Andy Farrell hints at a record number of Ireland players for Force on Saturday.
Andy Farrell has hinted that he is ready to roll out the Leinster contingent for the opening game on Australian soil.
And the prediction is there could be as many as eight Ireland players in the side - with the 2025 'gag' being rolled out - the scoreboard will show Ireland and British Lions!
Essentially the focus for Force will turn to those who were unavailable last weekend and who arrived 'late' to camp following club duties.
These include the dozen-strong Leinster contingent albeit Ronan Kelleher and Tadhg Furlong got a run from the bench - and did reasonably well - against Argentina while Jamison Gibson-Park and Hugo Keenan are still being tasked with light work only.Said Andy Farrell of the injuries holding Keenan and Gibson-Park back: 'We'll see how they pull up in midweek. Huw Jones is good, he's been training. He trained fully with us last week so he's up and running.
'We're here to build for what's going to be a fantastic Test series. We want to play some good rugby along the way.'We'll find out more about each other as we keep on going. Of course we'll analyse what went on against Argentina and why, but that's all part of the journey – to understand where we need to go next.'It's great to be here, this is what it's all about. We're here for a good time. Hopefully we can start this part of the tour off really well on Saturday.Farrell further indicated Bath's out-half Finn Russell and loosehead Will Stuart will come into immediate contention following their Premiership Final win over Leicester Tigers whose secondrow Ollie Chessum has also linked up with the squad.That makes for 37 of the 38 players in situ in Perth, the odd man out being Scotland star Blair Kinghorn who, based at Toulouse, is still 10 days or so away from joining the party.
Toulouse beat Bayonne 32-25 last weekend to earn a place in the Top 14 final against Bordeaux next Saturday (8.05pm local).Russell, Stuart and Chessum are expected to be named to start against Force while Garry Ringrose, James Lowe, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan and either James Ryan or Joe McCarthy are expected to be involved in the team.Marcus Smith is a front-runner to remain at full-back. Wales Tomos Williams is the likely no9.Force have their own problems to contend with following underperforming at Super Rugby level, finishing ninth of the 11 sides.That was despite being placed half-way at the half-way mark albeit operating out of the easier side of the initial draw. Their wins came at home to Fijian Drua, Moana Pasifika, Highlanders and away at Brumbies while there was a home draw with Hurricanes.Defeat by Waratahs on the last day of the season saw Force fail to climb above the 'Tahs to eighth.Coach Simon Cron, who will also coach the Aus/NZ XV scheduled to take on the Lions at the Adelaide Oval on July 12th (the fifth game in-country) and directly ahead of the First Test, has been feeling the heat."A number of guys in our team have given their heart and soul this year," said Cron after the Waratahs defeat."We have got to look at how we can add people around them to keep driving us forward and how we can push forward the ones that are still learning to get more consistent performances."The core group staying together is important for the club. A big area of growth for us is our rugby brains in key moments. We sometimes make it a bit hard for ourselves but that's where they've got to keep learning."Indeed there was some thinly disguised relief when Joe Schmidt, having put nine Force players in his initial squad for the Lions series, agreed to release five of them back to the club for the Lions game.They comprise veteran scrum-half Nic White, back-row Nick Champion De Crespigny, secondrow Dylan Swain, prop Tom Robertson and winger Dylan Pietsch.Out-half Ben Donaldson, full-back/winger Harry Potter, back-row Carlo Tizzano, secondrow and Force captain Jeremy Williams were retained by Schmidt.
