Head coach hopeful his open-minded approach pays off as 18 Irish players to make their World Cup debuts
“At the same time, I think the process has always been for the here and now and the medium term and the long term. You know, a lot [of other squads] tend to go from cycle to cycle and chop a few and carry on.
By that stage, eight of the 14 current squad members who have been blooded in this cycle had already made their debuts. Caelan Doris, then 21, and Ronan Kelleher, off the bench, did so in Farrell’s first game, the 2020 Six Nations opener against Scotland. Ryan Baird and Craig Casey made their debuts in the 2021 Six Nations third-round game behind closed doors in Rome, while Tom O’Toole is the only one of eight debutants against the USA in July 2021 who will be going to France 2023.
Jimmy O’Brien broke into the team last November when demonstrating his invaluable versatility by playing in three different positions in three matches. Jeremy Loughman and Jack Crowley made their Test debuts a wek later against Fiji, while Joe McCarthy – the youngest in the squad at 22 years old – made his debut against Australia that same month.
All the while, Farrell has been embracing all manner of disruptions and unforeseen eventualities as welcome stress tests of his squad. This is partly why he was relatively pleased with last week’s win in Bayonne against Samoa, when his reconfigured side had to cope with a night-time kick-off in France, heavy rain, a hostile crowd, fired-up Pacific Ireland opponents and Wayne Barnes, all of which will apply for the round-two game against Tonga, except perhaps the weather.
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