{"id":523749,"date":"2026-06-29T06:57:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T06:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/523749\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T06:57:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T06:57:17","slug":"wed-all-love-one-of-those-paul-oconnell-open-to-deal-extension-like-andy-farrells-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/523749\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We\u2019d all love one of those\u2019: Paul O\u2019Connell open to deal extension like Andy Farrell\u2019s \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s good for the goose is good for the gander? After the recent confirmation of Andy Farrell\u2019s<\/a> new four-year contract extension, it will be interesting to see if some, or all, of his assistant coaches are offered the same opportunity and follow suit.<\/p>\n

Co-opting Paul O\u2019Connell<\/a> on to the coaching ticket in January 2021 was questioned by some due to his lack of coaching experience. But it proved one of Farrell\u2019s masterstrokes and while not inclined to agitate for a new deal, certainly Ireland\u2019s forwards coach is evidently as engaged by the job as he\u2019s ever been.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great for Andy to get a contract of that length. We\u2019d all love one of those,\u201d said O\u2019Connell with a wry chuckle in the Irish squad\u2019s hotel base in Sydney a week out from next Saturday\u2019s opening Nations Championship<\/a> game against Australia<\/a> at a sold-out Allianz Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I don\u2019t look that far ahead. Honestly, when I\u2019m here, I feel like I\u2019m learning all the time. Every day, I never feel like I\u2019m ready for something else. I\u2019ve never had that feeling since I\u2019ve been in the job. I\u2019ve always had the feeling that I\u2019m learning and getting better as a coach all the time and because of that I don\u2019t probably look so far ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really enjoy working with the team. The team means a lot to me. I really enjoy working with the coaching staff we have here. It\u2019s just a pleasure to work for. We work really hard, but we have great fun as well. It\u2019s not something I\u2019d be looking to change any time soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

The nature of working with an international team seems to suit O\u2019Connell more than the weekly grind of a club or province. He was the only coach from the Ireland setup not to be involved in last summer\u2019s Lions expedition. Indeed, O\u2019Connell\u2019s last match in Australia was when playing for the Lions in 2013.<\/p>\n

The rest of the Irish coaching ticket are back in the same Sydney hotel not far from the Opera House where the Lions were based last summer (and also in 2013). The same can be said for all but four of the 18-strong Irish playing contingent from the Lions tour \u2013 the exceptions being Andrew Porter, Finlay Bealham, James Lowe and Mack Hansen.<\/p>\n

The squad arrived last Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning. After a walk-through on Thursday, their first session took place on Friday at the Leichhardt Oval. \u201cA little bit of a bus drive, but it\u2019s a beautiful training ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sun shone on the squad\u2019s boat trip to Manly last Wednesday for some beach volleyball. A portion of the travelling party returned there on Saturday night to watch the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles romp to a 30-4 win over Melbourne Storm in the National Rugby League. But unlike the heatwave back home, the weather has been fairly grim since then.<\/p>\n

Japan in Newcastle and New Zealand in Auckland are the other Tests in the first leg of Ireland\u2019s Nations Championship. Due to the relatively short run-in to Ireland\u2019s first game since the Six Nations, O\u2019Connell says no one is looking beyond the first of their three games. All the more so after poor starts to their last two campaigns against the All Blacks in Chicago and France in Paris.<\/p>\n

\"Ireland'sIreland’s Stuart McCloskey gets past Kyle Steyn of Scotland during the Six Nations match at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin, in March. Photograph: Liam McBurney\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

All 36 players trained fully last Friday, including Stuart McCloskey (hamstring) and Tadhg Beirne (knee), who have recovered from the injuries which cut short their provincial campaigns. True to form, it is not the coaches\u2019 express intention to play all 36 players in these three games. After all, that did not even apply when O\u2019Connell was at the helm last summer against Georgia and Portugal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t discussed that at all,\u201d said O\u2019Connell. \u201cI\u2019d imagine there\u2019ll be changes next week for Japan; a few changes. After that, then we\u2019ll be seeing who plays in the final game. We haven\u2019t discussed it. We\u2019ll pick the right team for Japan. We won\u2019t try to cap people, it\u2019s never been something we\u2019ve tried to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

That said, all five uncapped players are in the squad \u201con merit\u201d, including four forwards. Connacht\u2019s Sam Illo has been with Emerging Ireland and O\u2019Connell said: \u201cThere was no doubt about his strength and his size and his physical prowess. The rugby piece probably needed to kick on a bit. I think the last few years he\u2019s improved massively, training under Stuart [Lancaster].\u201d<\/p>\n

After playing in the A international last February, 20-year-old Billy Bohan was also called up to the Six Nations. O\u2019Connell highlighted his role in Connacht\u2019s match-winning maul try against Glasgow.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a young guy to be the linchpin of that maul, it was a real big moment for him. He\u2019s scrummaged against South African teams all year. He\u2019s had a brilliant season and he\u2019s handled it with a real calmness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similarly, 21-year-old backrow Bryn Ward was called up to the Six Nations squad in his breakthrough season.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a real point of difference with his carry, his size. A really curious guy. A lovely bit of confidence about him. He\u2019s not shy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had Sean [Jansen] on Emerging [Ireland] with us as well. When you see Sean, you see this big bulldozer of a player. You probably don\u2019t realise how eager he is to get better and how diligent he is about getting better as well,\u201d said O\u2019Connell, also highlighting Jansen\u2019s curiosity and the influence of Cian Prendergast.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve spoken about him for a while. We look at him and we say, \u2018Jeez, he\u2019d be a great guy to be bringing off the bench or whatever\u2019. It\u2019s brilliant to have him in and he\u2019s done really well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve all earned their crack at it. We bring guys in to train from time to time, but these guys are here now on merit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What\u2019s good for the goose is good for the gander? After the recent confirmation of Andy Farrell\u2019s new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[25747,42,1449,86133,43,67195,40,38,41,39,53328],"class_list":["post-523749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-andy-farrell","tag-headlines","tag-ireland-rugby","tag-nations-championship","tag-news","tag-paul-o-connell","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-wallabies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}