Joe McCarthy, Jack Crowley and Calvin Nash have all been handed their first Six Nations starts in Ireland’s opening defence of their title against France in Marseille’s Stade Vélodrome on Friday (kick-off 9pm local time/8pm Irish).
The fourth change compared to the starting XV in the World Cup quarter-final defeat by New Zealand sees Robbie Henshaw restored to the midfield in the absence of Garry Ringrose, who has been ruled out with a shoulder injury.
Cian Healy, James Ryan, Ryan Baird and Ciarán Frawley have been named on an Irish bench, which has a 6-2 configuration for the first time ever.
Farrell confirmed that Ringrose sustained “a bang on the shoulder” in Leinster’s Champions Cup win over Leicester almost two weeks ago, adding that this game came “a little bit too soon” for the centre.
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“He’s flown home yesterday with a few other lads and he’s into rehab and hopefully it’s not too long an injury and back for the next game,” said the Irish head coach with regard to Ireland’s second match at home to Italy next Sunday week.
After two starts in his previous five Tests, the 22-year-old, 6′ 6″, 112kg McCarthy started the World Cup pool win over Romania and played the last 22 minutes of the quarter-final against New Zealand off the bench. He has since produced a string of big performances in Leinster’s Champions Cup pool wins over La Rochelle, Stade Francais and particularly in his try-scoring display against Leicester at Welford Road, as well as the St Stephen’s Day win over Munster at Thomond Park.
France vs Ireland preview with Gordon D'Arcy and Noel McNamara
But Farrell and Paul O’Connell have been fans since bringing him on the New Zealand tour in 2022.
“It’s not post-World Cup,” Farrell said of the lock’s form. “It was during the World Cup as well and before that actually. It’s what we see in training and progression etc, and what the other lads see also.
He’s a young fellah that’s on a mission, he’s there to take his chance and his opportunity when he can, and he tends to do that most days.
It always felt likely that Nash would fit into the Irish backline in place of the injured Mack Hansen, and after one cap in the warm-up win over Italy as a replacement and being in the wider World Cup squad, so his full Test debut has come to pass.
“It’s a reward for him coming into camp, understanding what that job looks like for him within our team, and going away and working on those bits, and he’s been very good at improving most parts of his game, actually,” said Farrell.
“I mean it’s a given, isn’t it, regarding his work rate, etc, but his work off the ball and his work with ball in hand and finding a way to make a difference and be that extra link in attack has really come on leaps and bounds. Again, all you need in life is an opportunity, and it’s a big one for Calvin.”
Regarding the anticipated if unprecedented 6-2 split on the bench, Farrell said: “It’s what we feel is the right thing for this game. We all know it’s going to be a war of attrition, set piece is premium in any game that you play against France. They’re big men, the size of their pack, and they’re very accurate as far as the set piece is concerned, but not just that, with where we’re playing, the conditions and the type of game that France can also play in the broken field.
“We think it’s going to be a fast game as well, so if you look at our bench, the power and pace that we’ve got within that pack to come on and finish the game strong is something that we think will work in our favour this time around.”
Of course, this clash between the last two Grand Slam-winning champions marks the start of the post-Johnny Sexton era, although Farrell maintained this would not see any significant change in the way Ireland play.
“No, I don’t think so. I think what we worked hard with Johnny over the last four years was everyone around him taking responsibility. I certainly feel that we’ve come on in leaps and bounds in that regard. No longer are we just reliant on the ‘10′ to steer the ship, you look at the progression in the last four years that Hugo Keenan has made or Mack Hansen has made or James Lowe has made, Robbie, Bundee, as far as his organisation and his skills have gone through the roof.
“We’ve worked hard to get to that point and hopefully that will continue.”
Crowley was a replacement in all bar one of Ireland’s World Cup matches as understudy to Sexton, but has only started three Tests, steering Ireland to a win over Australia as a late replacement for Sexton (on a night when McCarthy also made his Test debut) in November 2022, and the World Cup warm-up wins over Italy and Samoa.
While maintaining Crowley is “a confident kid”, Farrell admitted this is a big ask of the 24-year-old Munster outhalf.
