Paul O’Connell‘s first official engagement as interim Ireland head coach was typically interesting and informative as he teased out the macro and micro goals under the guise of a team announcement, starting with Saturday’s Test against Georgia in Tbilisi (6pm, Irish time, live on Virgin Media One).
Tommy O’Brien and Darragh Murray will win first caps in the starting XV, while Michael Milne, Jack Aungier, Tom Ahern and Ben Murphy are poised to do so from the bench. For many Irish players and for a variety of reasons, Georgia represents a land of opportunity, the chance to build, enhance or reinforce reputations.
In some respects, there’s no delineation when it comes to accountability on Ireland’s summer tour. There is an uncomplicated path to follow in reaching conclusions. Did the coaches successfully deliver a sustainable and detailed playing framework without hobbling the players’ capacity to think independently when the moment warranted?
Who needs to make an impact on Ireland’s summer tour?
The answer lies not so much in the results of the upcoming Test matches against Georgia and Portugal but in the integrity of performances. That will reveal the level of engagement. Andy Farrell has made his thoughts known on who plays and how. O’Connell and his assistant coaches get to manage and deliver the project.
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There’s the human side, new caps, those with less than 10 and then a few more experienced heads upon which to weld some responsibility. The fusion of new and old has to fit but no one expects a pristine finish, least of all O’Connell.
“It’s a really significant Test match where they have to perform. They’re going to learn a lot. We’ll learn a lot as coaches as well. I think the more you start in a team or the more you’re in a team, the easier it is for you to look at a play on a board and walk out, do it once or twice and know it.
“Whereas for other guys that haven’t been in the team as much, that’s a little bit more challenging. We’ve done a lot of work on trying to get up to speed as quickly as we can with our language, with our way of doing things, trying to make it as natural and as easy for the lads as we possibly can.
“We’ve had three very fast sessions where we’ve put them under a little bit of pressure and they’ve enjoyed that, but it hasn’t been perfect, and I don’t expect it to be perfect on Saturday. We’ll find out if we’ve gotten that right as coaches in two days’ time.
O’Connell referenced a mantra that Farrell champions when it comes to enabling performance. “One thing Andy does really well is he puts pressure on the guys to perform, to play well, to deliver our game, but he never expects it to be perfect, nor do we this week. We’ve made that point to the players.
“Jason Cowman, our former S&C [strength and conditioning] coach, was always very good at stressing that point with the players. That the best players don’t take mistakes with them, but they don’t stop making mistakes. The only time those mistakes stop is the week you retire.
“We’ve been at pains to say that to the players, but at the same time we expect a really good performance. They’ve trained really well; they’ve fixed things on the run really well over the last few weeks.”
The last point is germane to evaluating a player’s capacity to colour outside the lines of the prescribed pictures; heads-up rugby.
O’Connell said: “I know Andy might have experienced a bit of this on the Lions, they’re [the players] so eager to do what the coaches tell them that they don’t go outside [of the game plan] as much as you’d like to see.
“We have a good way of playing that we believe in, but we have to be unpredictable within that as well. And we have the quality to be unpredictable; it’s just making sure that the boys know they can have a crack wherever they are. We’ve seen plenty of signs of that in training.”
How’s he enjoying being the boss? “Yeah, I think when you’re assistant you’re very worried about your area and you’re trying to grab a bit of time maybe to cover things, whereas I think when you’re in charge, you’re probably a little bit more wary of what everyone is doing and the amount that is going into the players outside of just your area.”
Everyone is looking for more minutes. O’Connell admitted that he had greater empathy for Farrell in the way that he manages coaches when it comes to not only time but content. Too long in delivery or too dense in detail are counterproductive.
There is an impatience now to get to Saturday. “Yeah, I’m unbelievably excited. When I was a player, I would have been very obsessed with winning the game whereas now, I’m really excited to see how the players play, how we react to the pressure they put us under, how we react to the conditions, how we react to some mistakes, how we react to doing some things really well. I’m more excited about that part of it than the actual result.”
IRELAND (v Georgia): Jimmy O’Brien (Leinster); Tommy O’Brien (Leinster); Jamie Osborne (Leinster), Stuart McCloskey (Ulster), Jacob Stockdale (Ulster); Sam Prendergast (Leinster), Craig Casey (Munster, capt); Jack Boyle (Leinster), Gus McCarthy (Leinster), Thomas Clarkson (Leinster); Cormac Izuchukwu (Ulster), Darragh Murray (Connacht), Ryan Baird (Leinster), Nick Timoney (Ulster), Gavin Coombes (Munster).
Replacements: Tom Stewart (Ulster), Michael Milne (Munster), Jack Aungier (Connacht), Tom Ahern (Munster), Cian Prendergast (Connacht), Ben Murphy (Connacht), Jack Crowley (Munster), Calvin Nash (Munster).
