A little tonic... for now
Victory in Rome bodes well for future but finishing Six Nations on high is vital for Farrell
THE final minutes of the action in the Stadio Olimpico provided a glimpse into a promising future. There was Hugo Keenan at full-back and Jack Conan at No8 while Will Connors was still going strong after a massive shift against the Azzurri. Craig Casey, winning his first cap, was marshalling matters from scrum-half while Ryan Baird — another debutant — was making his presence felt at lock.
Ronan Kelleher and Jordan Larmour had both left the action at that stage. Both are still learning at this level and are still prone to errors and lapses in concentration, but Andy Farrell needs players like them in this team, going forward.
It was all good vibes after this 48-10 win on Saturday afternoon. Johnny Sexton — after his 80minute tour de force — was in flying form in the post-match press
It’s debatable whether team has turned a corner
conference. A video of Casey singing ‘Careless Whisper’ in the Ireland changing room after the game has gone viral. It’s customary for the newly-capped player to serenade his teammates and the Munster scrum-half went all out for the big occasion.
Farrell and his assistant coaches — including Mike Catt who has been feeling the heat in recent times — can bask in the glow of a resounding win. The tries this team constructed to tee up Keenan and Connors in the first half will be most pleasing. A bonus-point victory and a few new caps was not a bad weekend’s work.
But the page will turn quickly in the coming days. Scotland are up next at Murrayfield on March 14 before a six-day turnaround for England in the Aviva. We will know where this side stands after those two assignments.
Whether this team has turned a corner and is now on an upward curve is still debatable. A second viewing of the six-try trouncing of Italy yesterday morning merely confirmed suspicions that Ireland were facing pretty abject opposition in Rome.
There is no doubt that Franco Smith’s side will improve in the coming years. He has some talented young players at his disposal, none more so than 20-yearold out-half Paolo Garbisi, but the hosts were shambolic. For all the strides this Italian side have made as an attacking force, their setpiece and defence disintegrated when Ireland moved up the gears.
None of this should come as a surprise. Italy source the vast majority of their players from their Pro14 clubs: Zebre and Treviso, two teams which have managed to win a grand total of four games in 25 combined outings this season.
So context is important here. Certainly, Farrell and his squad won’t be getting carried away. They know that sterner examinations are looming.
Without doubt, the Scots will be waiting in the long grass in Edinburgh. They will be livid about how things have panned out in this championship. After their historic triumph at Twickenham in the opening round, Gregor Townsend’s side were on course to back it up with a routine victory over a struggling Welsh outfit.
Then Zander Fagerson got himself sent off and the rest is history. Suddenly, Scotland were being slapped across the face with the ‘flaky’ tag again.
They were then denied the chance to release some of that pent-up frustration when their third-round meeting with France was postponed due to a Covid-19 outbreak in Camp Les Bleus.
So, they will be suitably fired-up for Ireland’s arrival in two weeks’ time. The objective for Farrell now is to build on the feel-good factor for the final rounds. A strong finish to the tournament would relieve some of the pressure and generate momentum heading towards the summer where a mooted tour of Australia and the Pacific Islands is still being considered by the IRFU.
It would be another opportunity to further expose the likes of Casey and Baird to international rugby. A few others likes Harry Byrne, Ciaran Frawley, Gavin Coombes and Robert Baloucoune would be good options to bring along. Joe Schmidt used the 2017 tour of the US and Japan to blood the likes of Andrew Porter, James Ryan and Jacob Stockdale. That trio have never looked back.
If Farrell can secure two more Six Nations wins and follow up with a successful summer tour then he will be feeling a lot better by November, when the autumn internationals and hopefully a lot of normality will have returned.
You could picture a scene with a full crowd back in the Aviva and the All Blacks in town. Farrell’s speech to the squad would write itself: we’ve weathered this storm and are building something special towards the 2023 World Cup.
That’s the ideal scenario for the boss. Momentum and confidence are two intangible things which can’t be coached into a side, but they are vital for any successful operation. Just look at Wales right now.
Farrell needs both in the coming weeks. He needs to prove that Rome was not just an abberration and that this squad is heading in the right direction. Setbacks against Scotland or England will simply reinforce the concerns which arose after the failures against Wales and France.
There was certainly a glimpse into a promising future last Saturday. Farrell’s objective is to prove that he is the right person to realise that vision in the coming years.
Scotland will be fired up for Ireland’s arrival