Modern man that he is, Andy Farrell will have no problem multi-tasking as he wears both hats comfortably for the next 18 months.
As soon as he descended the 15 stories of the headquarters of the Lions’ sponsors in a branded elevator on Wednesday, the former England coach was back in Ireland mode as thoughts turned towards his squad announcement on Wednesday.
Unlike the lengthy press and commercial engagements in London for his sabbatical, the IRFU won’t bother Farrell with any media on Wednesday as they release a list of names on social media and leave the process to the public’s imagination.
The coach has kept a low public profile since the World Cup quarter-final defeat to New Zealand and, while he appeared at the Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland awards on Wednesday and then spoke to the press on Thursday in his Lions capacity, the Six Nations launch in Dublin on Monday week will be his first engagement in his role as Ireland coach.
The travelling media did manage to squeeze a couple of Ireland-related questions in for the coach in London as we wondered how he was going to balance the competencies of his two roles in the next 18 months.
“Six Nations is around the corner,” he said.
“I have been in the office Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday making sure we are getting prepared for that so that goes on next week.
“(Squad) selection is next Wednesday, so whatever is in front of your face you fully commit to.
“I love thinking about the dynamics of rugby. To be given this opportunity; when you are sat there in traffic, what am going to be thinking about? I am going to be thinking about everything that is important to me – both jobs will be exactly that.”
One English journalist joked that it’s incredible Farrell still has to sit in Dublin traffic after his record in guiding Ireland, with the series win over New Zealand in 2022 the highlight of his time in charge.
When he added two midweek games against the Maori All Blacks to the schedule, Farrell sold it as trying to stress the coaches and players as much as possible in preparation for what was coming in France at the World Cup.
Whether by design or by accident, it also served as a perfect illustration of what he could do from a Lions perspective as he and his team bounced back from losing their opening two fixtures to the Maori and the All Blacks to clinching the series and earning a revenge win for the midweek side.
It’s an experience that will stand to him in Australia next summer.
“We took that tour on and made it the tour it was to test people because it would make us stronger as a group and it 100 per cent did,” he said.
“Not just after the tour but during the tour so all those different ramifications that are going to come across in such a long, tough, taxing tour in so far as game on game and the pressure that is going to come along the way is going to make you stronger as a group.”
Farrell’s style and his deliberate embrace of every challenge is at odds with the idea of the Lions being rugby’s toughest challenge.
Unlike the last number of tours, he’ll have a good run in as the Lions have brokered a deal with the contributing leagues to have their finals done before the squad assembles in advance of their opening game against Argentina in Dublin – even if the growing number of English, Scottish and Welsh players in France clouds that picture.
“There is no excuses not to be ready for that first Test,” he said.
“I hear what you say with the recent past and the statistics that go with that but that is not to say you can’t pick yourself up off the floor, if you can’t you are the wrong type of character anyway.
“In its purest form, a three-match Test series, and it is a series, is extra special because you often see in the history of three match series that a team that gets up for the first Test, obviously there is confidence and momentum that goes with that, but the side that has lost are fighting for their lives and you see that they can deal with that type of pressure.
“That is what ultimately it is all about and they type of personnel we have got has to be able to flourish in that type of environment.
“And then you see whoever wins the second Test, you see whether they have the minerals to take it to the type of performance when it really matters.”
It took him 18 months to bed in his style of play with Ireland, while last week Jacques Nienaber said it would take him 14 games to “rewire” his Leinster players.
However, Farrell says he’s not concerned about having just six warm-up games in a short space of time to bed in his ideas with the players.
“The game is pretty simple,” he said.
“Everyone is getting more educated, I think rugby is evolving and will continue to evolve because that is people’s jobs to make sure it does that. The personnel that comes together is the best of the best and will slot into that and make it a lot easier and we will work through that together.”
His squad comes out on Wednesday and the next time we’ll hear from him is on Monday week when he attends the Six Nations launch in Dublin.
His green hat will be firmly back on by then, the red one in storage until December when he begins his new role.
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