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The Irish Sun
3 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
‘We were on a little boat with oars' – Ger Brennan admits Donegal storm sank Louth's summer
GER BRENNAN knew Louth would need a bigger boat when Donegal smelt blood in Ballybofey. The 2 Donegal sailed past Leinster champions Louth on Sunday afternoon 2 Louth manager Ger Brennan admitted his side were no match for the Ulster men But A devastating spell of 1-7 on the bounce blew Louth out of the water as Ciarán Thompson marked his 50th championship appearance with his first championship goal and hometown hero Oisín Gallen fired 0-5. Two-pointers from Michael Langan and Michael Murphy along with Peter Lynch's black card left the Wee County clinging for life before they gradually sunk out of the championship. And Brennan admits the high of winning their first Leinster title in 68 years caught up with them as they lost three out of their next four games to bow out. READ MORE ON GAA He said: 'It was a perfect storm. Unfortunately, we were the ones on the little boat with the oars. We couldn't survive it. Donegal just steamed through on a cruise liner and punished us for every error. 'Credit to them, very efficient, and they're a superb team. Second half, just the tempo, intensity, just upped it everywhere. 'Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, a great bunch of fellas, we just weren't able to live with it. 'In terms of a quick reflection as a management and a group of players, I think the winning of a Leinster final after 68 years, going into the All-Ireland Series took more of us than we realised.' Most read in GAA Football Louth were right in the game at the break thanks to 0-4 from the brilliant Burns and some poor shooting from the hosts. Donegal fired five wides and saw three shots drop short in the opening 35 alone, as their efficiency in front of goal let them down badly in a game of chess in the Ballybofey heat. 'Just in time for Father's Day' - Dublin GAA legends welcome the birth of precious baby daughter Defensive tactics prevailed early on as Brendan McCole put the shackles on Sam Mulroy, and Donal McKenny did the same to Murphy at the other end. But despite Donegal's poor shooting, Conor O'Donnell's goal was the difference right after Dara McDonnell's super score made it 0-6 apiece. Murphy rose highest to flick on Shaun Patton's bullet restart to Gallen, and Ciaran Moore's fist pass played the Carndonagh man clean through to smash home. It was harsh on a Louth team asking serious questions despite falling 0-5 to 0-1 behind on 17 minutes. Peadar Mogan, O'Donnell, Murphy, Oisín Gallen and the brilliant Finbarr Roarty all scored before Gallen fired a sitter wide when Michael Langan played him clean through. The next three scores read Burns, Burns, Burns as Donegal fell into Louth's burning ring of fire and Ryan McHugh and Thompson added to the misses at the river end. Gallen ended a 14-minute wait for a score to banish his missed goal chance, but Louth kept coming at them as McDonnell's boomer levelled it. With 32 minutes on the clock, Murphy made his mark when he got a hand to Patton's kick-out and Moore read O'Donnell's run to perfection for him to lash home. Burns had the final say of the half with his fourth from play, before a different Donegal emerged. Hugh McFadden began to lord the skies when he replaced Jason McGee, and his team-mates all moved up a gear to power home. Roarty, Mogan, Eoghan Bán Gallagher and Moore ran at their opponents constantly as Thompson and Murphy began to pull the strings inside. Gallen and Langan fired over before McFadden won the next kick-out for Murphy's epic two-pointer. It opened up a six-point gap before their second goal when Gallen fed Thompson and he lashed home from distance to make it 2-11 to 0-9. Louth were all at sea as Lynch was black carded for a late hit on Murphy and the relentless hosts kept turning the screw. Langan boomed over another two-pointer as Conor O'Donnell, Gallen, Daire Ó Baoill and Shane O'Donnell followed suit to finish the devastating 1-7 flurry as McGuinness rolled in the cavalry from the bench. Mulroy thought he had scored on the double at the other end, but Patton got a hand to it to reduce it to one as they failed to stay in the game. Donegal skipper Paddy McBrearty failed to score, but created the next 0-3 for Niall O'Donnell, Ó Baoill and the brilliant Caolan McColgan before McFadden completed the rout on the hooter. And McGuinness beamed as 12 of his players hit the mark to fire them back to Croker against Monaghan or Meath this weekend. He said: 'In terms of the team, it's very important now that we dial-in very quickly to the next challenge which is going to be Monaghan or Meath and we wait for that draw to come and then we can start the ball rolling again for another week. 'Very happy, very happy obviously, one game more than we wanted but at the same time we're happy to take the game. 'Obviously loads and bits of pieces to work on as well, particularly in the first half in terms of decision making and stuff. 'We were clinical and done a good job to get over the line and get over the line with 20 minutes to spare basically and give us a chance to get some players on the pitch as well that have been doing well in training. 