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'You don't feel that sword is hanging over your head now'
By Online Editors
Andy Farrell has said Ireland naming their World Cup squad six days ahead of plan has handed Joe Schmidt's men a boost for the Japan tournament.
Brian O'Driscoll claimed it "beggars belief" that Ireland omitted reliable lock Devin Toner from their final 31-man World Cup squad, with Jean Kleyn selected instead.
Assistant coach Farrell insisted Ireland had been able to shake off the criticism and bond closer together, with the Pool A opener against Scotland fast approaching on September 22.
Johnny Sexton, Robbie Henshaw and Keith Earls will make their first starts of the pre-season in Ireland's final World Cup warm-up - Saturday's clash with Wales in Dublin.
“Well, we're in a bubble in our camp, but naming the group, it's brought us closer together. Why? Because the team's been picked and the wait is over," said Farrell. "So the cohesion throughout the group is one of a much higher standard.
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"People are getting first starts and trying to get different combinations going. Yes we're down to 31 but we're still in a lot of competition. These guys get the chance to put their best foot forward for the World Cup now.
"They [Sexton, Henshaw and Earls] are all raring to go, they have been held back for at least a week or two, and can't wait to get going this weekend. We’re after a performance we're proud of, with it being Rory Best and Joe Schmidt's last games at the Aviva. But we've also got to take the right mental attitude moving forward into Japan."
Captain Best, the 37-year-old who is retiring after the World Cup, will win his 120th cap in Dublin before leading Ireland to Japan. The Ulster stalwart admitted relief at having his place nailed down for the finals.
"You don't feel that sword's hanging over your head now," said Best, admitting Ireland had plenty of soul searching to do after their record 57-15 loss against England at Twickenham a fortnight ago.
"We're certainly ready to play this Saturday and that's the first thing for us, to get a performance this Saturday. It's the last game of the calendar year, the last game before we go. We're looking forward to putting in a performance, a few not bad players in for their first game of the season.
"We know that we're never as good as people say we are and the flip side is we're never as bad as people say we are. Certainly a week ago on Monday past there, we were more disappointed than anyone.
"I can tell you the biggest disappointment was within the team room at Carton House. We just made sure we got a few things addressed that weren't going the way we wanted them to, and to give ourselves a few things we can hang our hat on. And we'll see now whether we can take ownership of that at the World Cup."
- Press Association
WATCH: The RugbyPass stadium guide to Yokohama where Ireland will open their World Cup campaign versus Scotland
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Latest Comments
You’ve got to look forward to next weekend more than anything too.
They really use this sorta system? Much smaller pool of bonus points available, that would mean they have far less impact. Interestingly you must be withen winning range/chance in France’s Top 14 league, rather that just draw territory, so 6 points instead of 7. Fairly arbitrary and pointless (something the NRL would do to try and look cool), but kinda cool.
I said it Nick’s and other articles, I’m not sure about the fixed nature of matchups in these opening rounds. For instance, I would be interested in seeing an improved ranking/prediction/reflection ladder to what we had last year, were some author here game so rejigged list of teams purely based of ‘who had played who’ so far in the competition. It was designed to analyze the ladder and better predict what the real order would be after the full round robin had completed. It needed some improvement, like factoring in historical data as well, as it was a bit skiwif, but it is the sort of thing that would give a better depiction of what sort of contests weve had so far, because just using my intuition, the matchups have been very ‘level appropriate’ so far, and were jet to get the other end of the spectrum, season ranked bottom sides v top sides etc.
Go to commentsAs a former rugby player, I spent 20 years as a specialist tackling coach in the AFL, SANFL, and Southern Football League. During this time, I was fortunate to be part of teams winning seven premierships. I believe there is a valuable place for cross-code coaching in these sports. I made many lifelong friends and enjoyed sharing knowledge and skills from different sporting backgrounds, which is encouraged at many elite levels.
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