{"id":24979,"date":"2022-01-29T18:16:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-29T23:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=24979"},"modified":"2022-01-31T09:18:20","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T14:18:20","slug":"farrell-not-concerned-about-lack-of-games-before-six-nations-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=24979","title":{"rendered":"Farrell Not Concerned About Lack Of Games Before Six Nations Opener"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Andy Farrell is preparing for his third Six Nations as Ireland head coach (PA Wire\/PA Images)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ireland rugby head coach Andy Farrell has dismissed concerns about a lack of club action for some of his players going into the Guinness Six Nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Covid-related postponements at provincial level have hampered preparations for next weekend\u2019s tournament opener against Wales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farrell believes a strong autumn campaign \u2013 during which the in-form Irish swept aside Japan, New Zealand and Argentina to stretch their winning run to eight games \u2013 proves his team can perform on the back of limited game time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, with wings James Lowe and Jacob Stockdale the only major absentees for the championship, the Englishman is content just to be relatively injury-free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you asked me: \u2018do you want most of your guys fit and raring to go and ready to play compared to, say, playing the last eight games and being injured?\u2019, we\u2019d rather everyone on board,\u201d said Farrell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo it is what it is. We went through this in the autumn, didn\u2019t we? Everyone was talking about our lack of game time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are no excuses, you\u2019ve just got to get on with it and we\u2019ll be raring to go as a group.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farrell\u2019s 37-man squad are currently fine-tuning preparations for the tournament at a camp in Portugal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahead of flying out, Ulster lock Iain Henderson \u2013 who has not played since sustaining an ankle issue on December 17 \u2013 was the only member of the travelling party not expected to immediately begin full training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Captain Johnny Sexton also put a positive spin on potential rustiness within the group, while pointing out that the issue is not unique to Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think there are a lot of other countries in exactly the same position,\u201d said the fly-half, who has made only one start for Leinster since Ireland\u2019s autumn fixtures following injury and a coronavirus infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd the good thing for us is we\u2019re in a very similar position to November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was my concern coming into November that we hadn\u2019t played enough because normally when you come into November you\u2019ve had two European games, which are obviously a higher quality and closer to international level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t have that in November but the way we trained and prepared allowed us to hit the ground running and, to have a competitive environment like we do here, training can be as tough as a game sometimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLike Andy said, no excuses. We\u2019ve done it before and you can look at it two ways: you can say you\u2019re underdone or you can say you\u2019re really fresh and raring to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re in that bracket. We\u2019ve had enough rugby, guys have been training hard, certainly in the environment I\u2019ve been in.\u201d<\/p>\n

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