IF ONE OF Ireland’s key men gets injured on Saturday, it’s could be the first time in a long time that Andy Farrell has faced criticism. ‘Why was he out there? Why didn’t he rest him this week?’ You can already hear the dismayed questions.
Whether it would be fair or not is another matter. Farrell is old enough and wise enough to know that it’s all part of the game.
Of course, the major focus will be on Johnny Sexton. There will be novenas across Ireland for his wellbeing against the powerful Tongans. You can imagine him taking a huge hit just after passing the ball. There will be agonising seconds while Irish fans wait for him to get back up.
Farrell would probably admit that there’s a degree of risk involved in starting Sexton and others in this weekend’s game in Nantes given that it’s just seven days before the crucial Pool B clash with South Africa.
The reality, though, is that there’s risk playing any game of rugby. There’s constant risk even just training. Injury can strike at any second. In fact, Scotland hooker Dave Cherry’s World Cup is over after he slipped on the stairs at the team hotel.
It’s also true that there would have been risk in not playing Sexton against Tonga. It’s threefold. Firstly, Tonga have some excellent players even if they haven’t been in form. They could cause Ireland problems.
Secondly, Sexton has played just 66 minutes of rugby in the last six months. Yes, he’s someone who gets up to speed quickly and, yes, he looked sharp last weekend. But let’s be honest, the game in Bordeaux had little resemblance to the one in Marseille between South Africa and Scotland, or the match between France and New Zealand in Paris last Friday night. That’s the level that’s coming down the line quickly for Ireland.
Sexton’s three-game ban for the warm-up games was far from ideal and if that hadn’t been the case, it seems far more likely that Ross Byrne or Jack Crowley would have started one of Ireland’s opening two pool games. Ireland have had to adapt.
So you can understand why they want to get more minutes into Sexton, but thirdly, you can also appreciate why Farrell wants his skipper to get more minutes along with the other key front-liners who play again this weekend.
There were instances of Ireland being just off beat with each other against Romania and that needs sharpening up before playing the Springboks. The Ireland front-liners are all relatively shy on game time, with Farrell having gone close to full-strength only in the warm-up game against England and last weekend in Bordeaux. Many of his key men just aren’t ready to take on the Springboks. They need another tune-up against Tonga.
Let’s stress here that Ireland also want to respect Tonga and the threat they pose. This game has to be won on Saturday. But there’s no doubt that Ireland are focused on the Boks, even if they won’t talk about it publicly yet. Areas like the lineout need another hit of in-game pressure to be smoothed out before taking on the South Africans.
Farrell probably also had to consider with the sheer desire Sexton had to play this weekend. The 38-year-old has a maximum of six games left in his professional rugby career. Rest up for the weekend? It’s not hard to imagine how he’d have reacted if Farrell had opted for that.
Sexton has never liked being told to put his feet up. He remains ferociously competitive and rightly dislikes handing over the number 10 jersey. In the past, though, he has eventually been able to understand head coaches’ decisions to take him out of the firing line. That is highly unlikely to have been the case in this World Cup.
The last risk to acknowledge here is that some of the players who aren’t getting a start here or aren’t even part of the matchday 23 are running out of chances to get up to speed at this World Cup. If one of them ends up being needed later in the tournament due to injuries, they might not have played in a long time.
Farrell is clearly appreciative of the fact that Ireland will have a rest weekend after the South Africa game, so there will be a chance for everyone to draw breath and clear bumps and bruises before the final pool clash with Scotland. That has never been the case at the World Cup before, with games having come thick and fast every single weekend.
So while some players like Sexton are set to start the opening three games, they’ll be heading into a few days of holidays post-South Africa, with Ireland breaking from camp. It’s also worth remembering that the Romania game was not a big challenge. With only 30 minutes of ball-in-play time, it was less bruising than most even in the severe heat.
And if Ireland want to win the World Cup next month, many of their top players will have to play four games on four consecutive weekends.
If Ireland can record a big win on Saturday, then beat the Boks, the pressure for that Scotland game is hugely eased. It might even be that Farrell has scope for a small bit of rotation in the final pool outing if things go especially well over the next fortnight.
For now, Sexton is ready to go again. Some Irish fans will be wincing every time the out-half is near a Tongan player but the man himself will go into it the way he always does – committed and determined to keep winning.
Farrell might face criticism if Sexton gets hurt and misses the Springboks game, but given how things have panned out in recent months, the Ireland head coach feels this is the right call. Having generally been vindicated with his selections in recent years, this feels like a crucial one.