Ireland legend Brian O\u2019Driscoll insists that Andy Farrell\u2019s side must try something different during the upcoming end-of-year series.<\/p>\n
The Irishmen will take on the All Blacks, Japan, Wallabies and Springboks in a challenging set of games for a team that have shown signs of decline.<\/p>\n
First up for Farrell\u2019s charges is New Zealand, who themselves have not exactly convinced in 2025 but who are battle hardened following the Rugby Championship.<\/p>\n
Ireland\u2019s<\/a> players, in contrast, have barely had any minutes for their provinces let alone at Test level this season.<\/p>\n British and Irish Lions impact<\/p>\n That is partly due to the British and Irish Lions series, which had a heavy representation from Ireland and were of course led by Farrell<\/a>.<\/p>\n With the likes of Andrew Goodman, Simon Easterby and John Fogarty, coaches who are part of the Irish set-up, also on that tour, O\u2019Driscoll<\/a> believes that the other Home Nations will now know their secrets.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the big thing from his point of view is there has to be a reinvention, there has to be lots of new detail come in because he\u2019s handed all that IP across to three other teams,\u201d he said on Off The Ball.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s got to be a rethink. You can\u2019t just go back and do this tried and tested and just hope it\u2019s done a little bit better.<\/p>\n \u201cWe failed with that in 2019 under Joe Schmidt, it just didn\u2019t work, where teams had us worked out. There has to be a good bit of nuance put into whatever game plan we\u2019re going to see on Saturday.<\/p>\n \u201cThe non-negotiables are carrying with intensity, the clarity around clearing out at ruck time, the speed of that ruck ball \u2013 that will just make any game plan a lot more seamless and allow for that nuance to come in.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they slow our ruck ball down, we\u2019re in for a long day.\u201d<\/p>\n