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What Andy Farrell said in the dressing room to the retiring CJ Stander after Ireland did clinical number on England
By Liam Heagney
Andy Farrell has expressed delighted that Ireland were able to send the retiring CJ Stander off on a winning note by beating England in the Guinness Six Nations on Saturday in Dublin. The soon-to-be 31-year-old shocked the rugby world last Tuesday by announcing he is to quit the sport at the end of this season.
He still has important matches to play with Munster, starting with next weekend’s PRO14 final versus Leinster followed by a Heineken Champions Cup round of 16 game against Toulouse the week after. There could yet even be a selection for what would be his second Lions tour.
However, his appearance on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium was the 51st and last time he will ever wear the Ireland jersey and coach Farrell was chuffed everything came together just right and Stander was able to sign off with a memorable 32-18 win.
“I said to him in the changing room that he can be as emotional as he wants to be now because he has given his heart and soul to the jersey, to the green one and to the red one - and he has a chance to play in a cup final next week for Munster. We wish him all the best with that,” said Farrell in the aftermath of the round five Six Nations finale.
“It has been an emotional week that we have tried a lid on as best we can. You can say whether we should have brought that out (in public) or not but it was fitting that CJ was able to say goodbye to his friends and tell them the truth and where he is coming from, the reasons why.
“How they have responded to him and how he has kept a smile on his face has been totally fitting to what this team is about. We’re delighted that we were able to put a performance together for CJ to send him off in the right way.
“We’re delighted we controlled emotion in the right way. He is emotional in the changing rooms but happy emotional. I can’t say enough about him as a bloke. He is the most kind-hearted and most genuine bloke that you will ever meet and he will be a mate forever.”
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Latest Comments
Generally disagree with what? The possibility that they would get whitewashed, or the idea they shouldn't gain access until they're good enough?
I think the first is a fairly irrelevant view, decide on the second and then worry about the first. Personally I'd have had them in a third lvl comp with all the bottom dwellers of the leagues. I liked the idea of those league clubs resting their best players, and so being able to lift their standards in the league, though, so not against the idea that T2 sides go straight into Challenge Cup, but that will be a higher level with smaller comps and I think a bit too much for them (not having followed any of their games/performances mind you).
fl's idea, if I can speak for him to speed things up, was for it to be semifinalists first, Champions Cup (any that somehow didn't make a league semi), then Challenge's semi finalists (which would most certainly have been outside their league semi's you'd think), then perhaps the quarter finalists of each in the same manner. I don't think he was suggesting whoever next performed best in Europe but didn't make those knockouts (like those round of 16 losers), I doubt that would ever happen.
The problem I mainly saw with his idea (much the same as you see, that league finish is a better indicator) is that you could have one of the best candidates lose in the quarters to the eventual champions, and so miss out for someone who got an easier ride, and also finished lower in the league, perhaps in their own league, and who you beat everytime.
Go to commentsIt was an odd tournament full of sides cobbled together and given strange names..as well as clearly national sides. It was for this reason hard to follow.
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