Injuries, retirements and a suspension have all dealt Andy Farrell a depleted hand approaching Ireland’s 2026 Guinness Six Nations campaign, but the head coach is relishing the challenge and the potential lessons to be learned from his new-look team to face France on Thursday night.
Back-three stars Mack Hansen and Hugo Keenan, centre Robbie Henshaw, props Andrew Porter, Tadhg Furlong, Paddy McCarthy and Jack Boyle, and flanker Ryan Baird are all missing injured from this Stade de France encounter.
The experience of Test centurions Cian Healy, Conor Murray and Peter O’Mahony have left the building since last season’s Six Nations, and Farrell has also had to do without centre Bundee Aki for the first three matches against France, Italy and England, also away, following a four-game ban for verbally abusing match officials.
It all makes for a very different team being sent out to regain the title won back-to-back in 2023 and 2024, a mission starting under the lights in the most daunting of Test rugby arenas and the Ireland boss saw no point in sugar-coating the situation as he announced his team in the French capital on Tuesday.
“It’s clear and obvious,” Farrell said. “It’s not just the team, it’s the squad as a whole. We all train together; we all compete against each other the whole time.
“You look at the lads that aren’t playing, the experience that they’re getting, it’s all new to them, but they’re finding the feet within all that.
“So, of course, it feels different, but it’s great to see players who are able to get over themselves and just give themselves to the environment, that’s what we’re after.
“It’s also good to see senior players, more experienced players, coming down a little bit to take people with them to a place that we’re trying to get to as a group. So, all those dynamics change, but the change is pretty good as well.”
Right wing Tommy O’Brien, flanker Cian Prendergast, and replacement forwards Mikey Milne and Nick Timoney will make their Six Nations debuts and there is also a first championship start for loosehead prop Jeremy Loughman, all of whom have fewer than 10 Ireland caps on their resumes.
Thomas Clarkson comes in at tighthead prop for the injured Furlong to earn his 10th Test appearance and Farrell has also recalled lock Joe McCarthy after his recovery from the foot injury which forced him out of the Autumn Nations Series, with James Ryan dropping to the bench.
The in-form Jacob Stockdale is preferred to the off-form James Lowe on the left wing in a side showing seven changes from the team beaten last time out by South Africa on November 22. And with Aki missing through suspension, Stuart McCloskey will start at inside centre in Paris, resuming the role he played against New Zealand and Australia last November.
Farrell described Aki’s absence for the first three rounds as “a big blow for any team, not just by his talent as a player, but his presence, his experience and all of that”.
The 35-year-old was found guilty of a misconduct complaint brought by the URC following Aki’s repeated verbal abuse towards match officials after Connacht’s derby defeat to Leinster on January 23 and the Ireland head coach said: “I spoke to Bundee, and he’s certainly sorry for what happened.
“He’s apologised to the right people; he’ll be working hard at home. If needed, he’ll certainly be available for us down the track.”
After a November Test window in which Ireland’s penalty and card count soared, Farrell said the lessons from Aki’s behaviour had to be heeded by the rest of the squad.
“There’s always learnings from that and we’ve talked about it as a group. We’ve talked about discipline a lot in the coming weeks in regard to how the game’s changing, etc.
“So, we need to get it back to being a point of difference for us, because it’s not long ago that it was.”
Improving discipline represents yet another strand of the way forward for Farrell’s Ireland as they aim to develop into World Cup contenders ahead of the 2027 tournament in Australia.
It is a challenge the head coach is ready and eager for, even if the odds are stacked against his side here in Paris.
“As far as the journey of any type of squad, there’s always different reasons why things are happening, with injuries or form or retirement or whatever.
“We’re at where we’re at, and for me that’s exciting. That’s what you need to grab hold of and run with and see what we can certainly do, not just in the near future, how this type of experience will stand to us, hopefully this experience will stand to us in the here and now as well. That’s the aim.”
J Osborne (Leinster); T O’Brien (Leinster), G Ringrose (Leinster), S McCloskey (Ulster), J Stockdale (Ulster); S Prendergast (Leinster), J Gibson-Park (Leinster); J Loughman (Munster), D Sheehan (Leinster), T Clarkson (Leinster); J McCarthy (Leinster), T Beirne (Munster); C Prendergast (Connacht), J van der Flier (Leinster), C Doris (Leinster) – captain.
R Kelleher (Leinster), M Milne (Munster), F Bealham (Connacht), J Ryan (Leinster), J Conan (Leinster), N Timoney (Ulster), C Casey (Munster), J Crowley (Munster).
