{"id":489508,"date":"2026-03-22T16:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T16:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/489508\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T16:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T16:07:08","slug":"ireland-lucky-with-andy-farrell-in-contrast-to-england-and-borthwick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/489508\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland ‘lucky’ with Andy Farrell in contrast to England and Borthwick"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Ireland international Bernard Jackman believes that coaching is the \u201cone area\u201d the IRFU have really nailed despite the mixed form of the provinces and national team.<\/p>\n

Jackman claims that while the governing are \u201ccutting budgets\u201d they have invested in \u201cquality coaches\u201d which has perhaps enabled Ireland to refind their form at international level.<\/p>\n

Andy Farrell\u2019s<\/a> men finished second in the recent Six Nations<\/a>, recovering superbly after an abysmal loss to France by comfortably beating both England<\/a> and Scotland.<\/p>\n

After a dip in form following the Rugby World Cup, this was much more promising from the Irishmen with the global tournament 18 months away.<\/p>\n

They certainly seem to be in a better position than the English who, despite their improvement against Les Bleus in the Six Nations finale, are not getting a return from their investment.<\/p>\n

Making the most of their resources<\/p>\n

\u201cThe grand master of coaches in Ireland, Andy Farrell, has proved once again how lucky we are to have him. Just look at the way he maximises the resources he has,\u201d Jackman wrote in his Irish Independent<\/a> column.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at the England team underperform and see the investment and demands Steve Borthwick insisted that the RFU give him in terms of central contracting, training camps and so on, it reinforces how lucky we are.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe IRFU have invested in property around the Aviva Stadium in the last few years but securing Andy Farrell in a new contract is as good as bricks and mortar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brian O\u2019Driscoll suggests Ireland\u2019s \u2018scar tissue\u2019 could be behind \u2018anti-Farrell sentiment\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

While Jackman reserved most praise for Farrell and urged the IRFU to hand him a new contract, the respected pundit feels they have an impressive set of rugby minds throughout the provinces.<\/p>\n

Stuart Lancaster\u2019s methods now appear to working at Connacht after a rocky start, Richie Murphy has revived Ulster having previously shone as Ireland\u2019s U20 head coach and Clayton McMillan is highly rated following his time in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

There will inevitably be concerns over Munster and McMillan following their 45-0 hammering at the Sharks, but they are still in URC title contention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe IRFU may be cutting budgets but one area where I think David Humphreys and the power brokers have got it right is investing in quality coaches to create the right environment for our professional players,\u201d Jackman wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cStuart Lancaster\u2019s move to Connacht is a great example. Originally, it seemed the former England coach was going to Australia but when that fell through the IRFU convinced him to move back to Ireland and rebuild a Connacht team which has suffered for years with inconsistency.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe positivity during pre-season was incredible but the first half of the season didn\u2019t quite reflect the soundings coming from the playing group. But what really impressed me was in any off-the-record chats the players were totally sold on the way they were training and trying to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cUlster lost on Friday night but they are now a serious team. Murphy has shown that he is not just a brilliant underage coach but can inspire the elite too\u2026 Murphy and his coaching staff have rebooted a culture and playing style that has Ulster thriving again.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny of my New Zealand contacts that worked with McMillan cannot speak highly enough of him and they are adamant that if he is given time he will turn the team inside out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacques Nienaber<\/p>\n

Then there is Jacques Nienaber, the World Cup-winning coach who joined Leinster following the Springboks\u2019 triumph in the global tournament.<\/p>\n

Nienaber has had his critics after sacrificing their free-flowing playing style and not picking up Champions Cup silverware since, but they remain Ireland\u2019s best chance of continental success.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously Jacques Nienaber\u2019s CV is up there with any of the top coaches in the world and Leinster now head into the exciting part of the season for them as our sole representative in the Champions Cup and with no more international rugby to distract them,\u201d Jackman added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey should benefit from the improved form of their star players in the Six Nations and they have the squad to win both the URC and the Champions Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Glasgow v Leinster: Five takeaways as \u2018good ticker\u2019 and \u2018worldie solo try\u2019 leave visitors on the \u2018naughty step\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Ireland international Bernard Jackman believes that coaching is the \u201cone area\u201d the IRFU have really nailed despite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489509,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[3483,309,348,3482,2274,50,5903,43326,101,5831,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-489508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-andy-farrell","tag-england","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-six-nations","tag-sports","tag-steve-borthwick","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}