PAUL O’CONNELL HAS dismissed the notion that Ireland show a bias towards Leinster players when it comes to tight selection calls for the national squad.
The 36-man Six Nations squad includes 23 players from Leinster, who have won all of their games so far this season and have been in the last three Champions Cup finals.
Munster and Connacht have provided five players each to the group, while there are three from Ulster. Ireland also included four development players for their training camp in Portugal, with two from Connacht, one from Ulster, and one from Leinster.
There is a perception in some quarters that the Ireland coaches lean towards the ‘cohesion’ offered by Leinster players when it comes to tight selection calls.
But O’Connell denied that is the case.
“50/50s are really hard, there’s always a bit of gut on it,” said the Ireland forwards coach at their training base in the Algarve yesterday.
“A 50/50 is never decided on, ‘Oh, he plays with such and such a player with his province.’ We’ve never had that conversation.
“We’re aware of it, that Leinster are very strong and win a lot of their games. We always talk when we’re giving a player a chance that we want to give him a chance in a good team, to perform.
“Generally, when you get a chance with Leinster at the moment you get a chance in a good team.
“At the same time, I’m obviously an ex-Munster man and we’d plenty of tough battles with Leinster over the years. It’s never, ever… we’ve never actually not selected a Leinster person because we’re worried we’ve too many Leinster players in the squad and we’ve never selected a player because we felt that ‘he’s playing with Leinster and he has a combination’, you know?
“We’re trying to pick the best players for the team, the best players that I suppose play the best for us and make the team feel good, prepare well and be in the best place to perform.
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“I understand the perception, but it’s never entered the conversation.”
O'Connell with Ireland interim head coach Simon Easterby. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
O’Connell indicated that such theories around their selection aren’t overly concerning.
“It’s not frustrating at all, I would always have a very clear conscience about selection, that we’re doing the right thing,” said O’Connell.
“We don’t always get it right, that’s the thing.
“It’s been nice, recently we’d Alex Kendellen in last year because we wanted him to train with us and for him to see what it was like.
“We’ve that bit of flexibility in the squad, we’ve James McNabney in [as a development player] to see what it’s like, learn the language and that’s part of it as well.”
Meanwhile, O’Connell said he hasn’t been able to lean on former Munster and Ireland man Felix Jones for the inside scoop on England ahead of next Saturday’s Six Nations opener in Dublin.
Jones had a major impact on England after joining as an assistant to Steve Borthwick following the 2023 World Cup. Jones transformed the English defence and was swiftly promoted to a more senior role in the coaching group but shocked Borthwick and co. by resigning in August of last year.
The RFU announced that Jones would have to see out a 12-month notice period yet he was not directly involved in England camp for their campaign in November.
The English union then confirmed last month that Jones had formally concluded his duties with the RFU, leaving him free to seek his next move.
But despite parting ways with England, Jones hasn’t been offering up info to O’Connell.
“Felix is very honourable in that way,” said O’Connell. “It’s incredible. I’ve spoken to him and I’d be hoping he’d volunteer something to me but I haven’t asked him and I didn’t want to put him in a difficult position by asking.
Paul O'Connell in Portugal yesterday. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
“I know he’s left and whatever happened happened, but he’d be very honourable in that way. He wouldn’t be sharing the playbook or anything. I think Goodie [Ireland backs coach Andrew Goodman] has spoken to him more. Both their kids play together down at Seapoint so…”
O’Connell has been busy focusing on Ireland’s lineout work, which he said needs to improve after an autumn campaign in which it misfired.
The former Ireland lock is also keen to see Ireland’s attacking ruck work, which he is in charge of, improve in this Six Nations.
“I suppose from my point of view, the lineout wouldn’t have been as good as we’d have liked it to be and there are some easy fixes for that and then there’s a few more complicated ones on top of that,” said O’Connell.
“We don’t want to shy away from layering things on to our lineout to go forward, which we did in the autumn and are going to continue to do in the Six Nations.
“Funnily, the ruck in the autumn was… probably some of the best practice images came in the ruck in the autumn but we probably turned over more ball in the autumn than we have in a long time and it’s probably a big strength of ours.
“Even if we go back to the South African games in the summer, where they’d have big ruck pressure, I think we turned over one ball in each Test.
“So I think they are two important facets of our game that need a little bit of attention and a little bit of care.
“And how we start is really important. How we start a campaign and how we start a game is really important. We would have discussed that a little bit and what we’ve done in the past to get that right, that we get that right again.”
