IRFU bosses feel Andy Farrell is โabsolutelyโ the right man to lead Ireland
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Ireland rugby bosses have no regrets over the appointment of head coach Andy Farrell and believe he is โabsolutelyโ the right man to lead the country forward.
Farrellโs tenure has come under scrutiny due to a series of inconsistent performances and results.
Defeats to England and France saw the Irish finish third in the Guinness Six Nations, while they suffered another disappointing loss to Eddie Jonesโ side in the current Autumn Nations Cup tournament.
๐บ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ก๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ค&๐ ๐ข
The IRFU Performance Director spoke to media on Monday โคต๏ธ#ShoulderToShoulder pic.twitter.com/6zh2oz4LIo
โ Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) November 30, 2020
IRFU performance director David Nucifora assessed Farrellโs first year in the job as an โaverage returnโ but insists Irelandโs current coaching staff compares favourably to other international setups and will improve.
Asked if Farrell and his backroom team still have his support, Nucifora replied: โAbsolutely. Theyโre an experienced coaching team.
โTheyโve been in and around international rugby between them for many years, either with Ireland, or England, or the (British and Irish) Lions, so weโve got an abundance of experience here.
โIf you look around at many other international teams, the years of experience that the guys have would stack up against any other coaching group.
โOnce they get some stability and continuity with the team, we will start to see progress.โ
Farrell stepped into his first job as a head coach following last yearโs World Cup having been assistant to predecessor Joe Schmidt.
He has won five of his eight matches in charge and will end 2020 with Saturdayโs third-place play-off against Scotland in the Autumn Nations Cup.
Nucifora did not reveal whether other candidates were interviewed for the role.
โThat decision was made many months ago, throughout the process when we knew Joe was leaving,โ he said of Farrellโs appointment.
Ireland 19-12 Scotland (Six Nations)
Ireland 24-14 Wales (Six Nations)
England 24-12 Ireland (Six Nations)
Ireland 50-17 Italy (Six Nations)
France 35-27 Ireland (Six Nations)
Ireland 32-9 Wales (Autumn Nations Cup)
England 18-7 Ireland (Autumn Nations Cup)
Ireland 23-10 Georgia (Autumn Nations Cup)
โWe decided that Andy was the right person for that job. And obviously we are very happy with that decision.โ
Farrell has repeatedly rotated his squad selections and line-ups during his short tenure, picking 40 players in total and handing out a series of debuts.
The Englishman also attracted criticism following Sundayโs underwhelming 23-10 win over minnows Georgia in Dublin.
Nucifora has called for patience during the transitional phase and stressed he will be better placed to judge Farrellโs performance following the 2021 Six Nations, which begins on February 6.
Asked what would constitute success in that tournament, the Australian replied: โWeโre going to try and win the thing.
โWeโve had some very successful years so we are going into that next Six Nations with exactly the same ambition, to go out there and try and win the competition.
โYou donโt go in to come second or third each yeah, you go in there to try and win the competition. Thatโs what we set out to do every year.
โObviously we look at the performances that are involved in trying to achieve that, and thatโs what things will be judged on.โ