“It’s tough for young kids, especially with responsibilities like in his position but he feels very comfortable in being able to do that. How you run a week is pretty important and you’re making sure that the rest of your team-mates feel that you’re in control. He’s obviously learned a lot from Johnny in that regard.
“Harry [Byrne] is pretty good at that as well and Ciarán Frawley is getting better at that, but the only thing is that matters is the performance, isn’t it? Taking that preparation, that’s been good, very good actually, in camp and transferring it to a performance that we all want to see.”
Asked what most excited him about this Irish team, Farrell said: “Well, the exciting thing for me is are we brave enough? Have we got enough courage to go and do what we said we’re going to do? And obviously we’re playing against a world-class side.
“But taking your opportunity and being the best version of ourselves is the expectation that we have of ourselves, so living up to that is going to be demanding for us but if you want to be successful, if you want to try to be the best, then you’ve got to beat the best in places like this and the occasion doesn’t get much bigger.
“We’ve got to relish those types of occasions and go after them.”
As expected, Fabien Galthié has retained the core of the France side which suffered a distressing one-point loss in their home World Cup quarter-final to South Africa for Friday night’s match.
The five changes which the French head coach has made were all anticipated, notably the new secondrow pairing of Paul Gabrillagues and Paul Willemse, while the Bordeaux-Bègles centre Yoram Moefana starts on the wing.
Maxime Lucu has been promoted at scrumhalf in place of the Olympics-bound Antoine Dupont, while similarly Francois Cros comes into the backrow in place of his injured Toulouse team-mate Anthony Jelonch, who has been sidelined for several months with a ruptured cruciate knee ligament having just recovered from an identical injury in time for the World Cup.
With the other Toulouse duo of Thibaut Flament (foot) and Emmanuel Meafou (knee) also injured, and Cameron Woki out of form and demoted to the bench, Gabrillagues is recalled after an absence of over four years. He won the last of his 16 caps in the quarter-final loss to Wales in the 2019 World Cup in Japan. Willemse is also recalled after missing out on the World Cup.
The selection of Moefana ahead of Louis Bielle-Biarrey, a more natural winger who started the World Cup quarter-final defeat when he struggle in the air, is unusual. Bielle-Biarrey, who can also play fullback, is named on the bench along with the brilliant uncapped Racing scrumhalf Nolann Le Garrec.
IRELAND: Hugo Keenan (Leinster); Calvin Nash (Munster), Robbie Henshaw (Leinster), Bundee Aki (Connacht), James Lowe (Leinster); Jack Crowley (Munster), Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster); Andrew Porter (Leinster), Dan Sheehan (Leinster), Tadhg Furlong (Leinster); Joe McCarthy (Leinster), Tadhg Beirne (Munster); Peter O’Mahony (Munster, capt), Josh van der Flier (Leinster), Caelan Doris (Leinster).
Replacements: Rónan Kelleher (Leinster), Cian Healy (Leinster), Finlay Bealham (Connacht), James Ryan (Leinster), Ryan Baird (Leinster), Jack Conan (Leinster), Conor Murray (Munster), Ciarán Frawley (Leinster).
FRANCE: Thomas Ramos (Toulouse); Damian Penaud (Bordeaux-Bègles), Gael Fickou (Racing 92), Jonathan Danty (La Rochelle), Yoram Moefana (Bordeaux-Bègles); Matthieu Jalibert (Bordeaux-Bègles), Maxime Lucu (Bordeaux-Bègles); Cyril Baille (Toulouse), Peato Mauvaka (Toulouse), Uini Atonio (La Rochelle); Paul Gabrillagues (Stade Francais), Paul Willemse (Montpellier); Francois Cros (Toulouse), Charles Ollivon (Toulon), Gregory Alldritt (La Rochelle, capt).
Replacements: Julien Marchand (Toulouse), Reda Wardi (La Rochelle), Dorian Aldegheri (Toulouse), Romain Taofifenua (Lyon), Cameron Woki (Racing 92), Paul Boudehent (La Rochelle), Nolann Le Garrec (Racing 92), Louis Bielle-Biarrey (Bordeaux-Bègles).
Referee: Karl Dickson (England).
