With Irish XV in flux, Farrell needs to find a winning mix

This hasn’t been the smoothest or luckiest Six Nations campaign an Irish squad has ever enjoyed. Whether in part enforced or by design, ever since Caelan Doris was ruled out before the first round the starting XV seems to have been in a relatively constant state of flux – and so it has continued until the end.

After making four changes in personnel for the round two game against France, when both Johnny Sexton and Conor Murray were forced out 48 hours before kick-off in addition to James Ryan and Peter O’Mahony, seven changes were made for the Italian job.

After a mere three for the trek to Scotland, Andy Farrell and co have made six changes in personnel and three positional for Saturday’s 2021 Guinness Six Nations finale against a comparatively settled English side who have made just one enforced change.

The only constants in the five starting XVs have been Hugo Keenan, Robbie Henshaw and the retiring CJ Stander, and even then Henshaw and Stander have shifted positions for this game.

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Three of these changes were injury-related, with Will Connors joining Ryan and Garry Ringrose on the sidelines. In part Farrell and co have had game management in mind, including this week’s six-day turnaround, but it also appears as if there has been a deliberate leaning toward physicality.

Ball-carrying oomph

Certainly the promotion of Bundee Aki, Conor Murray, David Kilcoyne and Jack Conan seems designed to give Ireland plenty of ball-carrying oomph from the start against opponents who have won the last four collisions, in addition to Saracens ending Leinster’s Heineken Champions Cup hopes in the last two seasons.

“The theme is always the same, isn’t it, when you’re up against a top-class side like England,” said Farrell when reflecting on those four defeats.

“Your set-piece has got to be really good and we struggled exit-wise, they put us under pressure last time around – we couldn’t get out of our half.

“They obviously come with a strong kicking game. They kick the ball nice and early and try to win territory in that regard and again, that’s why your exit play and your set-piece play has to be rock solid, first and foremost.

“And then obviously handling their big one-out runners, their big strong runners that can get over the gain line and create some space out wide for them. Those things won’t change against any England side.

“So yeah, we’re certainly aware of that. We’re also obviously aware that they’ve started pretty well against us in the past,” he added in relation to England’s penchant for quick, try-scoring starts.

That dates back to the 32-20 win in the Aviva Stadium at the start of the 2019 tournament which seemed to so derail the Grand Slam team of 2018, prompting Joe Schmidt to admit it left them “a little broken” for the remainder of that Championship.

Mental skills coach

Farrell has enlisted mental skills coach Gary Keegan and maintains the team has not been psychologically damaged by England.

“I think the mental state of the squad is very strong. They’re very buoyant this week, in a determined mood. They know that this is the last game of the competition, where we get a chance to put our best performance out there for 80 minutes, which is something that we haven’t quite achieved yet. But we’ll need to do that to win and they’re in a determined mood to make that happen.”

The flip side of another half-dozen changes in personnel is that in making their first test starts of the Championship, players like Bundee Aki and Jack Conan will be mustard keen, as will Conor Murray and Josh van der Flier, not to mention Peter O’Mahony in what is still a strong-looking bench.

“They know each other’s game inside and out,” said Farrell of the old Connacht hombres Aki and Henshaw. “They’re best of friends because of those days and there’s a trust amongst those two. There’s a work ethic that’s second to none as well.

“I suppose when you’re taking the field and you’re looking to side – whether it be set-piece or defence – you can feel the bond obviously that your mate is with you and you understand what you’re going to give, and these two are very close together. At the same time, they’re wonderful players.

‘Great tonic’

“I know that Warren Gatland will be there at the weekend,” said Farrell of the Lions head coach. “He’s been in camp this week which has been great, a great tonic for the boys and it’s people like Robbie and the performances that he’s been having that certainly will be top of Warren’s list.”

Such is the ever-changing, volatile nature of the Six Nations that, not for the first time, Ireland are facing what appears to be yet another defining game, given it is the last one, it’s against England and it will determine whether Ireland finish in the top or bottom half of the draw.

“That’s the reality and that’s why we love the Six Nations, don’t we?” shrugged the Irish head coach. “It’s been a great campaign for a neutral I would have thought because nobody quite knows who’s going to win what game. I suppose that’s what people would want.

“As far as we’re concerned, obviously there’s a couple of defeats that got away from us in the end but we’re in a determined mood to finish off this campaign well.”