‘We’ve Had A Good Week, A Tough Week’ – Andy Farrell Exclusive

Ireland’s disrupted Guinness Six Nations campaign meant a change of plans for the squad and a different approach to training this week. We caught up with Head Coach Andy Farrell at the IRFU High Performance Centre on Thursday after a training game with Ulster.

Asked about how preparation has changed over the two weeks he said,

‘Obviously, we’re disappointed not to play the Italy game, the only thing you want to do after a disappointing result is to play again but we must get on with things and deal with that. Our focus now is on France, we’ve had a good week, a tough week, we’ve trained hard as we try to get ready for that. France are playing with real confidence; they have good energy in their kick chase and defensively  they are really strong, they like to play a free-flowing style – like all good French sides do – they’re a good side.

The Head Coach is not concerned about losing match sharpness and he pointed to last week’s open training session in Energia Park with the the Ireland U20s and Thursday’s training match with Ulster to show how they have adapted their preparations.

‘No concerns. We have a plan around that, and we’ve had a really good week. We’ve trained hard and there’s been a good bit of contact. We trained against the U20s last week and Ulster came down today so we should be battle hardened – it got pretty physical.’

Watch: Ireland & Ulster Training Session at the IRFU High Performance Centre

Gallery: Ireland face Ulster in High Tempo Training Session