Six Nations: Farrell has big calls to make to put his stamp on Ireland

Ireland‘s head coach Andy Farrell has big calls to make after Ireland’s disastrous World Cup performance: he needs to broaden the team’s options in terms of players and gameplan

It will be interesting to see how Andy Farrell approaches his first Six Nations. Picture: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho

Spare a thought for Andy Farrell. This was not what he signed up for.

It was November 26, 2018 when the IRFU announced that Joe Schmidt would step down as Ireland head coach after the following year’s Rugby World Cup, with Farrell lined up to take the baton.

At the time of the announcement the Ireland squad were just preparing to put their feet up for Christmas following what was widely regarded as the most ...