And Irelands new defence coach is..

Andy Farrell!


http://www.irishrugby.ie/news/36562.php#.Vo0yvvmLSM9

O'Farrell

Be interesting, him telling Ireland how to stop his son.

Risca Rev wrote:Be interesting, him telling Ireland how to stop his son.

I doubt his son will be first choice for England now that he is not there to pick him.

Didn't see that one coming. Juries out, but when you get to this level there's not all that many candidates for the job with the same experience he has.

But one important thing that needs to be emphasised; this appointment comes into effect after the Six Nations. Which is a concern because we have no incumbent defence coach for the tournament. You have other coaches taking care of it, which spreads them thinner. Could be an issue.

In terms of the inside knowledge, it works both ways- he'll know the English players really well but they'll know his systems really well. Not that he'll coach us against England until the 2017 Six Nations.

LordDowlais wrote:

Risca Rev wrote:Be interesting, him telling Ireland how to stop his son.

I doubt his son will be first choice for England now that he is not there to pick him.

In actual fact, on form he should be the first choice for England. And I speak as a huge George Ford fan!

LordDowlais wrote:

Risca Rev wrote:Be interesting, him telling Ireland how to stop his son.

I doubt his son will be first choice for England now that he is not there to pick him.

Yeah those high kicking percentages are useless at Test level

BamBam wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:

Risca Rev wrote:Be interesting, him telling Ireland how to stop his son.

I doubt his son will be first choice for England now that he is not there to pick him.

In actual fact, on form he should be the first choice for England. And I speak as a huge George Ford fan!

+1

Well I guess we'll see now how good or bad Mr Farrell actually is.

marty2086 wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:

Risca Rev wrote:Be interesting, him telling Ireland how to stop his son.

I doubt his son will be first choice for England now that he is not there to pick him.

Yeah those high kicking percentages are useless at Test level

George Ford is better than Farrell.

Anyway, England did not set the world alight in the backs defence when he was there, so Ireland might have been better off looking elsewhere

You can't have a flyhalf playing when the opposition defence coach know everything about him, and I mean everything.

He's joining after the 6n isn't he?

Why do we have to bring in Farrell when we have Kurt McQuilkin - architect of the meanest defence in the Pro12 - just down the road at Leinster

brennomac wrote:Why do we have to bring in Farrell when we have Kurt McQuilkin - architect of the meanest defence in the Pro12 - just down the road at Leinster

A very good point.

LordDowlais wrote:

Risca Rev wrote:Be interesting, him telling Ireland how to stop his son.

I doubt his son will be first choice for England now that he is not there to pick him.

Owen Farrell is the new Ireland 10. They come as a pair

The way this thread was building I was expecting it to be Ronan O'Gara

Any big units in League who happen to be IQ and could be parachuted ahead of Henshaw?

Maybe Ben Teo should have stuck around!

Don't rate Farrell at all. In fact he probably cost Lancaster his job. Shocking choice by the IRFU, he must have come on the cheap as damaged goods.

Risca Rev wrote:Be interesting, him telling Ireland how to stop his son.

I don't think he needs to tell them how to do that.

rodders wrote:Don't rate Farrell at all. In fact he probably cost Lancaster his job. Shocking choice by the IRFU, he must have come on the cheap as damaged goods.  

Wasn't Burgess one of Farrell's failures as well ?

brennomac wrote:Why do we have to bring in Farrell when we have Kurt McQuilkin - architect of the meanest defence in the Pro12 - just down the road at Leinster

Hes only on a short term contract at Leinster too

For England didn't Farrell have more of a role than just defense coach? Wasn't he effectively coaching the backs? England backs for quite some time played as if they were playing league anyway.

For Ireland Schmidt runs the show and is a hands on coach whereas Lancaster wasn't as much as far as I can see. If Farrell sticks to being a defence coach it will probably be an ok appointment.

GunsGerms wrote:For England didn't Farrell have more of a role than just defense coach? Wasn't he effectively coaching the backs? England backs for quite some time played as if they were playing league anyway.

That is what I thought, he was more than just defence coach, he was almost a senior backs coach who oversaw everything.

Pretty surprised by this. Bold call. He's a strong character with a patchy record as to what works well at international level. He's got experience, but I must say that this is a questionnable call from the IRFU and, I presume, Joe Schmidt.

LordDowlais wrote:

rodders wrote:Don't rate Farrell at all. In fact he probably cost Lancaster his job. Shocking choice by the IRFU, he must have come on the cheap as damaged goods.  

