Conveyor belt of talent holds the key to this new Irish rugby dynasty
ANdy FARRELL spent Saturday morning on the touchline of a dublin junior rugby field, watching his son play for the Blackrock College Under 13s in their victory over St Michael’s College.
It was fitting that he should have done so on the day that Ireland confirmed themselves to be the outstanding rugby nation of our islands.
The Ireland coach’s motives were paternal, of course. He was delighted to relate on Saturday night how he had told his boy, Gabriel, that Blackrock’s win had posed him some pressure ‘because imagine you winning and us not!’. But the strength of the country’s junior rugby goes some way to explaining why Ireland went out a few hours later and secured back-to-back Six Nations titles for the third time in their history. The emerald isle may have lost to England, but they have beaten them to the crown again with a fraction of their player base and a fraction of their money. It has become Europe’s outstanding rugby nation by developing talent like no one else.
The commitment to rugby playing schools, with yesterday’s Leinster Senior Cup between the same two schools televised in Ireland, feeds players into academy systems run by the four professional teams — Leinster, Munster, Ulster and Connacht. Every Euro is spent with the ultimate aim of making the Ireland team successful. When Blackrock tweeted its congratulations to the victorious Irish team yesterday, it reserved special mention for the six members of Farrell’s squad who are among its alumni — Hugo Keenan, Garry Ringrose, Caelan doris, Joe McCarthy, Jeremy Loughman and Oli Jager. There is more to Ireland’s success than that. The decision to give their high-performance tsar, david Nucifora, the power to hire and fire coaches at the four pro teams, and input into player recruitment and retention, would not be for every nation. But it delivered a dividend on Saturday against Scotland. It is not just the system that puts Ireland at the top of the pile. It takes an exceptional coach to draw egos and personalities together in a way which makes the squad’s marketing message of #weareteam appropriate. When Farrell held a press conference here with captain Peter O’Mahony on Saturday evening, the two spoke as equals, deferring to the other in turn. This validated Farrell’s claim that Ireland’s leadership group has set the tone, week-to-week, throughout this tournament. ‘They take control of the feeling
of the week, of how they need to grab hold of it,’ he said.
It was a very different look when Scotland coach Gregor Townsend and captain Finn Russell sat down to discuss their tournament. Russell talked, left the room, and Townsend was then asked which parts he agreed with.
It has not been all light-touch management from Farrell. He was the one left with the judgment calls when natural evolution meant he had to change 20 per cent of his starting XV at the beginning of this tournament.
His decision to put faith in Jack Crowley to fill Johnny Sexton’s boots has paid off handsomely. Crowley played every minute of Ireland’s tournament and wore that No 10 jersey lightly.
‘Do you know what, I’ve been hard on him,’ Farrell said of Crowley. ‘And Jack will tell you that. It’s easy to read the press and get carried away with, “I’m doing it and doing really well”. ‘But we’ve kept his feet on the ground because there has to be a realisation that that’s not it. We’re chasing something better than that.’
The Irish blueprint carries greatest relevance for Wales, a nation staring into an existential abyss today, just as Ireland were 12 years ago when a 60-0 humiliation by the All Blacks in Hamilton hardened their belief that they must set this course. Are even better things yet to come, Farrell was asked. ‘I sure hope so,’ he said.
He was enthused to hear a French journalist say that he, too, had headed out to see that junior match on Saturday. ‘It’s huge,’ Farrell told him. ‘Did you feel the rivalry, the competitiveness from those Under 13s this morning? It’s magnificent isn’t it? ‘That’s what makes Irish rugby so special.’