Farrell’s fresh ideas can lift the Reds and keep coach in his job
THE first time I met Andy Farrell was at a BBC awards night in 1997. I was with the Lions and he was with the rugby league fraternity. He came across as a good bloke and we had a great chat.
The next time I met him was when I had been invited to a corporate lunch in Wembley for Leicester against Saracens, his son Owen was playing for Sarries. Owen missed just about every kick that day, and I happened to be at a table with all of Andy’s family, including his wife and a few kids.
Andy came in at half-time and you could see how angry he was, and I was half-expecting him to explode. However, he managed that anger, and he calmly stated ‘He’s been rubbish, he’s had a bad game, but we move on.’
It emphasised the type of progressive straighttalking that makes me believe Munster have made a great signing. In fact, since he showed up last week, there is already a sense of renewed optimism and Munster turning a corner, backed-up by yesterday’s moraleboosting victory over Stade when Thomond Park found its voice again.
For a team that has lost the experience of the likes of Paul O’Connell, Ronan O’Gara and Donncha O’Callaghan in the last few years, Farrell will bring a huge amount of character to that dressing-room, and can really motivate this team.
One of the big issues they have had in Munster is that they have too many guys who have been brought up in the same environment.
A lot of this team grew up in Munster, and then you have coaches who are also from Munster and have come up through that same system, you can end up just re-hashing the same message.
Sometimes, a figure like Farrell coming in and providing a fresh voice, with an outside vision, can be enough to make players keener to learn and improve. That outside influence, from a different culture, can be a huge thing.
I’ve seen the benefits of outside influences. At Saracens, we had Phillip Sella bringing ideas in from France, Roberto Grau doing the same from Argentina, and they blended all that with what worked in the our team, whereas Munster – outside the odd few players coming in from abroad – from a coaching perspective it was always about fitting in to the old-style game-plan.
This Munster team was clearly too inexperienced at the top level, and too many of these players are Munster all their careers.
As for Anthony Foley, what any manager wants is delegation. The higher you go up in management, the more you have to delegate responsibility.
Foley is a proud man and a proud coach, but he’s also very down-toearth and understanding, and he’s not stubborn. He is smart enough to realise that this game is all about results.
He’s well aware that if Munster aren’t winning, he’s going to lose his job. If Farrell comes in and works well under Foley and they start to turn this season around, that’s only going to be a good thing for him.
While Farrell wasn’t a stand-out rugby union player, as a rugby league player he was one of the best British players ever, who was always known for his physicality and organisation.
In his years at Saracens when he first pitched up, under the guidance of my old mate Richard Hill, they tried to turn him into a number seven, so he’s got a great understanding of the breakdown and the ruck.
That can prove to be hugely beneficial, as Munster’s best days were due to competitiveness at the breakdown. He’ll have that understanding of how important it is to put pressure on that area, it isn’t all about just having your numbers out wide.
It’s a case of getting all players fighting at the breakdown.
Not just on the ground, but in terms of the impact and really making a nuisance of themselves.
There will undoubtedly be a massive respect for Farrell.
You can see in any sport, when any very successful players makes the transition into coaching, they automatically command respect from the players they’re coaching.
Farrell has come from a tough rugby league background, and I think Munster will appreciate that mentality.
One of the big issues Farrell had during his time with Saracens and England was that he was picking his son, Owen, ahead of others.
I know from talking to some of the backs at Saracens, they all preferred playing with Charlie Hodgson. The feeling was that with Andy as a coach, he was pushing for Owen to start ahead of Hodgson, yet the players preferred Hodgson because of his attacking style, but Andy is a professional and I’m sure that wasn’t the case.
Farrell is a pragmatist first and foremost and his directness is exactly what Munster need now.