Peter O’Mahony has passed his HIA Three and has therefore been cleared of concussion, so meaning he will almost certainly retain his place in the Irish starting team for next Saturday’s series deciding third Test against New Zealand in Wellington.
Furthermore, although Finlay Bealham was withdrawn from the 30-24 win over the Maori All Blacks due to a slight stamp on his calf, this was primarily a precautionary measure, and the Connacht tighthead should be able to take his place on the bench in that third Test.
[ Ireland’s second string impress as they get revenge on Maori All BlacksOpens in new window ]
In his stead, the former Leinster and Irish tighthead Michael Bent was a late addition to the match day squad against the Maoris. Bent’s last game for Taranaki was in November last year, but having missed his flight the night before he rejoined the squad yesterday morning.
He came on for the last five minutes against the Maoris in rainswept and windswept Sky Stadium, thus donning the Irish jersey for one last time, and for the first time since winning his fifth cap for Ireland in a pre-World Cup win over Scotland in August 2015.
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With Bundee Aki set to replace Garry Ringrose after he was concussed in Ireland’s win over the All Blacks last Saturday, that is likely to be the only change in the Irish starting line-up.
Given Ireland completed their win over the Maoris without employing any of Rob Herring, Jack Conan, Conor Murray and Mack Hansen off the bench, it is likely that the replacements will stay the same save for the number 23 jersey, which will most likely be filled by either Keith Earls or Jordan Larmour.
“The focus has been on both games, both teams. there’s been no disparity there whatsoever,” said Farrell after the victory over the Maoris. “It’s been quite easy really. We’ve been pretty lucky. Obviously we’ve had things going on in the background with a few different knocks and injuries but we’d a pretty healthy squad going into tonight and on the back of that a pretty healthy squad going into the rest of the week as well.”
Farrell, as much as anyone, wanted this demanding five-match tour to make up for the cancelled summer tours to Australia in 2020 and Fiji in 2021 as a dry run for next year’s World Cup and has relished it, not least this week’s balancing act.
“It’s great to actually be busy. Today I was thinking, ‘what day is it?’ It was a great day, when you’re kicking off at 7pm, there’s a long time till to the game so to be having a few meetings and to be away with the boys having a training session keeps you busy, keeps you going and to have something in the evening to look forward to is great.
“These boys have been dying for a game for the last 13 days and for it. To finally come around and for them to improve and get a big ‘W’ on the board is very pleasing for them going forward.”
Farrell believes this tour has increased Ireland’s depth.
“Yes, certainly. We will see what comes of this. It is up to the players to dust themselves off, go on holidays and whet their appetites to start pre-season training and get off the blocks with a bang because they understand what it is like to be a top-line international player.
“Then, according to how pre-season goes, how they start pre-season, how they start the season, they have to put their hand up in the first seven games to get selected for the autumn series. It is up to them now to have the hunger because they know what it is all about now, they know what is expected of them. So, it is over to them.”
The Irish head coach declined to single out individuals, preferring instead to focus on the collective.
“I was more pleased with the team performance because the obvious thing to learn from the first game is that some lads were pretty desperate to show everything that they got; they understand that it has always got to be team first, not just discipline with the referee but discipline in how they play the game and our discipline was pretty poor in that first game and a little bit desperate at times.
[ Ireland 30 Maori All Blacks 24 - as it happenedOpens in new window ]
“They have learned a lot because the conditions were brutal out there; the wind was swirling everywhere and for a young side to be able to manage their way through a game when things aren’t going right the whole time, I thought that was tremendous.
“You look at the discipline we had as far as territory is concerned and how our set-piece was handled, I thought they managed the game together as a whole really well.”
Earls was captaining an Irish side for the first time and a team of any kind for the first time since he led a Thomond Under-14s team.
“It was genuinely one of my proudest moments. The people back home, the place I’m from, Limerick, they are rugby crazy and it was a huge honour. But it was also a huge honour to captain such a young, inexperienced side, and for those players to get their first win in an Irish jersey, coming to New Zealand, to get it done together, and to be able to captain that side was very special.”
