Ireland appointed former England assistant coach Andy Farrell as their new defence coach yesterday, less than a month after the former dual code player was released by England in a post-World Cup clearout.
Farrell, who captained Wigan and Great Britain in rugby league before switching codes to rugby union and representing England eight times, will take up the role after the Six Nations Championship, which begins next month.
“It’s great to have Andy coming into our coaching team,” Ireland coach Joe Schmidt said in a statement.
“The quality of his delivery and breadth of his experience as well as the positive impact he had when coaching a number of our senior players during the 2013 Lions tour will add real value for us.”
All three of former England coach Stuart Lancaster’s assistants were released last month as new boss Eddie Jones sets about putting his own team in place. Farrell had signed a six-year contract, along with Lancaster, just over a year ago.
The former Saracens’ coach will join up with Ireland ahead of the June tour of South Africa and his contract will run until the end of the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) said.
Ulster’s Iain Henderson and Tommy Bowe will miss Ireland’s defence of their Six Nations title through injury, the province’s coach and one of the players were quoted as saying yesterday.
Henderson, who was expected to take over from the retired Paul O’Connell at second row after making a big impact at last year’s World Cup, will likely miss the rest of the season with a hamstring injury, Ulster coach Neil Doak told local media.
Bowe picked up a knee ligament injury at the World Cup and told the BBC that he had to rule himself out of the Six Nations but hoped to return before the end of the season for Ulster.
Prop Cian Healy also underwent minor knee surgery on Tuesday and will be out for three to four weeks, his province Leinster said, making him a doubt for Joe Schmidt’s side’s Six Nations’ campaign opener at home to Wales on 7 February.