Pound for pound Tom Farrell is arguably the signing of the season. Snapped up by Munster after being released by Connacht the 31-year-old centre has started every one of their 20 games this season.
Unsurprisingly, therefore, nobody has accumulated more playing time for Munster this season than Farrell, who has already played a remarkable 1,534 minutes by the middle of April. And he’s revelled in all this regular game time.
But although he had started all four of Munster’s Champions Cup pool games in this campaign, including the visits to Castres and Northampton, last Saturday in La Rochelle was different gravy. When he signed for Munster it was with days like that one in mind.
“I was just saying to the lads I’ve never experienced anything like that, the whole week, before the game, during and after, everything, it was mental. It was class.
“Being an outsider over the years you would have known Munster’s connection with the European Cup, and the hysteria and the fan base around it, and probably a bit envious looking in.
“I had a taste of it with the wins over Sarries and Stade Francais, and going over to Franklin’s Gardens, and then La Rochelle was a different level. Even some of the more experienced lads in the team said that was up there with anything they’d seen. Getting off the bus we couldn’t even get into the changing room. It was just swarmed with supporters.
“But now we have to back it up again. Straight away it was what we said. It’s like an addictive feeling. You want to repeat it and go again. It’s not really any good getting to a quarter-final, is it? No one is going to remember a quarter-finalist.”
Farrell watched Bordeaux Bègles (UBB) against Ulster, and while acknowledging how lethal the French team are he says there were valuable lessons from that game for Munster to absorb. One of them is not to kick the ball long or aimlessly to them, as UBB have an exceptional counterattacking game.
“Noel McNamara’s philosophy is get the ball to the best players,” says Farrell, who worked with McNamara in the Leinster academy and under-19s and 20s. “It’s a simple game when you do it that way.
“That was his first coaching gig out of school when he was still at Clongowes. He was encouraging but even back then he had high standards.”
Farrell’s parents hailed from Leitrim (his dad Tom) and Mayo (mum Anne) before moving to west Dublin where he copied his brothers Rory and Conor when he started playing mini-rugby at under-6 in Coolmine. Playing AIL with Lansdowne was a huge part of his career, as it led to Mike Ruddock picking him for the Ireland Under-20s in the 2013 Junior World Cup, which in turn led to a place in the Leinster academy.
Although released by Leinster, Farrell’s desire to play professionally was such that he joined London Irish on loan and then moved to the Bedford Blues, which he describes as a vibrant little rugby hotbed which regularly drew 4,000 to 5,000 home crowds.
This in turn led to him being signed as short-term cover in Connacht, arriving on a Monday and making his debut in the Champions Cup against Zebre the following Saturday, before going on to spend seven more seasons there. “I owe a lot to Connacht. They gave me my chance to be a professional rugby player.”
Being released by them has turned into a blessing. He and his wife Chloe are expecting their first child in late July, and his attacking game has flourished at Munster, witness eight tries in the most prolific season of his career so far. Now, a week after the biggest game of his career, comes, well, an even bigger one.
