Goodman: It’s About Making Connections And Getting Everyone On The Same Page

Simon Easterby’s Emerging Ireland squad assembled at the IRFU High Performance Centre in Blanchardstown yesterday ahead of their early season tour to South Africa.

The 33-player group will travel to Bloemfontein on Saturday, with their first match against the Pumas pencilled in for next Wednesday afternoon (kick-off 4pm local time/3pm Irish time).

They then go head-to-head with Super Rugby Pacific outfit Western Force on Sunday week (kick-off 1pm local time/12pm Irish time), and their tour concludes with a clash with the Cheetahs on Wednesday, October 9 (kick-off 7pm local time/6pm Irish time).

Easterby, who led Emerging Ireland’s successful Toyota Challenge campaign in 2022, again has an experienced coaching ticket to support him. It includes Andrew Goodman, the successor to Mike Catt as Ireland backs coach.

The New Zealander spent the last two years as an assistant coach with Leinster before trading his blue cap for a green one. His first involvement with Andy Farrell’s men was the drawn two-Test series with South Africa in July.

Speaking to the media ahead of his return to the Rainbow Nation with Emerging Ireland, Goodman was asked about the adjustment of going from coaching at provincial level to the national set-up.

“It’s a very different workflow for myself, that’s been the biggest thing,” he said. “I’m looking forward to getting the whistle back on today and getting amongst the boys.

“Even being in an office with other people full time, being able to talk footy. I think my wife (Nina) is happy to have me out of the house as well! It’s different from the day-to-day at Leinster where you’re down in the office.

“I suppose there’s been a little bit of work from home, which is great as well for the kids, but in terms of coaching, I think I’ll probably lose my voice by the end of the day because I haven’t done it for a period of time.

“In terms of South Africa, the summer tour was a great little introduction for myself to go away and see how the Irish set-up works, the language they use, and how the week is run.

“It was a great thing for me to do to get a step ahead coming into the Emerging Ireland tour now and with November later on, so I guess there are differences in the way weeks are run but nothing major.”

Ireland head coach Farrell is not directly involved with the Emerging Ireland tour, so Goodman, the former Tasman and Leinster back and ex-Crusaders assistant coach, will have more responsibility for the overall team attack of this group.

Having been involved with Samoa at last year’s Rugby World Cup, he is relishing the opportunity to coach at Test level again, and said of his new remit going forward: “I’ll be doing a lot of work with the backs on strikes from scrum and lineout, and on skill work for the team.

“Assisting Andy, obviously, when it comes to November time. He’s not coming on this trip, so (I’ll) get to do a little bit more of the team attack as well. But I’ll be assisting him with those bits of the attack when it comes to November and beyond.”

With Emerging Ireland, he will get the chance to work again with the likes of Leinster’s Rob Russell, Cormac Foley, and Charlie Tector. Wexford youngster Tector (22) was one of three injury-enforced call-ups to the squad, alongside Chay Mullins and Mark Donnelly.

Goodman is excited by the prospect of linking up with new players that he has not coached before. They include Ireland Sevens internationals Zac Ward and Mullins, and promising young Connacht centre Hugh Gavin, amongst others.

Probably for me it is all the lads that I haven’t had the chance to work with. Obviously, there’s a group of Leinster players here that I know pretty well.

“But there is a group of guys from the other provinces too, and I am really looking forward to meeting all of them to see how their games can be developed and pushing them forward over the next two-and-a-half weeks.”

One player the 41-year-old got to know well in the last season or two is the highly-rated Sam Prendergast. The talented Leinster Academy graduate has already made 19 senior appearances for the province.

Prendergast helped Leinster to make a winning start in the BKT United Rugby Championship against Edinburgh last Friday. Goodman praised how the 21-year-old out-half applied himself during Ireland’s summer tour despite not playing any minutes.

“As it was for me, for Sam to come away to South Africa was a great experience for him. He wasn’t there to make up the numbers, he was pushing hard every training (session).

“It was great for him to build another level of understanding around how the Irish team plays the game, and also for him to get confident as the 10, calling the shots. We expect him to come in after that experience and lead this (Emerging Ireland) team around.

“Looking forward to seeing him. I thought he had a good start last Friday in terms of some of the way he drove the Leinster team around. He’ll be looking to kick on in this tour and put his name forward for future Leinster fixtures.”

Alex Kendellen was announced as captain for the Emerging Ireland tour last week. The industrious back rower played all 25 matches of Munster’s 2023/24 campaign, including his 50th cap, and also skippered the province to victory over the Crusaders.

The 23-year-old Cork native, who previously captained the Ireland Under-18 Schools and Under-20 teams, was selected for the 2022 Emerging Ireland tour but did not feature due to injury. He will be aiming to lead by example in Bloemfontein over the next couple of weeks.

“It’s a great honour for Alex to come in to that tour leader spot,” noted Goodman. “He’s someone who I haven’t had a great amount of dealings with so far, but from everything I’ve heard he is a great leader. For a tour like this it is about him connecting the group up.

“The coaches will drive that as well, but it is about making connections and getting everyone on the same page and getting people comfortable and aligned. He will be a big part of driving the standards that we want to live by.”