Tommy Martin: Andy Farrell's career plan adds urgency to this week's work
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IT’S probably the working-class Lancashire tones, but Andy Farrell doesn’t strike you as a man who minds getting his sleeves rolled up.
Which is a good thing, because he is probably knee deep in one of his toughest weeks of work since becoming Ireland’s head coach.
No, he is not charged with stocking the beer kegs in the Aviva for Friday night. That job would require the entire 1990s Wigan Warriors squad working overtime given how much booze the punters get through at Ireland home games.
As the rugby match is proving a clear distraction to the important business of drinking, there may even be calls for Farrell to do a shift behind the bar at some stage.
Spectators shuffling in and out with pints have once again been blamed for the lack of atmosphere during the defeat to New Zealand, even if scientists are puzzled by the phenomenon of how so many drunk people could make so little noise.
Alas the responsibility for the lack of atmosphere also lies with those at the centre of the action.
And by that we mean Michael D Higgins, whose reduced mobility means that his ceremonial greeting of the players tends to drag on and kill the buzz — on Friday, Cian Healy had turned 50 by the time he had his hand shaken. Michael D. on a moped might be a welcome addition to the pre-match pleasantries.
And then there’s the players. Aside from Josh van der Flier’s try, the only moment of release that most of the crowd got to celebrate was when they finally reached the top of the queue for the jacks.
None of this is Farrell’s problem, if only in the abstract sense that even the sozzled corporate hordes at the Aviva would produce a roar or two if his team had played anything like their true level against the All Blacks.
Now he has to get the good ship Ireland back on course in jig time before he jumps said ship for an entirely bigger and more prestigious ship, even if it is one that has Welsh people in it.
He’s been here before, back in the early days when he was struggling to ease the squad out of the parade ground patterns of the Joe Schmidt era and embrace his own more holistic worldview.
Those months between Jonathan Sexton going off in a huff in Paris in October 2020 and the breakthrough win over England in March 2021 must have been hard graft, the muck and shovels stage of building the success that came after.
More relevant might be the days in March this year after defeat in Twickenham left a week to turn around morale for the Six Nations championship decider against Scotland in Dublin.
But it is the coach’s own career plan that adds urgency to this week. Those that question whether the IRFU should have allowed Farrell go on his Lions adventure are like the oul wans in plays in the Abbey Theatre who won’t let their daughters go off to America. You should stay here and mind us in our old age, they crow, while Farrell peels the spuds and dreams of Broadway.
No, Farrell has more than earned his shot at northern hemisphere rugby’s most prestigious gig, and will no doubt come back energised and refreshed to lead Ireland to their next World Cup quarter-final heartbreak. It’s a massive honour to provide the Lions head coach and the tour is a personal and professional milestone for Farrell, even if it will involve spending an inordinate amount of time in the company of Ieuan Evans.
But in the meantime, someone as conscientious as Farrell, and who has such a tight relationship with his coaching staff, will be determined to leave the Irish set-up in good order ahead of his sabbatical.
The hope would have been to bounce off the second Test win in South Africa and march through a rip-roaring November, blending newer players into the familiar ranks of grizzled warhorses as the month went on, leaving everything neat as a pin for Simon Easterby to take into the Six Nations.
Instead, after Ireland’s worst performance in years, people are questioning whether the whole set-up is in decline. Farrell has been accused of not accelerating post-World Cup evolution and several players who could do no wrong for most of his reign are looking distinctly mortal. Suddenly, a year which saw the winning of a Six Nations championship and a Test in South Africa is being parsed as three defeats in the last five games.
Into the wreckage inflicted by the All Blacks step Argentina, fresh from beating each of the southern hemisphere giants during this year’s Rugby Championship and putting 50 points on Italy last week. If there is an issue with northern hemisphere teams being ring rusty against more battle-hardened teams from the south, then Argentina will surely test that.
Their game looks all about momentum — when they get going, as in the 67-27 record romp over Australia in September, they are very hard to stop.
There is no doubt that Farrell’s Lions sabbatical has shifted the tectonic plates under this Ireland set-up. Even if it is a temporary thing, successions can be tricky, upsetting the equilibrium in even the highest functioning set ups. More performances like last Friday in the next three weeks and Easterby might look more David Moyes than Arne Slot.
Hopefully, with another week of game time under their belts and a dose of Wigan verbals in their ears, this Ireland team will revert to type. The other thing that comes with Farrell’s Lancashire roots is a fondness for straight talking. He will probably ask his players to stop giving away stupid penalties and dropping the bloody ball.
That will go a long way to making sure this is a good week’s work for the lot of them.