Easterby: Hopefully We’ll Have The Same Type Of Success On This Trip

Emerging Ireland head coach Simon Easterby will be aiming to gain a glimpse into the future of Irish Rugby when his young squad embarks on their upcoming tour of South Africa.

Easterby, who will take on the role of interim head coach of the Ireland Men’s senior team from December 1, announced his 33-player Emerging Ireland squad yesterday for the three-match series.

Jack Crowley and Joe McCarthy were successful graduates of the last Emerging Ireland tour in 2022. Both players have become regular starters at Test level over the last year, having made their debuts during the 2022 Autumn Nations Series.

The pair now have nearly 30 caps between them, including five appearances at last year’s Rugby World Cup. They also had a big part to play in Ireland lifting the Guiness Men’s Six Nations trophy again last spring.

Four others who were on that 2022 Emerging Ireland tour have since gone on to make their debuts for Andy Farrell’s side – Calvin Nash, Tom Stewart, Jamie Osborne, and Cian Prendergast, the newly-appointed Connacht captain.

Emerging Ireland will face the Pumas in their campaign opener on Wednesday, October 2 (kick-off 4pm local time/3pm Irish time), before going head-to-head with Super Rugby Pacific outfit Western Force on Sunday, October 6 (kick-off 1pm local time/12pm Irish time).

Easterby’s charges will conclude the tour by playing the Cheetahs, the defending Currie Cup champions, on Wednesday, October 9 (kick-off 7pm local time/6pm Irish time), with all of the matches being played at Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein.

The aim of the tour will be to get a similar result to the 2022 instalment, seeing players with obvious international ambitions launch themselves into the immediate and future plans of the senior coaching group.

Asked if he was surprised by the number of players who have progressed from that tour into the senior set-up, Easterby said: “No, it didn’t surprise me because of the quality of the players.

“You only have to look at what the Under-20s have done over the last few years. The young guys are hungry for knowledge, know-how, for success. They’re competitive.

“You can see in terms of playing numbers, we’re maybe not as great as South Africa, England, France, New Zealand, etc., but we compete with the best at U-20 level and have beaten most of those teams across the last few years.

“That’s no different for those guys who then leave the U-20s and have a period where they don’t wear a green jersey again for a while. That’s the little bridge between international rugby and provincial rugby which they haven’t got for a few years.

“The ‘A’ games are few and far between. That’s what we did with the Māori All Blacks when we went to New Zealand in 2022. We had extra games for players.

“So, bridging that gap is important because there’s so many quality players coming out of the U-20s and maybe for a period, they don’t get an opportunity to pull on a green jersey for a while. So, I wasn’t surprised in 2022 and hopefully we’ll have the same type of success on this trip.”

This latest Emerging Ireland squad is made up of twelve players from Leinster, eight from Munster, seven from Connacht, and six from Ulster.

Seven members of last season’s Ireland Under-20 group are also set to return to South Africa, just over two months after finishing fourth at this summer’s World Rugby U-20 Championship.

In addition, players like Harry Sheridan, Rob Russell, Cormac Foley, and Jude Postlethwaite have gained valuable minutes in the BKT United Rugby Championship or the Investec Champions Cup in the last couple of seasons.

While many of these players have short-term goals of amassing more caps and becoming regular starters with their provinces, breaking into the Ireland squad and playing at the next World Cup in Australia in 2027 is very much the aim in the longer term.

Easterby is hoping it can be a ‘win-win’ situation for all involved, with the players getting to train and play under the direction of the national coaches, including new backs coach Andrew Goodman, and the coaching team having the chance to develop and challenge some players who they have not worked with before.

➖ Taking over as Interim Ireland Men's Head Coach
➖ Emerging Ireland squad
➖ Exciting opportunities in green

Hear more from Simon Easterby ahead of the Emerging Ireland Tour to South Africa.#TeamOfUs pic.twitter.com/3htkgw6n0s

— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) September 18, 2024

“I suppose we’re three years out from a World Cup. You’re still kind of looking short term in terms of your next game, your next group of matches but also one eye on two years down the line, and three years down the line there’s a World Cup.

“So, yeah, I guess there’s some form of looking short term. It’s important that we focus on the here and the now, but also the sort of progression of coaches, progression of players, building depth in the playing group in particular, I think that’s an exciting thing.

“I wouldn’t say it is transformational but it’s something where ‘Faz’ has gone away and there’s a chance for others to step up, myself included, but some others in the group will maybe do slightly different roles.

“It’s exciting times and I’d like to think what’s been built already will just keep growing, and we’ll keep building on that and allow that continuity to happen so that players can have the best opportunity to go and perform in a green jersey and, hopefully on the back of that, they get some success elsewhere.”

Easterby made 65 appearances as a back rower for Ireland, and played two Tests for the British & Irish Lions, before beginning his coaching career in 2010 at the Scarlets, the Welsh regional outfit that he had captained for five seasons.

He started off as the Scarlets defence coach before being promoted to the head coach position, following the departure of Nigel Davies. Two years later, in 2014, he joined forces with Joe Schmidt, coming on board as the Ireland Men’s forwards coach.

In early 2021, with Farrell now leading Ireland, Easterby switched to the defence coach role. He is delighted to have the opportunity to lead from the front in the next few months, between this Emerging Ireland tour and Ireland’s Six Nations title defence in 2025.

Looking back on his 10 years to date as a coach within the Irish Rugby system, he admitted: “It feels like a long time ago, a lot has happened since then. I’ve been very fortunate to work with good people, have great guys to learn from within our coaching group, within our management group.

“And also a consistently strong group of players that come in who are just keen to learn and have an appetite for competition, an appetite to get better.

“I’m hugely excited and really looking forward to that progression and the next role. I think I’ve learned a huge amount over the last few years.

“I’ve been very fortunate to work with great people who built my knowledge and understanding and development, certainly in the time of working with Joe and Faz.”