Be Lion if I said I was concerned

ANDY FARRELL insists there’s “no point second guessing” if he’ll be part of Warren Gatland’s coaching ticket for next year’s Lions tour to South Africa.

Farrell, who succeeded Joe Schmidt as Ireland coach at the end of last year, was Gatland’s, above, defence coach for the 2013 and 2017 tours of Australia and New Zealand.

A trip to South Africa in 2021 would complete the hat-trick, but the 45-year-old is focused on the ‘day job’ and says Gatland always “keeps his cards close to his chest”.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Obviously Warren is a friend of mine and I’ve enjoyed working with him. But there’s no point second guessing.

“I’ve learned that down the years, certainly with Warren and rightly so. I’ve not even thought about anything to do with that.

“It’s full steam ahead for what we’ve got coming up and the only thing that’s at the forefront of my mind is doing what’s right for Irish rugby.”

Meanwhile, Farrell believes a proposed eightteam tournament in November, to replace the Autumn tests during coronavirus, will have a “World Cup” feel to it.

Ireland are expected to be in the same pool as England, Wales and Fiji with the games pencilled in from November 14 to December 5.

“Obviously it’s not been announced officially, (but) if it does get announced officially I think it’s super exciting,” he said.

“Along with the two games we have left with the Six Nations, we could be together for eight or nine weeks which is great for us going forward.”

The other pool is expected to include Japan, France, Scotland and Italy.