Farrell says son’s win put pressure on for decider
‘You want an opportunity to put yourself out there against the best and South Africa are 100 per cent the best’
Andy Farrell said you could see why Irish rugby was in such a “special” place after revealing that he warmed up for the Six Nations titleclinching win over Scotland on Saturday by watching his son Gabriel triumph in a Blackrock College under-13s schools fixture.
Gabriel, whose older brother Owen is England’s all-time record points scorer, may become eligible to play for Ireland one day through residency, if not ancestry, assuming he decides to pursue a career as a professional. It would be no surprise if he did. Blackrock is perhaps the most famous of the Leinster independent schools, arguably the greatest conveyor belt of talent in world rugby.
Speaking after his Ireland team secured back-to-back championships with a hard-fought 17-13 win over Scotland, Farrell joked that he had been “feeling the pressure” after watching Blackrock – alma mater of dozens of Ireland internationals including Brian O’driscoll, Hugo Keenan and Caelan Doris – defeat fierce rivals St Michael’s College.
“I actually said to him [Gabriel] after the game, ‘You put us under pressure’. Because imagine him winning this morning and us not winning. I’d have been massively in trouble!”
Saturday’s under-13s fixture was merely a warm-up for yesterday’s Senior Cup final, also between Blackrock and St Michael’s, which Blackrock won. These games are all but professional, played at the RDS Arena, live on television, traditionally on St Patrick’s Day, in front of up to 25,000 fans. Farrell noted that under-13s rugby was competitive enough. “It is huge. Did you see the rivalry, the competitiveness at under-13s this morning? It’s magnificent, isn’t it? That’s what makes Irish rugby special,” he said.
Addressing Ireland’s achievement in winning back-to-back Six Nations titles, Farrell said he took particular pride in how newcomers such as Jack Crowley, Joe Mccarthy and Calvin Nash performed, admitting he had been intentionally “hard” on the trio in an effort to keep them grounded.
“It’s easy to read the press, and get carried away [and think] that, you know, ‘I’m doing it and I am doing really well’,” Farrell said when asked about the emergence of Crowley, who replaced Ireland’s long-time talisman, Johnny Sexton, in this year’s tournament. “But we’ve kept his feet on the ground and Joe Mccarthy as well and people like that. Because there has to be a realisation that that is not ‘it’, that’s not what we are chasing.
“We are chasing something better than that and as long as we can continue to do that we’ll continue to grow as a group.”
Ireland travel to South Africa for a two-test tour in July, with Farrell saying he looked forward to pitting his players against “the best team in the world”.
“Yeah, it doesn’t get any more
difficult, does it? Or any more exciting than that?” he said.
“All you want is an opportunity to put yourself out there against the best and South Africa are 100 per cent the best.
“So being able to go out there and test ourselves over there – we’ve managed to win one game over there before – to be able to play two games and test ourselves will be great for our development going forward.”