David Nucifora has hailed confirmation of Andy Farrell’s further contract extension to the end of the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia as “great news” for Irish rugby, as well as providing further stability into the future. He also said the IRFU would be “ecstatic” if Farrell was chosen to lead the Lions to Australia halfway through this forthcoming World Cup cycle in 2025.
Having taken over from Joe Schmidt after the 2019 World Cup, Farrell had already signed a two-year extension until 2025, suggesting this would free him up to take any offer from the Lions. But Nucifora confirmed that Farrell will be free to take a sabbatical from his role with Ireland in some or all of the 2024-25 season if, as expected, he is chosen as the next Lions head coach, as Warren Gatland has done on the last three Lions tours.
“We’d be ecstatic if Andy was named coach of the Lions so hopefully that accolade is the next one for him and we’d be more than comfortable with how to deal with it,” said Nucifora.
“As far as the period of time he might be away from us, that’s still something I think can be discussed if this happens.”
The remainder of the coaching staff are contracted until the end of the 2024-25 season, suggesting Paul O’Connell and/or Simon Easterby might assume the mantle temporarily, although Nucifora confirmed that Mike Catt will be stepping aside at the end of this season.
“He will be doing the Six Nations and the July tour. Mike’s made the decision that his family has moved back to England, and I want to thank Mike for the work and the way he’s gone about his job over the last four years. He’s been an unbelievable contributor to Irish rugby and we’re going to be sad to see him move on.
“We are close to reaching an agreement with his replacement, and we’ll be able to announce that in the coming weeks.”
Nucifora, who will step down after the Olympic Sevens as the role of IRFU High Performance Director in June 2016, will step down after the taking over in June 2016, said the agreed new contract extension with Farrell had been a smooth process.
“Obviously, he’s a very sought-after coach on the world scene. He’s loved his time, he’s loved working here, a great working environment that we have, the people we’ve got in that, so it was a reasonably smooth process to extend the contract.
“Andy has proven himself to be a world class coach and has done an outstanding job since he took over after the 2019 World Cup.
“I think for Irish rugby, the continuity that he’ll bring over the next four years gives a stability and certainty to build on the established platforms that are already there. So, we’re really fortunate and excited that it’s going to continue on. It’s great news all round.”
In his last end-of-year briefing with the media, despite it being almost two months after the event and having been completed at this juncture in 2019, Nucifora said that the Union were still compiling their World Cup review, which was nearing completion, but would not be especially revelatory.
“It’s not going to be an earth-shattering document that will give the answer as to why we didn’t beat New Zealand in the quarter-final, I don’t think there’s anything there that systematically will tell us why we didn’t win that game.
“We’re all massively disappointed that it ended the way it did. Right up to the point, deep into those 30-plus phases, I was still really confident we were going to get over the line and win that game, but it didn’t pan out that way.
“I think that the team that went away was the best-prepared that we’ve had. There was nothing left to chance. They were really well-supported, it was an unbelievably positive environment that they prepared in and performed in, and the support they got from the Irish public was outstanding. That’s going to be one of the lasting memories, the Irish support that came not just Paris but other parts of the country. I think that goes some way to stating the shape Irish rugby is in at the moment.
“There’s going to be small things that come out of the report that give us an indicator about what we can be working in going forward, but largely our reviews can often show us that we’re actually on the right track.”
Nevertheless, Nucifora said the World Cup review “will be an important document” ala 2019, when identifying performance anxiety led to the hiring of sports psychologist Gary Keegan – “an enormous contributor to the success we’ve had over the last number of years.”
This review will also highlight what Irish rugby has done well did well to ensure this is a reference point for the 2023 World Cup.
“But along the way there will be minor things we’ll tweak. It’ll be a different experience going to Australia rather than an hour-and-a-half flight to France. There’ll be lots of learning for us that will either take with us again and we’ll adapt to what we need to do going forward.”
As for a difficult year for the Irish women’s team, which saw the departure of Greg McWilliams after the Six Nations wooden spoon campaign, Nucifora said: “The Women’s XV, a bit of a rebuild for us this year with Scott Bemand coming on board for the World Cup, managing to win the WXV 3 competition. It’s a launch pad for where we get to in the Six Nations for the Womens’s XVs.”
He spoke at greater length about the Sevens teams both qualifying for the Olympics and also revealed that the Union had reached an agreement with the provinces that the men’s squad will be permitted to select one contracted player from each province near the end of the season for the Olympics.
“That will be done in agreement with the player. More than likely that player will be a player that has come through the Sevens programme at some stage, so they’re familiar with the game, and it will also be a fact that we’ll work with the province and the player and look to integrate that player, or players, in the back end of this season to be able to see where they fit and whether they can earn their selection in the Olympic squad, which will probably be named in late June/early July.”
Meanwhile, the IRFU has announced that following the final Union Committee meeting of the year, a gender balance of 40 per cent has been reached with the addition of three co-opted delegates.
The IRFU Committee, which is a representative body, is now comprised of 29 people, with each province providing five delegates. The remaining positions are the president, two vice-presidents, chairperson, honorary treasurer, International Affairs Committee chairperson, along with the three new co-opted delegates – Maeve Carton, Fiona Sweeney, and Joanne Geary.
