Former Leinster and Ireland legendary centre Brian O’Driscoll has welcomed Owen Farrell’s addition to the backroom staff and believes his arrival will help improve both the players and his fellow coaches.
Speaking on Newstalk’s Off The Ball programme, as reported by the Irish Independent, the now retired former British & Irish Lion believes that Farrell will challenge Schmidt – in a beneficial way:
I think having a strong character like Farrell coming in will be really good for Joe and the other coaches, and for the players too, to see them argue out points and not only have it as the ‘Joe way’ and the ‘Joe show’
After new England coach Eddie Jones decided against retaining the backroom staff from the Stuart Lancaster tenure, Farrell had been approached by the IRFU as the 40-year-old has previously worked with a number of Irish players during the 2013 Lions tour.
Farrell will join up with the squad after next month’s RBS Six Nations tournament as the side prepares for their summer tour to South Africa and O’Driscoll is excited to see what impact he can have on the team as he replaces the departing Les Kiss who has left for Ulster:
I don’t know what kind of coach Simon Easterby is, I haven’t been coached by him, and with the greatest of respect to Richie Murphy and Greg Feek, they are not people that would be confrontational to Joe’s way of thinking.
And the 133-capped Ireland star himself admitted that he would also attempt to confront his head coach on certain aspects, despite the two having a close relationship having worked together at both regional and international level:
I picked my moments. I knew that I had to be 85/90% right in my thoughts and in my thinking of what ideas I wanted to get across if I wanted to challenge a concept he had come up with.
I would always make sure that if I did have a point, that I wanted to challenge with him that there was a fair bit of theory and substance behind in what I was thinking.
There’s a little bit of the school teacher that you are a small but afraid of and it still remains the same. I meet him every so often and I’d still be a small bit on edge, making sure I have all my ducks in a row and know what I’m talking about.
Having been one of the Irish players to work under Farrell in 2013, O’Driscoll believes that Farrell will prove to be a success as the nation’s defence coach after being left impressed by his coaching style and presence:
It’s his [Joe] strength that he has such a strong belief in what he is talking about and trying to implement with the team, but at the same time you can blind yourself a small bit if you don’t allow another opinion coming in where it can actually help you.
That’s why I do think Farrell coming in, being a strong individual, will be a real asset to Joe. It’s not “safe” for Joe, which I really like. He could have gone with someone who might be a little bit of a “yes” man.
Joe does still like to control things, but when you have a strong character come in, it gives Farrell an opportunity to take control of the defence a lot more and take it away from Joe.