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'We've never selected a player because we felt, 'He's playing with Leinster''
PAUL O’CONNELL HAS dismissed the notion that Ireland show a bias towards Leinster players when it comes to tight selection calls for the national squad.
The 36-man Six Nations squad includes 23 players from Leinster, who have won all of their games so far this season and have been in the last three Champions Cup finals.
Munster and Connacht have provided five players each to the group, while there are three from Ulster. Ireland also included four development players for their training camp in Portugal, with two from Connacht, one from Ulster, and one from Leinster.
There is a perception in some quarters that the Ireland coaches lean towards the ‘cohesion’ offered by Leinster players when it comes to tight selection calls.
But O’Connell denied that is the case.
“50/50s are really hard, there’s always a bit of gut on it,” said the Ireland forwards coach at their training base in the Algarve yesterday.
“A 50/50 is never decided on, ‘Oh, he plays with such and such a player with his province.’ We’ve never had that conversation.
“We’re aware of it, that Leinster are very strong and win a lot of their games. We always talk when we’re giving a player a chance that we want to give him a chance in a good team, to perform.
“Generally, when you get a chance with Leinster at the moment you get a chance in a good team.
“At the same time, I’m obviously an ex-Munster man and we’d plenty of tough battles with Leinster over the years. It’s never, ever… we’ve never actually not selected a Leinster person because we’re worried we’ve too many Leinster players in the squad and we’ve never selected a player because we felt that ‘he’s playing with Leinster and he has a combination’, you know?
“We’re trying to pick the best players for the team, the best players that I suppose play the best for us and make the team feel good, prepare well and be in the best place to perform.
“I understand the perception, but it’s never entered the conversation.”
O’Connell indicated that such theories around their selection aren’t overly concerning.
“It’s not frustrating at all, I would always have a very clear conscience about selection, that we’re doing the right thing,” said O’Connell.
“We don’t always get it right, that’s the thing.
“It’s been nice, recently we’d Alex Kendellen in last year because we wanted him to train with us and for him to see what it was like.
“We’ve that bit of flexibility in the squad, we’ve James McNabney in [as a development player] to see what it’s like, learn the language and that’s part of it as well.”
Meanwhile, O’Connell said he hasn’t been able to lean on former Munster and Ireland man Felix Jones for the inside scoop on England ahead of next Saturday’s Six Nations opener in Dublin.
Jones had a major impact on England after joining as an assistant to Steve Borthwick following the 2023 World Cup. Jones transformed the English defence and was swiftly promoted to a more senior role in the coaching group but shocked Borthwick and co. by resigning in August of last year.
The RFU announced that Jones would have to see out a 12-month notice period yet he was not directly involved in England camp for their campaign in November.
The English union then confirmed last month that Jones had formally concluded his duties with the RFU, leaving him free to seek his next move.
But despite parting ways with England, Jones hasn’t been offering up info to O’Connell.
“Felix is very honourable in that way,” said O’Connell. “It’s incredible. I’ve spoken to him and I’d be hoping he’d volunteer something to me but I haven’t asked him and I didn’t want to put him in a difficult position by asking.
“I know he’s left and whatever happened happened, but he’d be very honourable in that way. He wouldn’t be sharing the playbook or anything. I think Goodie [Ireland backs coach Andrew Goodman] has spoken to him more. Both their kids play together down at Seapoint so…”
O’Connell has been busy focusing on Ireland’s lineout work, which he said needs to improve after an autumn campaign in which it misfired.
The former Ireland lock is also keen to see Ireland’s attacking ruck work, which he is in charge of, improve in this Six Nations.
“I suppose from my point of view, the lineout wouldn’t have been as good as we’d have liked it to be and there are some easy fixes for that and then there’s a few more complicated ones on top of that,” said O’Connell.
“We don’t want to shy away from layering things on to our lineout to go forward, which we did in the autumn and are going to continue to do in the Six Nations.
“Funnily, the ruck in the autumn was… probably some of the best practice images came in the ruck in the autumn but we probably turned over more ball in the autumn than we have in a long time and it’s probably a big strength of ours.
“Even if we go back to the South African games in the summer, where they’d have big ruck pressure, I think we turned over one ball in each Test.
“So I think they are two important facets of our game that need a little bit of attention and a little bit of care.
“And how we start is really important. How we start a campaign and how we start a game is really important. We would have discussed that a little bit and what we’ve done in the past to get that right, that we get that right again.”
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Ireland Paul O'Connell Provincial Lines Selection