Just who thought it was a good idea to let the British & Irish Lions take Andy Farrell away for the guts of 12 months
There is Only One F in Foley writes: Andy Farrell being lost to Lions for 12 months is calamitous for team needing an urgent refit ahead of RWC 2027
Ireland have the best rugby coach in the world - losing him to the Lions next summer could be calamitous.
Andy Farrell was announced as the next British and Irish Lions coach in January 2024, and very few—well, just me—felt that while the recognition was deserved, it didn't serve Ireland's needs well.
The unit had just come off the back of a mentally-bruising World Cup where old paranoias, cussed myths, that bloody glass ceiling, and all sorts of malevolence had combined to leave them where they always are at the World Cup. Unable to win a knockout game.
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Johnny Sexton, Peter O'Mahony, and a number of thirtysomethings were clearly not going to be at RWC 2027, and with new blood needed, Farrell's absence for the 2025 Six Nations and subsequent summer tour was shortening his hands-on time.
What couldn't be gleaned from last January was that Farrell had little or no intention of rebuilding this year; he wanted the players from the last cycle to re-click and forge ahead.
Sure enough, that worked in its own right. Despite missing only Sexton on the front line, they delivered a Six Nations championship, beat the world champion Springboks in the summer, and, pushing the envelope even further, were given the chance to atone against New Zealand last Friday night.
The process came to a shuddering halt as fifteen players who played in the RWC 2023 quarter-final started against the All Blacks—the worst New Zealand side in decades—and came up short.
Suddenly, six thirty-somethings in the starting line-up, along with half of the bench being 34 years of age or over, were collectively error-strewn, giving away too many penalties, and worn.
That the only two players under the age of 26 in the team, Jack Crowley, clearly suffering from playing in a Munster side close to freefall, and Joe McCarthy, inexplicably in his case, put in poor performances, didn't augur well
While the only other player under 26 in the matchday squad, Jamie Osborne, for the last 10 minutes was close to meaningless when it came to his international education.
This leaves the soon-to-fly coop coach with three games on the slate—Argentina, Fiji, and Australia—before Lions duty kicks in.
And from where he is not back in Ireland camp until the next set of November internationals, a year away.
Suddenly, genuine questions surround the team; they have not quite returned for 2024/25 with the image they had formed of themselves in the first half of 2024.
It is perplexing there were too many reminders of the RWC quarter-final loss in Paris, not least the inability of a set of tired players unable to break through for the score(s) needed in the end-game.
Finding fresh legs is Farrell's immediate challenge.
Getting the individuals once identified into the team, experience, comfortable with the combinations, without throwing all the good work there at the moment out the window is the intermediary challenge.
Andrew Osborne must become a priority not the afterthought he was last Friday, he could be the player to fire up the centre.
Friday was a warning sign for Crowley and a Ciaran Frawley who might or might not morph into a Leinster first-choice no10 in this RWC cycle.
While it is true the entire country can't wait to see Sam Prendergast in top-level action, Farrell has just these three games before being hands-off with this youngster for the next 12 months.
Also, there is a pressing need to road test the fit again Jacob Stockdale - if he is back to the sizzling form of his free-scoring breakthrough, he would be a terrific addition to any side in the world.
The pack, without the injured Dan Sheehan and Tadhg Furlong, started four thirty-somethings, and the kindest thing that could be said about the lack of second-row dynamism and the pressing need to identify Peter O'Mahony's replacement is that these, by dint of being necessary, are works in progress.
One of these problems may be solved by the promotion of Ryan Baird, who, it was quite a surprise, wasn't involved last Friday either in the second row, at no6, or on the bench.
Fair enough, suggesting all of this talk of change is running away with itself is a decent point.
It would be a massive call to have Osbourne, Stockdale, Prendergast, a second-row shake-up, Baird starting, and whoever the long term replacements for Andrew Porter and Josh van der Flier are, involved against Argentina.
But if there isn't homework being done against Argentina - and it is not beyond the possibility that last Friday's side will be rolled over and a chance to 'make amends' - the games against Fiji and the currently dreadful, shambolic Australia can't be listed as top-tier Tests.
Ireland's loss may be the British & Irish Lions gain as after these three games the Man of Steel is occupied elsewhere. Not great timing for those hoping for 'go' for green and that red doesn't mean 'stop'.
Certainly Osborne and Baird with Prendergast for the bench are the priorities, let the RWC 2027 cycle begin. Please.
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