{"id":387956,"date":"2026-03-16T13:53:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T13:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/387956\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T13:53:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T13:53:12","slug":"andy-farrell-to-hold-talks-over-ireland-contract-extension-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/387956\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Farrell to hold talks over Ireland contract extension \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andy Farrell<\/a> has confirmed that he will sit down imminently with the Irish Rugby Football Union<\/a> (IRFU) to explore the possibility of extending his tenure as the Ireland<\/a> head coach beyond the conclusion of next year\u2019s World Cup<\/a> in Australia.<\/p>\n

Although he is highly regarded elsewhere, not least by influential people in England\u2019s Rugby Football Union, the IRFU and Farrell have remained calm about speculation linking him with other jobs on the premise that nothing will be determined before they enter discussions with each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve already spoken about having a conversation. That won\u2019t be too far away, so we\u2019ll see how that goes,\u201d said Farrell after Ireland\u2019s 43-21 win over Scotland<\/a> at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday. The victory secured Ireland\u2019s fourth Six Nations<\/a> Triple Crown in the last five years, one of which was part of a Grand Slam. There has also been a Championship title in this period.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ireland denied the title by France’s late act<\/p>\n

Although Thomas Ramos\u2019 45m penalty with the last kick of a vintage Six Nations earned France<\/a> a 48-46 win over England<\/a> to retain the title, and thus deny Ireland, it had still been a positive campaign.<\/p>\n

Farrell was asked if days like this would make him more inclined to remain. \u201cWell, nobody wants to give those away. I\u2019d like to [just] watch it though sometimes. Walking down from the Shelbourne and doing a bit of a pub crawl, it sounds nice to me.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they\u2019re special days and it\u2019s due to the lads and the staff. I mean the staff that we\u2019ve got is second to none. Great people. Great at their jobs and as a coaching staff, I think we\u2019re learning about each other more, we\u2019re getting more cohesive and getting better as well. It\u2019s not just the players.\u201d <\/p>\n

Farrell and the IRFU will likely agree to a further two-year extension, before him being the Lions head coach in New Zealand in 2029, with the option to complete a third World Cup cycle.<\/p>\n

\"AndyAndy Farrell. Photograph: Charles McQuillan\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve wrote the piece already anyway,\u201d he joked, before admitting: \u201cYou know that I love this. There\u2019s all sorts of stuff that needs to be talked about, I\u2019ve no doubt.\u201d <\/p>\n

This was a 12th win in succession over Scotland, whom Ireland will meet in the pool stages in Australia in 18 months\u2019 time, and Farrell viewed this Triple Crown decider in the prism of the World Cup, even saying so to his players last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to try and understand what it is that we\u2019re trying to get to and to achieve. If you look at it like that, there\u2019s four more chances to do that, so they come pretty quick and fast,\u201d he added, regarding the international windows to come.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Thomas Ramos gives us a gobsmacking conclusion to a gobsmacking Six NationsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Ireland had \u201cput the pressure on ourselves\u201d to deliver a big last-day performance. \u201cThat\u2019s something internally that we were chasing down. That\u2019s five trophies in five years. I think it\u2019s the great Welsh side of the 70s who\u2019s done that last and what a special side that was.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to make sure that we\u2019re continuing to put pressure on ourselves and deliver when it matters to us.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember, we\u2019ve been to these days before, the last day, and not really performed at our best, even if we had won,\u201d he said, in reference to the nervy Grand Slam coronation four years ago and win over Scotland two years ago. \u201cSo that\u2019s a step in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ireland’sIreland\u2019s Tom O’Toole with his family after the Scotland game. Photograph: Ryan Byrne\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Winning trophies helps, but much like the team after a somewhat flat autumnal campaign, Farrell has seemed re-energised in this Six Nations. <\/p>\n

Ireland supplied 18 players to the Lions and most of the coaching and back room staff, and France have now won six of the last eight post-Lions Championships (Ireland won the other two in 2014 and 2018). But Ireland are the first Lions bulk suppliers to finish as high as second in the ensuing Six Nations since England supplied 20 players to Australia in 2001 and finished second to the Grand Slam-winning French by winning four from five in 2002.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Andy Farrell extracts the very best from his players: Five things we learned from the Six NationsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Winning a trophy in front of an engaged home crowd also sealed a deeper connection between team and supporters. <\/p>\n

\"TadhgTadhg Beirne celebrates with his daughter Penelope after the Scotland match. Photograph: Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an amazing day because everyone knew what it meant to us as a group to get this one over the line, but to do it in the fashion that we did, as in play really well when the pressure was on, I think everyone joined in and was part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farrell declined to compare Saturday\u2019s 43-21 win with the 42-21 record Twickenham win<\/a> in round three. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re both special. They [Scotland] were never going to go away, because they\u2019re a top side and they played really well, but we kept going after the game rather than going into our shells and trying to hold on to a lead. We kept playing to the death, and that was the pleasing part.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, it was a further demonstration of the team\u2019s strong mentality that they responded to each of Scotland\u2019s three tries with seven-pointers of their own within three, five and seven minutes.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Gerry Thornley: There was something for everyone in this wild and wacky Six NationsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

This campaign should now ensure some momentum for the summer Tests against Japan, Australia and New Zealand at their Eden Park fortress in July.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see what the momentum is with the lads going back to their provinces now. We\u2019ve talked about it in the changing rooms. People have had to grow for this competition. The lads who\u2019ve had a sniff of it, who\u2019ve not necessarily played today, it\u2019s up to them to keep on competing as well, to show us that they\u2019ve learned some lessons and everyone is fighting for a seat on the plane.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow our rugby WhatsApp channel<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

If you want the latest rugby news, analysis and opinion then you should follow our dedicated WhatsApp channel. From Gerry Thornley to Owen Doyle and Gordon D\u2019Arcy, we have every angle covered.<\/p>\n

Find the channel here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Farrell has confirmed that he will sit down imminently with the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[70904,18,34134,19,17,34132,40691,70905,97580,96426,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-387956","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-andy-farrell","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-france-rugby","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-ireland-rugby","14":"tag-irfu","15":"tag-lions-tour","16":"tag-scotland-rugby","17":"tag-six-nations","18":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116239191588302795","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}