CONWAY: IT’S ANDY’S WAY OR IT’LL BE THE HIGHWAY

Winger admits only form players will keep jersey

ANDREW CONWAY reckons a smash and grab policy will operate on Andy Farrell’s watch.

The Munster winger believes Ireland’s starters must smash it on the pitch and, if they don’t, the next man up will grab the jersey.

It is a policy he is fully behind as he looks to make a fast start on the Six Nations’ resumption today.

“I think the lads in previous times had done a body of work under Joe Schmidt,” ref lected Conway, who broke into the Ireland set-up under the former boss but never felt established.

“He was really confident in them and you can’t really blame him for that either. A lot of those senior guys have produced at the most important times over the last five or six years for Irish rugby so it was understandable why they had a bit more money in the bank. I think I was knocking on the door for a long enough time, probably longer than you would know from the outside.

“But to drive competition, I for one, definitely don’t want to feel c omfor t abl e in a starting position at any level whether that is national or provincial. You want someone breathing down your neck.

“There is a feeling that form will come into it, probably a bit more than it has in the past, which is great for everyone.”

Coach Farrell has shown he will pick on form on the basis of his first selections post-lockdown . Ulster scrum-half J ohn Cooney was omitted from his initial 35-man squad after coming so close to a starting role in February.

Then this week Farrell has picked two starting debutants, two more uncapped players on the bench and Jacob Stockdale will make his first Test start at full-back.

With Hugo Keenan one of the debutants, Conway is the established figure i n the back three but he insists there can be no excuses if things go wrong with their attacking threat.

“We’r e d e f i n i t e l y expecting it to be where we want it to be,” the 29-year-old admitted.

“It’s just about getting in and not having excuses that we only have a week or whatever and just going, ‘Right lads, it’s time to nail down’.

“The best players, we’re told, are the ones who learn quickest, adapt quickest, link up and creat e partnerships that look like they’ve been playing together for months in a week. So we’ll see.

“There’s high expectations. You’re surrounded by a high calibre of player across the board here.

“The skill is to not leave your best on the training pitch. It’s the ability to train at a high level and then transfer that to the game for performances that really matter.”