WHATEVER IT TAKES
Ireland embrace new methods of ending dismal World Cup record
NAMING your World Cup squad a year out from the big event might seem a little premature. Jamie Joseph didn’t quite see it that way. In December of 2018, the Japan head coach announced a preliminary training group which would go into a pretournament camp ahead of the big one on home soil the next year.
It seemed like a radical move. For Joseph, the former All Blacks flanker, this was just the first step in a grander plan. This wasn’t a short get-together, this was effectively club Japan for the next 12 months.
The likes of Shota Horie, Lappies Labuschagne, Kazuki Himeno, Yu Tamura, Timothy Lafaele and Kotaro Matsushima were all hooked from club duty. None of Japan’s top players would feature for the now-defunct Sunwolves in Super Rugby.
They wouldn’t feature for their clubs in the domestic Top League either. It caused plenty of friction at the time and there was no shortage of blowback from the Japanese clubs during that period.
Joseph’s aim was for the Brave Blossoms to train day in, day out, like a club side themselves. He had a brilliant and innovative attack coach in Tony Brown, heavily linked with Leinster in the past.
He also wanted to make his team the fittest at the World Cup.
They would go through a fiendish training regime to get up to speed. Think Hell Week in high humidity.
Japan played a grand total of six competitive games during that time, mostly against ‘A’ sides from Australia and New Zealand.
It proved a masterstroke. Ireland were ambushed in Shizuoka before the Scots were blown off the park a few week later.
Japan topped the pool and frightened the life out of the Springboks, going down with a battle in a hardfought quarter-final.
The moral of the story is when you’re rounding the final bend in a World Cup cycle, all bets are off. You have to roll the dice, take some calculated risks and be prepared to be bold.
Others have not been so fortunate when trying to mix things up. Kamp
Staaldraad lives in infamy. South Africa’s brutal pre2003 World Cup left a batch of players traumatised. Scotland’s training camp before the 2015 World Cup edition seemed a brutal affair, too.
Then there was Eddie O’Sullivan’s decision to whisk his ‘Invincibles’ away to Spala in Poland for a strenuous training regime ahead of the 2007 World Cup.
The players rocked up to Carton House in the shape of their lives, but woefully short of any rugby practice.
The less said about the decision to play Bayonne in the south of France a few weeks before they faced Les Bleus in the pool stages was another poor call.
Brian O’Driscoll was almost ruled out of the tournament after he suffered a fractured sinus thanks to a cheap shot from Kiwi lock Mikaera Tewhata.
So, there are plenty of lessons and warnings from history for Andy Farrell to take on board. The Ireland head coach has plenty of firsthand experience anyway.
He was flanked by Stuart Lancaster, Mike Catt and Graham Rowntree when England’s home World Cup imploded at the 2015 tournament.
He was front and centre for another shambles four years later in Tokyo with Ireland.
Now, he is at the front of house and Farrell is going to do things his way. On the field, the past 12 months have been hugely encouraging. Ireland’s style of play has evolved to new levels.
A host of new players have been blooded and the noises coming out of the camp are overwhelmingly positive.
Beating the All Blacks in a home series has also galvanised this squad. Clearly, it’s an organised, convivial and relaxed set-up these days. Is it enough to launch a serious attack on next year’s global showpiece in France?
Ireland have been in this situation many times. In the tournament’s 32-year history, the national team has never made it past the quarterfinal stages. On two occasions, in 1999 and 2007, they didn’t even make it that far.
There have been multiple issues and no shortage of internal reviews, particularly after the last three editions.
Whatever about the early days, Ireland’s performances in 2011, ’15 and ’19 fell well short of expectations. Squad depth has been a recurring issue. It killed Ireland’s chances in 2015 when a heavily depleted side were mauled by the Pumas.
Earlier this year, Farrell proclaimed he would need at least 40 players who could front up at a World Cup. Not just for the pool stages, he needed personnel who could step into a big match week of a knockout game and not miss a beat. Do Ireland have such resources at the moment? No, is the blunt answer. As things stand, the Ireland management have about 20 players who meet the job specification.
Which brings us to the looming Emerging Ireland tour. No doubt, this late curve ball has put a few noses out of joint around the provinces.
Getting a call from the IRFU and being told that a chunk of your squad would be whisked away for a tournament against three Currie Cup teams in Bloemfontein would have been quite a shock for the provincial supremos Leo Cullen, Andy Friend, Graham Rowntree and Dan McFarland.
There has definitely been a degree of compromise though. You’d imagine that the Ireland coaches would have been interested in getting a closer look at Keynan Knox and Ben Healy. Both would have left a sizeable void in Rowntree’s early season plans, however.
Taking Jack Crowley and Roman Salonoa, barely mapped since he arrived from Leinster in 2020, seems like a fair trade-off.
It won’t do either player any harm either. The cast of rookie props is interesting. The likelihood of any of the six tourists breaking into Farrell’s World Cup plans seems remote, but it’s not like Ireland are awash with options anyway. Lest we forget the SOS to Michael Bent in New Zealand.
Josh Wycherly looks the most likely contender although Peter Dooley’s move to Connacht will be watched with interest.
The Birr man could yet make a late charge into Farrell’s plans, despite not featuring on this looming project.
Joe McCarthy will look to build on a promising tour of New Zealand, but Tom Ahern can make real inroads. The young Munster lock has got the right stuff and is set for a big season.
Nathan Doak and Robert Baloucoune are others to add to that list. The most intriguing member of this squad is Ciaran Frawley, who is now clearly being fast-tracked as a viable option to Johnny Sexton at No10.
This tour came from left-field, but is only the beginning. The ‘A’ game against New Zealand in November is another positive move.
No doubt, Farrell and his management team will have other ideas when 2023 rolls around. This is not the time to be conservative and keep the ship steady. It hasn’t worked in the past.
There is no shortage of tension between the IRFU and the provinces at the best of times. It’s going to get very strained this season. Club Ireland is the priority now.
All other priorities are rescinded. Some of these extreme measures may cost a province a shot at a URC or European title down the line.
Farrell is hoping the end will justify the means. He is determined to see Ireland make a big imprint in France next year.
Whatever it takes.
This is not the time to be conservative and keep the ship steady