'Odhran McFadden-Ferry has been doing well in training, Niall O'Donnell coming back into it again. Daire Ó Baoill I thought was very very good when he went on and Patrick when he went on as well, and I think Patrick might have had three assists. 'Whenever we got beat against Tyrone we knew we'd be in this situation potentially and we were targeting these three weekends. So we're delighted we have an opportunity at the third game now.' DONEGAL 2-22 LOUTH 0-12 DONEGAL: S Patton, F Roarty 0-2, B McCole, P Mogan 0-1; R McHugh, EB Gallagher, C Moore; J McGee, M Langan 0-3, 1tp; C McColgan 0-1, C Thompson 1-0, S O'Donnell 0-1; C O'Donnell 1-2, M Murphy 0-3, 1f, 1 tp, O Gallen 0-5. Subs: H McFadden 0-1 for McGee HT; D Ó Baoill 0-2 for McHugh 49; P McBrearty for Murphy 51, N O'Donnell 0-1 for C O'Donnell 54, O McFadden-Ferry for Gallagher 54 LOUTH: N McDonnell; D Nally, D Campbell, D McKenny; E Carolan, P Lynch 0-1, C Lennon 0-1; T Durnin, D McDonnell 0-1; C McKeever, C Downey 0-1, D Corcoran; P Matthews 0-1, S Mulroy 0-3, 1f, R Burns 0-4. Subs: C Grimes for Carolan HT; S Callaghan for Durnin 48, R Walsh for Matthews 51, C McArdle for Lennon 53, C Byrne for Burns 57 REFEREE: B Cassidy (Derry)
Irish Daily Mirror
5 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Andy Farrell hints at a record number of Ireland players for Force on Saturday.
Andy Farrell has hinted that he is ready to roll out the Leinster contingent for the opening game on Australian soil. And the prediction is there could be as many as eight Ireland players in the side - with the 2025 'gag' being rolled out - the scoreboard will show Ireland and British Lions! Essentially the focus for Force will turn to those who were unavailable last weekend and who arrived 'late' to camp following club duties. These include the dozen-strong Leinster contingent albeit Ronan Kelleher and Tadhg Furlong got a run from the bench - and did reasonably well - against Argentina while Jamison Gibson-Park and Hugo Keenan are still being tasked with light work Andy Farrell of the injuries holding Keenan and Gibson-Park back: 'We'll see how they pull up in midweek. Huw Jones is good, he's been training. He trained fully with us last week so he's up and running. 'We're here to build for what's going to be a fantastic Test series. We want to play some good rugby along the way.'We'll find out more about each other as we keep on going. Of course we'll analyse what went on against Argentina and why, but that's all part of the journey – to understand where we need to go next.'It's great to be here, this is what it's all about. We're here for a good time. Hopefully we can start this part of the tour off really well on further indicated Bath's out-half Finn Russell and loosehead Will Stuart will come into immediate contention following their Premiership Final win over Leicester Tigers whose secondrow Ollie Chessum has also linked up with the makes for 37 of the 38 players in situ in Perth, the odd man out being Scotland star Blair Kinghorn who, based at Toulouse, is still 10 days or so away from joining the party. Toulouse beat Bayonne 32-25 last weekend to earn a place in the Top 14 final against Bordeaux next Saturday (8.05pm local).Russell, Stuart and Chessum are expected to be named to start against Force while Garry Ringrose, James Lowe, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan and either James Ryan or Joe McCarthy are expected to be involved in the Smith is a front-runner to remain at full-back. Wales Tomos Williams is the likely have their own problems to contend with following underperforming at Super Rugby level, finishing ninth of the 11 was despite being placed half-way at the half-way mark albeit operating out of the easier side of the initial draw. Their wins came at home to Fijian Drua, Moana Pasifika, Highlanders and away at Brumbies while there was a home draw with by Waratahs on the last day of the season saw Force fail to climb above the 'Tahs to Simon Cron, who will also coach the Aus/NZ XV scheduled to take on the Lions at the Adelaide Oval on July 12th (the fifth game in-country) and directly ahead of the First Test, has been feeling the heat."A number of guys in our team have given their heart and soul this year," said Cron after the Waratahs defeat."We have got to look at how we can add people around them to keep driving us forward and how we can push forward the ones that are still learning to get more consistent performances."The core group staying together is important for the club. A big area of growth for us is our rugby brains in key moments. We sometimes make it a bit hard for ourselves but that's where they've got to keep learning."Indeed there was some thinly disguised relief when Joe Schmidt, having put nine Force players in his initial squad for the Lions series, agreed to release five of them back to the club for the Lions comprise veteran scrum-half Nic White, back-row Nick Champion De Crespigny, secondrow Dylan Swain, prop Tom Robertson and winger Dylan Ben Donaldson, full-back/winger Harry Potter, back-row Carlo Tizzano, secondrow and Force captain Jeremy Williams were retained by Schmidt.
