Deflated & gutted

FARRELL ADMITS PUMPED UP PLAYERS BADLY WANTED SHOT AT FRENCH ACES

ANDY FARRELL remembers days as a player when the announcement “the game’s off” was greeted by cheers.

In his first season as a head coach, yesterday sure didn’t feel the same.

Farrell and his players were coming off the training pitch at Abbotstown after their morning session – the first of the week of their big Paris clash with France – when the bad news emerged.

Only minutes before, French Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu confirmed the inevitable – match postponed. The Irish players, according to Farrell, are “deflated and gutted”.

After final meetings last night at camp in Carton House, they will return to their provincial set-ups today.

No doubt Farrell feels the same after a weekend that saw France blow their

Grand Slam shot in Edinburgh, lose their brilliant scrum-half to injury and probably their dangerous young out-half to a concussion.

“We came bouncing into work,” said Farrell, who gave an impromptu lunchtime briefing as a Six Nations statement confirmed the postponement.

“We felt we were in a good place. We’re more than in it, we’re a team that’s still in control of our own destiny. It is what it is. As a head coach you have to deal with everything that goes your way and this is unprecedented but it’s part of the job.

“You’ve got to expect the unexpected and just get on with it.”

Farrell was a player during the foot and mouth outbreak in 2001 and, last weekend, read about exploits of ex-ireland players who were demob happy when that championship was postponed. “Some of the older lads have been reminiscing about their experiences from the time, the joy of going to the pub etc,” the 44-year-old said.

“Things have moved on a little bit. Look, I’ve turned up at plenty of matches where it is has been called off. Some of them are delightful.

“You go around a corner in the bus at Workington away and the pitch is absolutely frozen and some of the lads give a cheer on the bus. But not this way around.

This means a lot.”

Had all gone to plan, Ireland would be ending the championship this weekend and Farrell would be turning attention to an

Australia tour in July.

Now he finds himself already in assessment mode for that two-test trip.

Farrell isn’t ruling out the possibility that Joey Carbery (inset), after further ankle surgery that has ended a nightmare season, could feature Down Under.

“I’m gutted for Joey,” he confessed. “He’s been through a lot but I’ve spoken to him and his luck will turn. It will. He needs to do the right thing and get himself fully fit.”

The same applies to Dan Leavy, nearing a return after 10 months out, and his Leinster back row colleague Jack Conan who hasn’t played since the World Cup.

“They are very excited about where

Dan’s at at Leinster,” said Farrell. “So him and Jack Conan, we hope to see them back sooner rather than later.”