Wasn't Burgess one of Farrell's failures as well ?

Without doubt.

Agree above that Owen Farrell is the man in form but for long periods he was picked ahead of Ford when the latter was the better option. Barrett too got a bit of a leg up at times.

He didn't get on with Catt and was a real negative influence in the England camp imo.

funnyExiledScot wrote:Pretty surprised by this. Bold call. He's a strong character with a patchy record as to what works well at international level. He's got experience, but I must say that this is a questionnable call from the IRFU and, I presume, Joe Schmidt.

I'm guessing his role will be very specific and I have no issue with that except when he inevitably goes back to England and gives away all our secrets.

Sometimes just doesn't quite cover it.

I'm going big:

GunsGerms wrote:For England didn't Farrell have more of a role than just defense coach? Wasn't he effectively coaching the backs? England backs for quite some time played as if they were playing league anyway.

For Ireland Schmidt runs the show and is a hands on coach whereas Lancaster wasn't as much as far as I can see. If Farrell sticks to being a defence coach it will probably be an ok appointment.

Although officially the Backs coach, Farrell was defacto Head Coach, with SL effectively in a DoR type role. Farrell's primary responsibilities were defence (including breakdown) and first phase attack. Rowntree as forwards coach, and Catt as Skills coach had to work around whatever Farrell needed.

As a defence coach, Farrell was appointed to the Lions ahead of Sean Edwards. Sure political reasons were touted, but you can be sure that Gats would not have risked his reputation and taken someone he did not rate.

rodders wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:

rodders wrote:Don't rate Farrell at all. In fact he probably cost Lancaster his job. Shocking choice by the IRFU, he must have come on the cheap as damaged goods.  

Wasn't Burgess one of Farrell's failures as well ?

Without doubt.

Agree above that Owen Farrell is the man in form but for long periods he was picked ahead of Ford when the latter was the better option. Barrett too got a bit of a leg up at times.

He didn't get on with Catt and was a real negative influence in the England camp imo.

Farrell will not have the same influence in the Ireland camp though. Joe calls the shots.

He's not going to have the same level of input into selection as he did in England and no input into attack so I'm optimistic about his appointment.

Never ever expected this, absolutely gobsmacked by the decision. Awful decision and I don't care when he is supposed to begin, he should not be in the Ireland fold after what happened with England.

Farrell was the obvious choice - it's tradition. Mike Ford used to be the defence coach and his lad is also an England 10.

Seriously though, Farrell has just been through the worst experience of his life. Time for him to learn from that and not make the same mistakes again. At heart he's a winner and this is a new start where he will be busting a gut to be successful, so he deserves the benefit until he proves otherwise.

This does seem to be a rather strange appointment, but I would rather wait and see before letting emotions get the better of me and throw the toys out of the pram. We don't really know exactly what happened within the England setup for a start, and it would be naive to believe the IRFU or indeed Joe Schmidt would be happy with the appointment if they firstly didn't rate him highly or if they actually thought the the wild stories about his apparent dictatorship within the England setup were true.

I'm fairly sure they were proven to be at the very least greatly exaggerated, if not a total fabrication (the Vunipola interview).

The Great Aukster wrote:Farrell was the obvious choice - it's tradition. Mike Ford used to be the defence coach and his lad is also an England 10.

Seriously though, Farrell has just been through the worst experience of his life. Time for him to learn from that and not make the same mistakes again. At heart he's a winner and this is a new start where he will be busting a gut to be successful, so he deserves the benefit until he proves otherwise.

Totally agree. It isn't as if he has just been made head coach. Positive comments from Irish players from the last Lions tour. Joe will still be as involved as ever I hope and if Farrell is playing smart he should be thinking about keeping the head down, ears open, listen and learn from a very talented coaching set up for through the next world cup with a view to taking on a head coach job with a bolstered CV after 2019.

Also moves a bit away from the perceived Leinster biased in the management ticket (for all of about 2 minutes)

I have to say I find this bemusing.

Well, even if those stories are true- he's coming into a junior role in a settled coaching team. His brief is smaller than his role as England Assistant Coach were he had input into how that side attacked and inout into team selection. Thats not going to be the case with us, given we have a strong head coach with his own vision. He has responsibility for defence, which by all accounts he's quite good at. Am happy with this appointment if that is all he has responsibility for.

My concern is Schmidt leaves and he gets promoted, then we're fecked. Defence coach is no problem to me.

LOL !

I hoenestly thought that when England parted from him. He would never coach at international level again.

