FORM AN ORDERLY QUEUE
Farrell vows to stick with those at top of their game
IRELAND boss Andy Farrell believes the performances of his young guns against Italy puts his side in a “perfect” position heading into the final two rounds of the Six Nations.
Ronan Kelleher and Will Connors came into the line-up for the victory in Rome – they were among five starters with less than 10 Test caps – while Ryan Baird and Craig Casey made their debuts off the bench.
What’s left for Ireland in this championship after their first win, says Farrell, is to beat the “old enemies” – Scotland on Sunday week and England six days later.
“The rivalries are as ripe as ever,” insisted Farrell, who isn’t convinced that having to face Scotland again at France 2023 after doing so in Japan adds an extra layer to it.
With Conor Murray due back in full training next week after his hamstring injury, plus Tadhg Furlong, Dave Kilcoyne, Jordan Larmour and Kelleher fit after knocks picked up in Rome, he is in a good place in terms of choice. “It’s perfect,”
Farrell declared. “Everyone knows very well that you select a side for any game to just win the game.
“It’s form, first and foremost, and in the back of your mind it’s who needs a bit of game-time, who needs a chance, who needs an opportunity to stake a claim to push on for the rest of the competition.
“That worked pretty well against Italy and, with a few of the lads playing for their provinces this week, we’ve managed game-time pretty well that people aren’t going to be too underdone.
“Everyone’s going to be ready for selection and that’s a good place to be for us as coaches. We’ll see how we train over the next few days, how the rest of the lads perform over the weekend and make some tough decisions at the beginning of next week.”
Twenty-three players were back at the IRFU’S high performance centre in Abbotstown to begin a mini-camp yesterday.
Casey was the only one of the matchday squad in Rome released for provincial duty
this week and starts for Munster against Connacht tonight.
The Westerners start with released Ireland players Bundee
Aki, Dave Heffernan and Ultan
Dillane. Chris Farrell and Andrew Conway, who were also released, line out for Munster while Ross
Byrne and Stuart Mccloskey are among the Leinster and Ulster players featuring in Saturday’s clash at the Kingspan Stadium.
Regarding what he wants from those players, Farrell said: “Do what they did last time – they’ve got a chance to put their best foot forward. I always love to see the reaction of a player either during camp or just after when they go back to their provinces.
“It’s a real judge of character to go back and settle back into a different way of playing, new calls – they know them like the back of their hand so that should be a little bit seamless. But as far as being at your best when you’re bouncing between two camps, it shows a strong character if they can perform well for their provinces.”
STEPHEN BRADLEY has blasted the ‘terrible decision’ to boot Shamrock Rovers II out of the First Division.
And the Hoops boss claims it is a blow to player development across the League of Ireland.
“Every two years you’ll hear someone moaning, or someone will do an article or talk about ‘how do we develop players’ and ‘where are all the players?’,” he said.
“But you look at decisions like this and say here’s part of the reason why, because stuff like this happens.”
Last season, Shamrock Rovers entered a First Division team much to the consternation of their second tier rivals.
But Aidan Price’s charges have not been readmitted for the 2021 season despite securing a playing licence.
New Limerick-based entity Treaty United got the green light ahead of Rovers II and 10 teams will contest that division.
The FAI board had the final say on the matter but Bradley cannot get his head around the decision.
He said:
“We talk about developing players in this country and having a plan, but that goes completely against everything we should be doing.
“We made 10 of those (B team) players professional, so they’re in education and training full-time.
“We’ve used the money for that so it hasn’t affected us that way, but I think it’s a really poor decision.
Speculation continues to mount about a third division in the League of Ireland, with some new entities and second string teams of established sides.
Bradley said: “That will happen down the line, whether it’s next year, the year after or the year after but in the meantime you could lose players.”
Rovers will instead consider following a Brentford ‘B’ model, by arranging games outside of Ireland for their second string.
But while Brentford B travel to countries like Spain, Italy and Switzerland for some games, England is a more realistic target for Rovers. It won’t be cheap but Bradley said: “There are a lot of options – when Covid allows – where we can travel and play games.
“If there are no other options that’s what we have to do.
Meanwhile, the Hoops boss has challenged his players to play their way into his plans for the opening games of the season.
Rovers face Dundalk in the President’s Cup next Friday ahead of their first league game against St Pat’s the following week.
Newcomers like Sean Gannon, Sean Hoare, Chris Mccann and Danny Mandroiu are all vying for contention.
And Richie Towell (inset) will join from Salford City in the summer having agreed a pre-contract with the Hoops.
Bradley said: “For us, there’s no team picked and it’s all there to play for. It’s about sharpening it up from this Saturday and getting ready to go.”