[ad_1]
Sexton begins the first of his three-game ban for a misconduct charge relating to his behaviour towards the match officials following Leinster’s Champions Cup final defeat to La Rochelle in May.
The Ireland captain will miss Ireland’s World Cup warm-up games against Italy on Saturday night, as well as the clashes with England and Samoa later this month, as Farrell backed Jack Crowley to step up and seize his opportunity in Sexton’s absence.
Crowley will start at the Aviva Stadium this weekend, as the Munster out-half gets a chance to stake his claim before Ross Byrne, and Ciarán Frawley, who will make his debut off the bench against Italy, get a run in the No 10 jersey.
Although it will be almost six months by the time Sexton gets a chance to return to action in the World Cup opener against Romania on September 9, Farrell downplayed any concerns about the 38-year-old’s fitness heading into the tournament.
“He’s been all systems go, right from the start,” Farrell said.
“I mean, we didn’t do much contact at the start anyway, so he was building through that. I think he maybe had two weeks before he was able to do that at the start of pre-season.
#IREvITA: Ireland Team to face Italy in BOI Nations Series
“He’s not missed a session, he’s not dropped out of anything. He is back fully kicking etc. If there was a game two or three weeks ago, he was able to play, no doubt. “Look, obviously he is disappointed not to be able to play in these games but it takes a day or two to get your head around it and ti plan and keep pushing forward.”
Crowley will win his fourth cap on Saturday, and fresh after playing a key role in Munster winning the URC last season, the Innishannon man’s confidence is high, according to Farrell:
“He has been excellent, as you would imagine, and let’s be fair, if you were sat in a press conference for any nation at this moment in time, everyone is saying that pre-season is going swimmingly well, but how that transfers into a performance is different. “He has been going great. I have seen his confidence grow, obviously from what happened with Munster, being able to help navigate his team through those difficult periods at the end and get some success. I have seen his confidence grow. “The selection at the start of the week for all the players is interesting isn’t it because as coaches you’re seeing everyone really get stuck in and really driving to get better every single day. “The minute that selection comes, it’s a different week isn’t it, as far as managing the team and being the main general, as far as Jack is concerned. “We have been keeping a close eye on that and he has been excellent so far, excellent so far. A day off today, in this season, captain’s run tomorrow, hopefully the confidence continues.”
Frawley has had to stay patient for his Ireland debut, quite often due to injury, but Farrell believes the versatile Leinster back will be a useful addition to his squad.
“He has been unfortunate but at the same time he’s trained really well and deserved the opportunity for crack at it and the same for the other two lads (Crowley and Byrne), so look we’ve had plenty of debutants over the last few years, it’s super-exciting for us all and it’s something we’ll celebrate this evening.
Farrell is hoping to see Ireland extend their 10-game winning run by getting their warm-up campaign off to a positive start against Italy.
“I think we’re at a stage where we’re all gagging for a game and you are judging constantly how preparation is going and trying to balance that out with a side that’s got the experience and youth that you’re able to put a side out at the weekend to judge properly,” he added.
“I’m 100pc sure there are some individuals that will take the field saying to themselves that ‘This a big chance and big opportunity for me.’ You’ve got to surround those people with good enough experienced players as well to be able to judge them properly, so we’re looking forward to that.
“It’s about the performance. I wouldn’t say we’re experimenting. You win World Cups because of the strength of your squad so we’re trying to find out of people that have done so well to get picked in the initial 42 and now they’ve got the opportunity to represent the group.
“They know the expectation of how we want to play and what’s acceptable and what’s not. They get to represent the group first up and we’ll see how they go.”
[ad_2]
Source link
