Plenty of water has passed under the bridge since the Ireland coaching ticket signed off on last season’s autumn window together. Granted, after Simon Easterby assumed the reins for the Six Nations, Andy Farrell brought the bulk of his assistants on the Lions tour while forwards coach Paul O’Connell took charge of Ireland’s Tests in Georgia and Portugal. But O’Connell has no designs on a coup just yet.
“I’m very happy in the trenches. I’m learning all the time and still have so much to learn. The way Simon might put together a week or the way Andy might put together a week, sometimes I wouldn’t see it that way yet.
“I still feel I’m learning in that regard and as an assistant coach there’s so many experiences you can have that can help you if you ever want to be a head coach, and I still feel I’m very much on that journey.
“It’s a great experience for me to be able to go and do it for a little while and then duck back into what I’m more used to as well.”
RM Block
Farrell, O’Connell et al have had to hit the ground running since landing in Chicago on Tuesday of last week. Individually and collectively, no Irish team has ever gone into such a daunting assignment as meeting New Zealand in Chicago’s Soldier Field on Saturday with less minutes or game time.
“It is challenging but it is what it is,” said O’Connell from the squad’s training base at the SeatGeek Stadium in metropolitan Chicago ahead of a four-game window.
“We wanted more fixtures. We want to get as much time with the players as we can. We want big games for the players. This November is a great opportunity for us to give game time in big, big games.
“It’s not ideal but I think our player of the tour down in New Zealand in 2022 was Tadhg Beirne, and he’d come off the back of a considerable injury break,” said O’Connell, pointing out that even their Lions players are “a lot further down the track than people might believe”.
“That’s why we came over early. We’ve had two really good, fast sessions; we’ve one more fast session to get under our belt. I think we’ll be in a good place come Saturday. It’s not perfect but getting an extra fixture was never going to be perfect in such a busy year.”
Beirne’s outstanding performance in Munster’s win over Leinster last Saturday week also demonstrated lack of game time need not necessarily be a hindrance.
“He was excellent. He’s such a smart rugby player in the decisions he makes. It looks like he doesn’t move as quick as other guys but he actually is quite fast off the mark and he’s a little bit like Anthony Foley, he’s a little bit ahead of the game all the time and I think that’s been his trademark over the last few years.”
O’Connell likened Beirne’s seasonal debut to Seán O’Brien.
“He’d come back after a three- or four-month hip injury where he wouldn’t have ran more than 5 or 6k, and he’d be the best player on the field. He was constantly ahead of the game because of the habits he had and Tadhg Beirne is a little bit like that.
“It was brilliant to see him play well last week.”
