led Ireland to the US and Japan while the Lions tour was ongoing. Andrew Porter, James Ryan, and Jacob Stockdale were among eight players to make their debuts. Schmidt saw first-hand how talented they were and pushed them hard to improve. Eight months later, that trio played big roles in Ireland winning a Grand Slam.
Dan Leavy and Garry Ringrose had only a handful of caps between them before that 2017 tour, but they too benefitted and were key figures in the 2018 Slam and beyond in Ringrose’s case.
The focus is so often on the next World Cup, but getting back to the top of the next Six Nations is a priority for the IRFU. The difference between winning and finishing third, as they did this year, is around €5 million in prize money. Even before that, there’s a big four-Test window to come this November. And making history at the World Cup in 2027 is obviously a huge goal.
Farrell and the IRFU could justifiably argue that what happens in Australia this summer will have more relevance to those big objectives given the magnitude of the games Irish players and coaches will be involved in.
That’s true, but it’s still a shame that the touring Irish players won’t have the chance to work directly with most of Ireland’s full-time coaches, the men who make the big decisions around selection and tactics.
The original plan was that Easterby would lead this tour to Georgia and Portugal. When he was announced as interim head coach after Farrell got the Lions job, the IRFU stated that Easterby would be head-coaching Ireland this summer.
It seemed like excellent planning, providing continuity throughout this season and leaving Farrell’s trusted lieutenant in charge of an important window for the squad. It also seemed to be a marker of Easterby accepting that he was out of the Lions frame.
However, that plan seemingly changed recently as Farrell turned to Easterby to lead his Lions defence. Felix Jones might have been in the mix but for his decision to leave England and return to the Springboks. It’s understood France didn’t make Shaun Edwards available because they want him on their tour to New Zealand.
It’s a huge honour for Easterby to get the call and fully-deserved too. When Ireland won the Grand Slam in 2023, his defence was superb and the same was true when they earned another title in 2024. Ireland’s attack has drawn more plaudits over the last few years, but Easterby’s defence has been equally important.
So, Ireland are now going to a second interim head coach in O’Connell. Again, it’s brilliant for O’Connell to get a chance to learn in the top job and he is an invaluable figure in this set-up, but he has never been a head coach before.
That didn’t stop Farrell from making a success of his appointment as Ireland head coach, of course, but O’Connell stepping up even as interim head coach hadn’t been on the cards until the change of plan with Easterby.
What all of this means is that Irish players on tour this July won’t be working with head coach and attack leader Farrell, defence expert Easterby, scrum specialist Fogarty, assistant attack coach Goodman, analysis leader Hammond, or strength and conditioning boss Walters.
Nor will any of those key figures be seeing how Irish players handle the challenges on tour. They’ll be relying on second-hand reports about which personalities came to the fore, who shrank away, how everyone trained, and so on.
Furthermore, Ireland’s coaches won’t have this window together to drive things on when it comes to tactics in attack, defence, the set-piece, and kicking game. Their performances this season suggest evolution is required but that will largely have to wait until the autumn.
Clearly, the sense is that there is no drama with so many key personnel missing the two-Test tour and the IRFU will also understandably believe that everyone involved with the Lions will be much better for being part of something so big. It’s also worth pointing out that the IRFU is part of the Lions and makes money from these tours, so there is value aside from the rugby itself.
But it’s hard to shake the nagging feeling that Ireland’s summer tour is now diminished a little more than could have been the case.
It has the feel of an Emerging Ireland tour about it, but it certainly isn’t that. Ireland have two Test games ahead in a window that will hopefully give a handful of players chances to make a claim for starring roles in the future.
The hope is that this won’t be a missed window.
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