The Ireland squad of 42 will decamp to their customary warm-weather base and fast tracks in the Algarve on Monday comforted by last Saturday’s 33-17 win over Italy – a 15th in a row at home – and seemingly with a clean bill of health.
Not only is there confidence that Jack Conan, Craig Casey and Jimmy O’Brien will recover from the knocks they suffered, but Johnny Sexton will take part in a training session involving the Ireland and Portugal teams on Wednesday.
The Irish captain is serving a three-match suspension but has made a good recovery from the operation that he required after suffering a torn groin in Ireland’s Grand Slam finale against England in March.
The behind-closed-doors session with the Portuguese side, who have qualified for their second World Cup and play a high-risk, high-tempo, inventive brand of rugby, will not be a training match per se. More, it is likely to contain some controlled contact around scrums and mauls.
The squad will return to Ireland next Saturday before the second warm-up game a week later against England at the Aviva Stadium. Eight weeks into their preseason, and five weeks away from their opening Pool B match against Romania in Bordeaux, the Irish players looked fit and strong against Italy without having placed an overdue emphasis on conditioning, as before previous World Cups.
Farrell admitted he is “extremely happy with the fitness levels”, adding: “I think they are in great nick, the way they’ve trained over the first six weeks has been outstanding. It is a good period for us now, because the heat stresses [in Portugal] are pretty demanding, and we’ll push them over there.
“But they’re in such a good place that we’ll get some massive benefits from that. So, a good week over there, coming back and then attacking the England week will be a good carrot for us.”
Ireland complete their preparatory programme with a game in Bayonne on August 26th against Samoa, who beat Ireland’s second World Cup pool opponents Tonga 34-9 in Apia in the Pacific Nations Cup on Saturday. The last time Ireland were restricted to three warm-up games was in 2007, when the third match was a non-Test in the same Stade Jean Dauger in what became known as the Battle of Bayonne.
Ireland played four warm-up matches before each of the three subsequent World Cups – as all bar Wales of their Six Nations rivals are doing this month.
Explaining the rationale, Farrell said: “Because that’s what is correct for this squad. We’re a team that has been together for quite some time. We feel that that plan of the training, the schedule in around that fits well.
“Playing four, five or six – that’s everyone’s different preference in where they are at in their stage of development. We feel that three is right going into the Romania game.”
Farrell will expect and demand an improvement against England, although for all his frustrations with his team’s failure to be more ruthless against Italy, he was also inclined to put the performance in perspective.
“I will probably wake up tomorrow ... and go, well what is it that you are after really? I mean, the amount of times we had opportunities and didn’t convert.
“I suppose that’s frustrating but at the same time am I being greedy in thinking we should have scored another four or five tries? If that’s the case, if we find ourselves in that situation to do that, there has got to be some good in that as well.
“I think it is a little bit frustrating, getting in our own way from time to time a little bit. On reflection it is to be expected with a juggling of selection, being the first game.”
The presumption has been that all bar Sexton of the 42-man squad would be given game time in these three warm-up games. Paul O’Connell had intimated as much during the week when saying “I would imagine” that would come to pass.
Interestingly though, Farrell said this would not necessarily be so.
“No, just take it as it is, watch training, judge everyone accordingly, getting the right balance, ensuring that people have enough game time and that people that deserve a chance will get a chance et cetera.
“But it is about making sure that we prepare the 33 to be ready for the World Cup.”
As well as having vast experience of his own for such a relatively young man, 48-year-old Farrell is commendably adept at man management. That includes building a backroom team incorporating such sharply contrasting characters as the highly detailed O’Connell and the more chilled Mike Catt.
As they weigh up their options in compiling a 33-man squad for the World Cup, debate and disagreement among a coaching group is healthy.
“It’s good when we have difference of opinions because we argue it out and then see what’s right for the group,” said Farrell.
“The coaches have all got an opinion, certainly in their areas, and it’s up to them to put it on the table and for us to argue it out and make sure we pick the squad that is right for the group together.
[ Ireland 33 Italy 17: How the Irish players rated in the opening World Cup warm-upOpens in new window ]
“I’d say that type of stuff is daily, so I don’t think it will be a shock for us.”
While there’s every chance that Farrell might yet spring a surprise or two, it’s likely that most people would hazard a good guess at the final list of 33, which in itself is probably a good sign.
“The biggest sticking points? I don’t think there is. I mean over the coming weeks things will be clearer, making sure you feed back on things as that goes, and we’ll get to a point that we’ve got the best 33 on the plane and obviously you’ve got an idea now, but what happens in the next three weeks will change that as well, I would have thought.”
