FARRELL TRIES TO RECREATE BLUE MAGIC
Farrell trusts in Leinster verve but club transplants come with complications...
COMBINATIONS that work for clubs hold an understandable allure for national coaches. And it’s particularly true if the coach is still searching for a way of playing that consistently works.
Andy Farrell’s decision to select an all-Leinster backline for today’s Test in Rome is the result, in part, of the hamstring injury suffered by Conor Murray.
But in restoring Johnny Sexton, picking Jordan Larmour in place of the veteran Keith Earls, and surprising no one by staying true to James Lowe despite the alarming frequency of the winger’s defensive lapses, Farrell has alighted on what could be an inadvertent solution to a problem he has not been able to solve since replacing Joe Schmidt.
The Irish attack lacks penetration and creativity, with opposing teams rarely stretched, and practically nothing in the way of planned moves to cut through defensive systems.
The Leinster backline, meanwhile, is among the most exciting in Europe, and has been for the past three years. Sexton triggers moves that frequently free Garry Ringrose, Larmour, and Lowe, to thrilling effect.
It should be noted here that on Leinster’s biggest days, the scrum half servicing Sexton is usually Luke McGrath, with Jamison Gibson-Park most often employed as a replacement.
Preferring the Leinster understudy over the starter at No9 is one of the curiosities of Farrell’s selections (like the exclusions of John Cooney and Jack Carty).
However, the Ireland backline in Rome this afternoon will still be a Leinster transplant.
Farrell is hardly expecting a play-for-play reworking of the province’s greatest hits. He can conceivably hope, though, that the relationships forged in countless training sessions, day after day, within the provincial system, helps Ireland achieve at least some of the fluency that has made Leinster so good.
Some of his predecessors have trusted in regional systems within a national framework. Through much of the 2000s, and the winning days under Eddie O’Sullivan and Declan Kidney, Ireland sides relied on packs that were largely formed by Munster players.
The 2009 Grand Slam team had six Munster forwards within the starting eight, a number that increased to seven shortly after kick-off with Denis Leamy replacing the stricken Stephen Ferris.
The half-backs were also Munstermen in Tomás O’Leary and Ronan O’Gara, but for most of the previous decade it had been Peter Stringer and O’Gara implementing game plans that were heavily sourced in the understanding shared between the men in the pack, and also between the forwards and half-backs.
It is a more complicated business, however, to run intricate the backline moves than it is to drill a pack of forwards to replicate their provincial duties while on national service. And if Test success could be achieved by simply swapping club for country jerseys then Scotland, reliant as they are on two professional teams, would be world-beaters. Injury to Jacob Stockdale and the absence of Andrew Conway from the Munster team for personal reasons for a number of weeks — he came back last weekend against Edinburgh — have forced Farrell to an extent, but even with those players fit, and a full squad from which to select, Earls and Murray are the only two non-Leinster backs who could be confident of a start. Using the resources provided by one of the best teams in Europe is good sense, but there are aspects of the Farrell selection that look risky — and not risky in the derring-do sense of the word.
Gibson-Park looked excellent when he started against Wales in the autumn, but the Welsh were terrible that night, and the manner in which Ireland defeated them provided no reliable formguide for what was to come next.
His terrible defensive read against France for Charles Ollivon’s try was costly, as was Lowe’s misread on Brice Dulin that led to the French full back putting Damien Penaud over for the second French try.
This was after mistakes for two Wales tries in the first game. Lowe has spoken about how mistakes are ‘amplified’ at Test level. He has been allowed to make three significant ones and keep his place in the side.
That is indicative of how highly he is rated by Farrell, and his attacking talents are rich. He also provides a left-footed kicking option in the back three, which appears to be a highly regarded attribute.
He could prove ruinous for a porous Italian defence today, too, but the magnitude of the errors made by Ireland in their opening two matches would not be tolerated by the world’s leading teams.
Ireland are no longer one of them — they had slipped off that standard long before Farrell took over.
The regression in 2019 under Schmidt was slow but steady and by the end, it appeared in retrospect to have been inexorable.
Farrell was an important part of Schmidt’s coaching staff, but his appointment was still heralded as a fresh start. There has been talk of players feeling liberated, of them thriving within an environment in which they are charged with more responsibility.
There is only one relevant way of judging Farrell’s impact, though, and results have been underwhelming.
Paul O’Connell’s influence has been instant, and credit to the head coach for appointing him. Defence and attack are sorely lacking though.
Italy are regularly portrayed as a kind of Six Nations lab, an experimental space in which teams can tinker and be bold while still feeling sure that they will win.
Ireland should do that today, too, but in recalling Sexton and eschewing the oddly fervent hype around Leinster’s untested Harry Byrne, Farrell has been accused of passing up an opportunity to be radical.
Ireland need a win, a win that comes as the result of coherent, imaginative attacking play, and built on a mean and disciplined defence, while the set-pieces continue at the standard set against France.
None of that is revolutionary but it would rank as progress after the patchy showings against Wales and France.
A blue backline should bring familiarity, and in Farrell’s ideal scenario, one imagines it would move with the ruthless certainty that distinguishes it in the Pro14 and European Cup.
Concerns remain about Ireland’s defensive vulnerabilities and while Italy may not be able to fully expose them — even if they showed promise against France and Wales — Scotland will have the means to do so in Murrayfield in two weeks.
The Leinster influence could be lessened by then if Murray is fit, and if Stockdale’s recovery continues after last night’s comeback for Ulster.
But if Farrell is hoping for a winning blue tinge to his team, Italy are the most sympathetic opponents he could find.
Were selection dilemmas to arise as a consequence, then an Irish campaign that is adrift after two rounds would have a new purpose.
Italy are a Six Nations lab, where you can tinker