Andy Farrell flew out to Portugal with his Ireland squad this week, sharing his thoughts on who will wear the No.10 shirt against France in their February 5 Six Nations opener.<\/p>\n
The Irish are again preparing for the start of the tournament with a warm-weather camp at Quinta do Lago. That\u2019s a wise choice given how they would have been left training indoors or on rain-sodden pitches this week in Dublin after Storm Chandra.<\/p>\n
Munster\u2019s Jack Crowley and Leinster\u2019s Sam Prendergast both started two games each in Ireland\u2019s four-match November programme, but Harry Byrne is now part of the No.10 conversation again following his winter form with Leinster<\/a>. Farrell also still considers Ciaran Frawley as another out-half option, even though he has lately occupied the No.15 Leinster shirt.<\/p>\n Aside from the rotten run of injury at loosehead, where Andrew Porter<\/a>, Paddy McCarthy and Jack Boyle have all fallen by the wayside in recent weeks, who will play at 10 for Ireland<\/a> has been the hot topic coming out of the Investec Champions Cup pool stages.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll stay open-minded\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Asked by Virgin Media<\/a>, the Irish TV broadcaster, who will be his 10 in Paris, Farrell, speaking before the midweek revelation that Bundee Aki had been sensationally dropped<\/a> from the squad for disciplinary reasons, said: \u201cIt\u2019s only right that I stay open-minded about it all and see how people compete against each other and deal with that type of pressure is pretty important.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve four guys in camp that can do the job for Ireland. It\u2019s just down to who is going to take the bull by the horns, isn\u2019t it, and run with it. Yeah, we\u2019ll stay open-minded on that one.<\/p>\n \u201cBut what I would say is that the two lads that everyone has been talking about for a good time, and rightly so in regards to Jack and Sam, it\u2019s nice to have the four of them in competing because it will only bring out the best in them.\u201d<\/p>\n Farell didn\u2019t coach in last year\u2019s Six Nations<\/a>, agreeing instead to a sabbatical so that he could scout players in his role as British and Irish Lions boss for their tour to Australia.<\/p>\n The \u2018one specific chat\u2019 with Andy Farrell that Caelan Doris has never forgotten and his \u2018right direction\u2019 verdict on Ireland ahead of the Six Nations<\/a><\/p>\n Ireland\u2019s 2026 Six Nations: Squad, fixtures, referees, TV channels, kick-off times and more\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Ireland\u2019s ambition<\/p>\n Instead, it was left to assistant Simon Easterby to step up, and Ireland fell short in their ambition to win a third successive title. A heavy defeat to eventual champions France in Round Four in Dublin was their downfall, and there has been no bounce in big results since Farrell\u2019s return as the Irish lost to New Zealand and South Africa in their four-match Autumn Nations Series campaign.<\/p>\n That has left Ireland dropping to No.4 in the World Rugby rankings and they are going into the 2026 Six Nations in the unusual position of not being considered a title favourite. Farrell, though, is still aiming very high.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you are asking me where can we get to, we can get to that type of place 100 per cent [be title winners] because what\u2019s the point if you didn\u2019t have the ambition to do that. In that period [2023-2024], we played some pretty special rugby.<\/p>\n \u201cAre we aiming to do any less? No, we\u2019re not, that\u2019s for sure. We have 16 guys there who are less than 10 caps; we need to get experience into the squad. Everyone has to go through the learnings to say where it is we are trying to get to, so we are trying to be the best we possibly can be and that\u2019s at the top of World Rugby.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to win every game. We are sure that we don\u2019t want to throw anything. We want to be as competitive as we can. I have never been a coach who tries to shy away, saying hopefully we\u2019re good enough to finish second or third or whatever and we\u2019ll learn from that. Of course, we will learn from every experience, but we still want to win. Other teams will be saying that as well.<\/p>\n France powerhouse Uini Atonio forced to retire after suffering heart attack<\/a><\/p>\n