As he was as a player, so he is as a coach. Has anyone been more of an unsung hero to Irish rugby teams than Simon Easterby? For starters, he’s currently the team’s longest serving coach, and after seven seasons overseeing the forwards he has switched seamlessly to defence for the last three seasons.
“Defences win championships” is a phrase oft used by wise sages such as Shaun Edwards and Warren Gatland, and in the last two Six Nations campaigns and the two rounds of this one, Ireland have conceded 12 tries in their dozen games.
Over the same 12 rounds, Edwards’s French defence has leaked 27 tries, followed by Gatland’s Wales on 32, Scotland (33), England (35) and Italy (57). The 36-0 win over Italy was the first time Ireland had kept a team scoreless in the Championship since the 17-0 home win over England in 1987.
Jacques Nienaber is more likely to be given credit for the counter-rucking of Joe McCarthy, Caelan Doris et al and the line speed of Ryan Baird and company. Typically, Easterby himself deflected any praise toward the set-piece coaches Paul O’Connell and John Fogarty.
“I think it’s in context. We took away their platform at set piece. The lineout and the scrum defence were excellent and if you do that to any team it’s always going to be difficult to attack and to get any foothold in the game.
Youthful Wales show signs of life ahead of Ireland game
“Our discipline was pretty good. We didn’t give them access to go to the corner. I think maybe 15 metres out from our try line was the closest they got,” said Easterby.
“The plan that Paulie and Fogs put in place for defending against Italy and then the connections that we had as a backline and a team to stop them from getting any momentum, that was pretty pleasing. But we also know we have to keep getting better. On another day we might have conceded. It’s important that we don’t get too far ahead of ourselves.”
Easterby also allayed fears that Caelan Doris might not be fit for next Saturday’s game against Wales at the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 2.15pm) and is being managed with a light training load. Garry Ringrose is fully fit but Hugo Keenan (knee) again missed training, with Ciarán Frawley seemingly certain to start at fullback while Iain Henderson’s foot injury is likely to rule him out.
In that understated way of his, Easterby won 65 caps in a nine-season period from 2000 to 2008, becoming an integral part of an Irish side that went from serial wooden spoonists into contenders and Triple Crown winners.
He was one of five players given their debuts by Gatland in the truly transformative 44-22 win over Scotland in 2000 along with John Hayes, Peter Stringer, Ronan O’Gara and Shane Horgan.
“Willie Bennett [still a physio with the squad] showed me the cutting of a picture of the five of us this week – 24 years ago! My memory might be a little vague on what happened that week, but Warren was very good, still is, at giving players confidence to go out and be the best version of themselves. Like a lot of the best coaches are.
“I think that’s what my memory would be: him saying: ‘Go out, you’re here for a reason, don’t be overawed by it, put in a performance.’ He wouldn’t say a huge amount, Warren. He is a man of few words at times and when he does speak, players do respond to it.
“I just think he’s his own man,” said Easterby, although in many ways that was the week Gatland (then 36 and in his fourth season as a professional coach) learned to back his own judgment.
“He’s so experienced now. His track record is unbelievable. I remember when he first came into Wales in 2008 and picked 13 Ospreys players and it was the year they won the Grand Slam.
“It was a masterstroke really because he picked guys who were familiar with each other and then was able to get the best out of them in the red jersey,” added Easterby.
As someone who played for 11 seasons with the Scarlets, cut his teeth as a coach for two seasons with them and still lives in Wales with his wife Sarra Elgan, the Welsh journalist and TV presenter, and their two kids, Easterby also has a clear insight into Saturday’s opponents.
History, he ventured, has proved it’s never wise to write off a Welsh team.
“They bombed out of the World Cup in 2007 before the quarter-finals, then they go and win the Grand Slam a year after,” he said.
“There’s a lot of crap going on in regional rugby and it’s tough for clubs, not just players but for all the back room people affiliated to the different clubs who have worked over the years to sustain regional rugby. Supporters, as well, have suffered a bit.
Sometimes that doesn’t mean success, but it means a performance and I think you’ll always get that from a Welsh team
“But when they get into Welsh camp it’s been proven time and again, they have a huge amount of belief in what they’re doing when they put on a Welsh red jersey.”
Easterby cited how Wales almost won from 27-0 down against Scotland and “arguably should have won” in Twickenham against England.
“The coaching group are part of that, but the players are a different beast when they pull on that red jersey and they understand as well what it is to represent their country, as our guys do as well.
“There’s a huge amount of support for our team and the players feel it, and I think the Welsh are the same; very passionate rugby people but essentially they just want to see their players go out and give everything.
“Sometimes that doesn’t mean success, but it means a performance and I think you’ll always get that from a Welsh team.”
