Andy Farrell has made plain the internal frustration felt by himself and the Ireland squad during their review of last Saturday’s 26-13 loss to New Zealand in Chicago. Hence, the head coach has also made it clear that the team should stand for something definable in Saturday’s Test against Japan at the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 12.40pm). The inference being they failed in that regard last weekend.
Farrell has made eight changes in personnel to the starting XV, including an Irish debut for his 32-year-old namesake Tom Farrell. This need to freshen things up can be attributed to the prevailing lack of match sharpness, a four-game November schedule and the travel demands of playing the All Blacks in Chicago.
This comparative fixture has drawn Farrell’s ire in the past, namely against Fiji in November, 2022, when Ireland laboured to a 35-17 win. But, understandably, he is less concerned with righting the wrongs of three years ago than last week.
“It’s what I want to see more than anything and that’s us standing for something, us taking our game to them and learning some lessons from last week,” said Farrell. “Making sure the plan that Japan’s got in front of them – and they will have a plan – becomes not really part of our process because we’re so determined to lay our game out there on the field and get back on the horse in winning ways.”
READ MORE
Evidently, there was too much inaccuracy in Ireland’s performance against the All Blacks – the five lost lineouts, 24 missed tackles, too much possession coughed up or kicked away, turnovers at the breakdown. But, seemingly more annoying for Farrell, these emanated in the absence of more tangible basics.
A big weekend for Ireland’s emerging rugby talent
“We’ve discussed all sorts of detailed bits where we can get better and I won’t bore you with that, but I suppose the detail becomes a little bit clearer once there’s a determination to put your stamp on the game; attitude, physically and mental toughness,” he said, citing the concession of three successive penalties at the start of the game.
Farrell also expressed his disappointment in the response to the 62nd minute try by Tamaiti Williams, which instigated a 19-point salvo without reply by the All Blacks.
“Our reaction wasn’t one of fight,” said the Ireland head coach, adding: “There’s a lot that needs to be better as far as accuracy is concerned and detail-wise, but our intent in how we play the game, we need a reaction to that.”
Tom Farrell was in line to make his debut off the bench until Garry Ringrose was ruled out due to a hamstring twinge at Wednesday’s training. The other changes see Robbie Henshaw replace the injured Stuart McCloskey, with Jacob Stockdale, Craig Casey, Rónan Kelleher, Nick Timoney and Caelan Doris all starting. Gus McCarthy, Cian Prendergast and Jimmy O’Brien are also promoted to the bench, which would have featured Tom Ahern but for a head knock on Tuesday.
As expected, all the more so with Casey starting, his Munster half-back partner Jack Crowley has been retained, with Farrell encouraging the outhalf to be himself.
Like everyone else, Farrell intimated, Crowley was disappointed with his own performance last week.
“The game as a whole had plenty of errors from both sides. So [we want] a lot more accuracy in all our play; not just Jack’s. Being himself, you know? Jack’s strength is not just facilitating, Jack’s strength is beating people. He’s strong, he’s quick, he’s got good footwork as well. So, we don’t want him just to facilitate the team. Sometimes you get carried away with that because you’re the general of the team, but you’ve got to play to your strengths as well.”
Having been restricted to less than three minutes’ rugby in Soldier Field by an erroneous red card, Tadhg Beirne is retained. Farrell sat through the hearing on Tuesday night with Beirne, describing it as “a distraction” and “certainly not nice”.
“He was over the moon to be available to be selected this week. He trained yesterday and Jack Conan came down on his head with his elbow from a lineout and he got split. I think he had six stitches. So, not a great start to the week for him but hopefully it gets better.”
Johnny Sexton said earlier this week that this Irish team is not far from clicking as a potent attacking force again. Farrell was asked if they can make their multi-phase, multi-option, high possession style still work: “Things change all the time. The game has changed a little bit and we need to adapt and change with that.”
He added: “But how we keep addressing moving forward, you can’t rule out the stuff that you’ve done that is pretty good in the past as well.
“I suppose when you start back up, you’re always reiterating what makes that tick. We weren’t happy with some aspects of that, so we’re hoping for an improved performance in every aspect of our game this week.”
An interesting element of Saturday’s game will be how Ireland defend in the absence of Ringrose, chief exponent of the outside-in blitz defence which Jacques Nienaber has brought to Leinster. Farrell maintained the two systems are different.
Each of their provinces have their own “tweaks”, as he put it. “So, getting them (the players) back on the same page for us across the board, not just defensively, is key when they first come into camp. The nature of Leinster’s defence – that aggressive, up-and-in style of defence – isn’t something we tend to use. It tends to be a lot squarer, a lot more different as far as decision-making in that regard.
“But it really doesn’t matter. You can have any type of system as long as everyone buys into it and does it properly. As Leinster have shown, it can be world-class and really hard to deal with, and I think our style has been the same over the years as well.”
