NO EXCUSES
Ireland set the bar extremely high last November and now the coach and captain are determined to keep it there
THE SHEER strangeness of a pandemic Six Nations becomes more starkly apparent as we anticipate the return of a more conventional championship. The 2020 version started off in the last weeks of our old world, when reports of a new virus in China were in the ether, but distant and unthreatening, a bulletin of unhappiness from a distant land.
Within weeks, Covid-19 was shutting down countries all over the world, and the Six Nations was among the first major sporting competition to suffer.
The tournament was eventually completed in empty venues the following autumn, but by the time the 2021 edition came around, strict lockdowns had been reintroduced and from start to finish, the tournament played out in echoing venues.
It was one of those years when the Irish schedule brought both France and England to Dublin, but the fans were at home as the French squeaked a win in February before Andy Farrell’s Ireland reign finally blazed to life with a hammering of England in mid-March.
These were breathless occasions, but experienced in person only by the teams, their support staff, and a handful of match and tournament officials.
The wretchedness of those times is more fully understood now that they are, hopefully, in the past.
And Farrell must have particular cause to wish them good riddance.
He is over two years into the job of succeeding Joe Schmidt, but it was only from that England match onwards, through a terrific autumn, that it felt as if a new start was possible for the national team.
Until Eddie Jones’ team were pulverised in Dublin, though, Ireland looked disjointed and unsure, a side and a coaching team caught between the best of the Schmidt era, and the new start that the 2019 World Cup showed was desperately needed.
The first round of last year’s competition ended in defeat in Cardiff, a loss dominated by the failure of Billy Burns to find touch with a penalty, so denying Ireland a last attacking lineout as they trailed the Welsh by five.
A week later, the French won in Lansdowne Road and the doubts stirred by heavy defeats to England and France the year before started to harden.
Little wonder, then, that Farrell and his captain, Johnny Sexton, look forward to a packed stadium for the Wales game in six days’ time.
Up to a fortnight ago, it was uncertain if fans would be allowed into the game in any significant numbers. Then came the big release of nine days ago, and with it a guarantee that, as in November, the Aviva Stadium would be full.
‘It would have been more difficult having had a taste of what it used to be like in November,’ says Sexton.
‘We got very used to playing in front of empty stadiums. I remember my first game back this season was in front of 10,000 at the Aviva in pre-season friendly, and it felt like I was playing in the final of a European Cup. I was so excited to be playing in front of people again.
‘Then you have an experience like Japan or New Zealand or Argentina (in the November internationals), you’ve got all your family and friends there. To go back to an empty stadium would have been a big let-down for the players.
‘But thankfully the Government have opened up restrictions and we thank them a lot for that, because it’s special for us, first and foremost, to do what you love doing in front of the people that matter most, and that’s the people of Ireland.’
Farrell was just as enthusiastic, but it seems the coach has absorbed some of the experiences of preparing teams for matches in empty grounds.
It isn’t feasible to attribute all of the difficulties the side endured last year to the effects of lockdown, but it isn’t fair to discount its impact, either.
‘You certainly get to see how people adapt to change, because it was a massive change for everyone, really,’ says the head coach.
‘You get to see how people deal with the different emotions. Some people thrive off the connection with the crowd, and some people are more quiet and get on with their own game.
‘But as a team, it is a completely different feel. Being able to hear everyone’s voice on the sideline as a coach is different for us, as well.
‘Thankfully we’re through the other side of that now and hopefully the lessons we learned along the way will stand to us, because there has certainly been some controversy over the last two years regarding games being cancelled and people not playing for quite some time, players dropping out at the last minute, et cetera.
‘You’ve got to be able to adapt, and I think it’s going to stand us all in good stead in the future.’
Not all of the adjustments Farrell has made were short-term and enforced by the pandemic.
One of the most arresting features of last season was his willingness to change, and to resile from a previously firm stand.
Remember this time 12 months ago, much of the talk around his selection centred on Byrnes and Burns.
Johnny Sexton’s age and Joey Carbery’s infirmity meant the out-half stock became the centre of fierce scrutiny. The No10 shirt is the most high-profile on a rugby team, and since the days of the Ward-Campbell battle, it has absorbed much of the oxygen around discussions of Ireland.
BUT the talk has been infused with a fresh urgency owing to the fact that Sexton is now deep into the veteran status of his career, and in fact moving into the mostly depopulated territory inhabited by Test players in their late 30s; he will be 37 in July.
The matter seems less important now given how well he played in the autumn, but the first sign of faltering this spring will see it become a priority topic again.
This chat must be frustrating for the player, and his status as a pillar of Farrell’s plans seems impervious to any threat other than his own physical vulnerability, but the two powerhouses in this competition, France and England, are both starting to frame their plans around the 2023 World Cup.
Sexton will be 38 then, and if his class was invigorating last autumn, it would be extraordinary to think of him leading the team at that tournament.
A year ago, this discussion was especially heightened, not least because of Farrell’s planning beyond his captain and Carbery.
Billy Burns, the workaday Ulster out-half, was chosen to start against France last spring when Sexton was out with a head injury and Carbery was a long-term absentee.
This was a week after his flunked penalty in Cardiff, and while he was
stoutly defended a year ago, he has slipped out of contention now.
So, too, has Harry Byrne, a player who seemed to rise in many estimations despite rarely playing for Leinster. He was seen as the future, rather than his more solid brother Ross, but while the latter has remained in favour with Leo Cullen, Harry barely played.
Neither Byrne brother made the squad this time around with Carbery back and expected to be fit to understudy next weekend, and Jack Carty recalled from an isolation dating back to the World Cup.
This out-half flux need not be read as a sign of indecisiveness on Farrell’s part. No national coach before him has had the depth of choice in the position, and maximising his options, working out who can survive at this level, makes sense.
When the chopping and changing stops, though, Sexton remains in the shirt, a tribute to his form but also an indicator of Farrell’s preference for the tried and tested.
This, again, need not be a weakness: going with the proven Leinster back row for Ireland was an inspired choice, and there are other positions where the coach may have to take more risks this time, in particular in the back three with James Lowe and Jacob Stockdale out.
‘I think the good thing for us is that we’re in a very similar position to where we were in November,’ Sexton reflects. ‘That was my concern coming into November, that we hadn’t played enough, because normally coming into November you’ve played two European games, which are obviously of higher quality and closer to international level.
‘We didn’t have that in November and I was a bit worried. But the way we trained and prepared, we hit the ground running.
‘To have a competitive environment like we do here with between 35 and 40 players competing for positions, training can be nearly as tough as a game sometimes.’
No excuses, vowed Sexton, repeating a sentiment expressed by Farrell.
Beating New Zealand set a standard. Maintaining it is the only way to remain at that level.
That is a daunting job, but this is the standard.
It’s just like old times.
‘WITH SO MUCH COMPETITION, TRAINING CAN BE AS TOUGH AS A GAME’