Irish Times
6 hours ago
- Irish Times
Tom Curry says Lions need to be more clinical with ball in Australia
Lions coach Andy Farrell and captain Maro Itoje said it wasn't good. Outhalf Fin Smith said it wasn't good and flanker Tom Curry said the same except Curry managed to retain a sense of perspective. 'We have to be honest. We can't take it too personally,' said the England player. 'This is the thing with this sport and this tour. It comes and goes so quickly. You've got to make the most of it. Every meeting and every session. It's nice being in Dublin when people aren't booing you.' If there was any kind of common denominator coming back from the Lions after finishing on the losing side a few sloppy throws and half a dozen aimless, blind passes away from winning the match, it was respecting the ball in the air, on the ground, in possession. On that topic Curry valiantly fell on his sword. READ MORE The Lions won almost every metric. More territory, clean breaks, defenders beaten, rucks won, mauls won, scrums won, more territory, more possession, more lineouts won and less penalties, five to Argentina's 12. Still. 'The biggest point is we need to be more clinical with the ball,' said Curry. 'The exciting thing is we have got people in the position, people are running, people are there but f**k we can't score points if we are dropping it and giving it away that easily. That comes first and foremost.' Perhaps, it was suggested the new system and personalities, the hastily assembled playing patterns, and detail were the Lions undoing. 'Listen. I have been on these things before and you can wait until Monday before you say this stuff. But you can get to the sixth week and still make the same excuse,' said Curry. 'Six weeks is not a long time so we can't make that excuse the whole way through. We nipped that in the bud straight away. That is not a reason, and we need to take personal responsibility for our own performances and how excited we get on the ball. 'That is the really annoying thing because on the flip side it's exciting because we do have our hands on the ball and are in great spots. But come on, we need to take personal responsibility when we have it.' Tom Curry of Lions is tackled against Argentina. Photograph: Charles McQuillan/Getty Former England coach Eddie Jones used call Sam Underhill and Curry the Kamikaze kids because of their abrasive style and occasional abandonment of personal safety when going after the ball. There were signs of that from Curry in Aviva Stadium, who had a strong performance, but still it was a 4am rise on Saturday morning to begin the journey to Australia. That left plenty of time to ruminate on dented Lions pride and a juggernaut that is still road worthy with time to mend the broken parts before the first Test match. P***ed off, Curry was asked. 'Yeah, it is an opportunity gone. Look at that set piece at the end, there is a moment gone,' he said. 'We let the ball go and that is a moment gone. We've got to fully take it on the chin, have tough conversations, but also do as we say. We can't just keep saying it and not doing it. 'Skillsets under pressure in the big moments, we have got to take responsibility for that. I am speaking a lot about us but credit to Argentina, they came off the line and were very passionate. They definitely won the small moments, and when those things add up, you get that scoreline.' A lineout at the end where the ball was overthrown, two lineouts in the first half missed, the messaging between Luke Cowan-Dickie and Maro Itoje scrambled, the turnover that led to Argentina scoring a long-range try in the first half and all of the spilled and misdirected passes, left Curry frustrated that the training did not transfer to the match. 'We're not about throwing the ball out the back,' he said. 'Andy's been hot on you've got to see your pass and know someone is there. There were key moments today when that didn't happen. 'That's what I'm saying – we can't say it in training and not do it in a game. That's just one example that didn't cross over so we've got to make sure we take that forward. We want to be exciting, and give the fans something to get behind, but we've got to own those moments and be better.' A first chance of redemption comes on Saturday against Western Force in Perth Stadium.