Notch wrote:

My concern is Schmidt leaves and he gets promoted, then we're fecked. Defence coach is no problem to me.

I didn't want to say it but those were my concerns as well. Schmidt has a bad 6N and they look to promote Farrell...

Even as a defence coach, Farrell will have impact on the selections, I honestly see no good in this appointment.

I'm ok with it. If he's focusing purely on defence, he'll be good. If Schmidt is half as uber controlling as some believe, Farrell won't get a look in. Don't forget that Schmidt seems to work well with strong willed fellas - Jono Gibbes and Vern Cotter spring to mind.

Thought this was a wum originally



But

When he first started with England our defense was tip top, we won a lot off the back of it.

Sure we had to give up on attacking to get there but it worked. 4 second place finishes show that...

eirebilly wrote:Even as a defence coach, Farrell will have impact on the selections, I honestly see no good in this appointment.

Doubt it tbh.

yappysnap wrote:When he first started with England our defense was tip top, we won a lot off the back of it.

Sure we had to give up on attacking to get there but it worked. 4 second place finishes show that...

Yeah, I'm happy enough with it given we still have Schmidt in charge of attack after all.

Notch wrote:

yappysnap wrote:When he first started with England our defense was tip top, we won a lot off the back of it.

Sure we had to give up on attacking to get there but it worked. 4 second place finishes show that...

Yeah, I'm happy enough with it given we still have Schmidt in charge of attack after all.

Thats what worries me. Schmidt still in charge assisted by Farrell.

Hopefully at least he manages to teach the Kearney Bros how to tackle.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:This does seem to be a rather strange appointment, but I would rather wait and see before letting emotions get the better of me and throw the toys out of the pram. We don't really know exactly what happened within the England setup for a start, and it would be naive to believe the IRFU or indeed Joe Schmidt would be happy with the appointment if they firstly didn't rate him highly or if they actually thought the the wild stories about his apparent dictatorship within the England setup were true.

I'm fairly sure they were proven to be at the very least greatly exaggerated, if not a total fabrication (the Vunipola interview).

This is another downgrade from what we had (Plumtree to Easterby was a downgrade). More than likely no one will touch Ireland with Lucifora and Schmidt in charge.

TightHEAD wrote:You can't have a flyhalf playing when the opposition defence coach know everything about him, and I mean everything.

We've just had months of people saying a coach and his son should not be involved with the same team. Now you are saying they can't be involved in different teams either. Sounds like rugby coaches should never raise their sons to play their sport if they want to keep working.

eirebilly wrote:

Notch wrote:

My concern is Schmidt leaves and he gets promoted, then we're fecked. Defence coach is no problem to me.

I didn't want to say it but those were my concerns as well. Schmidt has a bad 6N and they look to promote Farrell...

Even as a defence coach, Farrell will have impact on the selections, I honestly see no good in this appointment.

Would Easterby not be next in line? He has experience as a head coach. I would also have thought some of the Schmidt critics would welcome someone else (with no Leinster affiliations) giving their tuppence worth when it comes to picking a team.

Stupid question probably but do home nations all have and had defense coaches (not sure about Scotland)? Am asking this because France does not have a specific defense coach (we have one for the backs and one for the forwards on top of the head coach).
Some clubs do have defense coaches though (UBB have Joe Worsley who has done a great job as well).

Engine#4 wrote:

eirebilly wrote:

Notch wrote:

My concern is Schmidt leaves and he gets promoted, then we're fecked. Defence coach is no problem to me.

I didn't want to say it but those were my concerns as well. Schmidt has a bad 6N and they look to promote Farrell...

Even as a defence coach, Farrell will have impact on the selections, I honestly see no good in this appointment.

Would Easterby not be next in line? He has experience as a head coach. I would also have thought some of the Schmidt critics would welcome someone else (with no Leinster affiliations) giving their tuppence worth when it comes to picking a team.

Why on earth does provincial bias have to be brought in?
You guys always say that Munsterfans have an issue but by god, you guys bring up the provincial thing more than we do...

So hes signed up for 2 seasons post Schmidts current contract? Would the IRFU force him on the  next head coach? If not then surely it means either Schmidt is close to signing an extension? Or they are looking at Farrell for head coach (please god no)?

Englands defence has been good apart from that France game and Farrell will be eager to prove himself after the world cup so could be a very good signing. I also like that there will be some fresh ideas coming into the coaching ticket (just as long as they are not about selection).

From a selfish POV it also means Leinster keep hold of McQuilken for a while longer.