When Andy Farrell became a team-mate of Shaun Edwards during Wigan's glory days in the early 1990s neither of them could have remotely imagined becoming not only two of rugby union's foremost defence coaches but that, 20 years later, they would one day oppose each other in the coaches' boxes as part of the Irish and French set-ups. Talk about a circuitous route to their most unlikely meeting yet.
On the premise that the France-Ireland game which is scheduled for next Saturday week, March 14th, in the Stade de France goes ahead, the paths of the two men are set to cross again.
Edwards, a fullback turned scrumhalf, made his celebrated debut for Wigan at the age of 17 in 1983 and, amongst many other achievements, played every single match of their eight Challenge Cup-winning campaigns in a row from 1987-88 to 1994-95.
Farrell, a goal-kicking loose forward, eclipsed Edwards by making his debut for Wigan at the age of 16 in 1991, and they would be team-mates for the last three of those Challenge Cups as well as three league championship-winning campaigns. They were also Great Britain team-mates at the 1995 Rugby League World Cup, when Edwards ruled himself out of the final against Australia, which the latter won.
Farrell then succeeded Edwards as captain of the Great Britain team (at 21 becoming the youngest player to do so). In addition to crossing swords as defence coaches with England and Wales, Edwards was the British and Irish Lions defence coach in 2009 before Farrell succeeded him in 2013 and 2017. For sure this must have heightened their rivalry, although presumably it is one borne of respect too.
Until recent developments, their paths were set to cross once more in their first campaigns as Irish head coach and French defence coach.
They had a close bond from the outset, when Edwards took the younger man under his wing, and Farrell (44) sensed from the outset of their playing days together at Wigan that Edwards (53) would make the step into coaching.
You saw the performance against Wales, it certainly worked for them and it allowed them get a very good victory away from home
“Yeah, he is a lot older than me but I would say that he wanted to go into coaching from birth,” he quipped. “We have had a similar type of pathway and I could tell from the minute I made my debut with him what type of character he is. He looked after me massively when I came through as a kid.”
“I remember him taking me to his agent on the first day I played for Wigan and he said ‘I’m going to look after you, you know’. He was great for me in those first couple of years, I learned a lot.”
Winning culture
Clearly there was something in Wigan’s winning culture which contributed toward setting them both on their respective paths.
“I suppose it is the same culture that we see now from Leinster and Munster over the years,” ventured Farrell.
“You get a dominant period over a 10-15-17-year successful time and you get to see the reasons why the people involved achieve that success. They understand it. They are able to deal with the pressures you have been talking about over the last 15 minutes.”
Edwards has been credited for much of the sharp upturn in the French team’s hugely-spirited performances and defensively well-organised performances. This has seen them back up home wins over England and Italy with a victory over Wales at the Principality Stadium in the game of the tournament to date, when a key component was them surviving a ten minute siege on their line leading up to half-time, much of it with 14 men.
So we're preparing for a good French team and we know that we have to be a lot better than we were last week
But Farrell senses Edwards’ influence has gone beyond his main remit.
“Well he has not just had an influence on the defence, he has had an influence on the way they play. They keep the ball in, exactly the way Wales used to do. So he has obviously taken his lessons from what made Warren’s side very successful over the years – so fair play to France for allowing him to do that.
“You saw the performance against Wales, it certainly worked for them and it allowed them get a very good victory away from home.”
That win propelled Les Bleus to the top of the table and, potentially, could set them up for a shot at a first title and first Grand Chelem in a decade. Johnny Sexton, who retains a keen interest in French rugby after his two seasons with Racing 92, agrees that this is the most organised French team in the last ten years.
“I think they’re the best coached, anyway, in terms of I’ve only heard good things about [Fabien] Galthie. I worked with [Laurent] Labit in Racing, very organised. Throw Shaun Edwards in there, Ibanez as manager, they’ve got some good coaches there and they seem to be in it together, they seem to have a good relationship with the coaches and that I don’t think was always the case down there.
“Obviously they’re probably more inexperienced, but over the years they’ve always had a lot of guys with a lot of caps in there. But it seems to be working for them and they’re going to be a tough team to play against, they’re big and physical and then they’ve got some backs that are pretty dangerous and in form.”
“So we’re preparing for a good French team and we know that we have to be a lot better than we were last week.”
