Anthony Foley welcomes Andy Farrell appointment

Anthony Foley has welcomed the appointment of Andy Farrell as the next Ireland defence coach. The Munster head coach, who served time as Ireland's forwards coach in the 2013 Six Nations and summer tour that year, said that appointing the best man for the job superseded the country of his birth.

“It’s a good appointment,” said Foley. “He’s an experienced player, worked with a lot of the Irish guys on the Lions tour [2013], obviously he’s worked in the international scene and understands that. It’s good to have that quality in and around the squad.”

As to whether he'd have preferred to see an Irish coach chosen to succeed Les Kiss, Foley said: "The best person for the job gets the job and that's the way you have to be, not who you are. It's about Ireland winning and making sure the players are the best looked after, get the best advice and Ireland stay on the front foot as much as possible."

In addition, Farrell’s career as both a rugby league player and rugby union coach commanded respect, according to Foley. “He’s come from a rugby league background when Wigan were a force, it was him and Shaun Edwards that were the driving force behind that from his late teenage years. So he’s done it all the way through and he got into coaching, came into union and excelled at that, too.”

Drawing on his own experience of being an assistant coach at Test level, Foley added: “You get a shorter period with the players and you have to get it done in tighter time frames and you’ve the pressure of the occasion as well. The one thing you do have is a lot of high-quality players and high-quality people around you.”

Challenges

Foley also reckoned Farrell’s arrival will filter through to the provinces. “Yeah, they [the players] come back with new ideas and I think that’s good. Everybody comes back with a different way of doing the same thing, have a different slant on it and that challenges everyone to get better.

“He’ll have an opinion. He won’t come in there and go through the motions. He’s worked with Warren Gatland in the Lions and all the feedback from the players who have worked with him has been extremely positive.”