This Is A Test Match And We Expect To Be At Our Best – Farrell

Ireland Head Coach Andy Farrell spoke today Ireland’s opening game of the Bank of Ireland Nations Series against Italy in Aviva Stadium on Saturday night.

Ireland Team Named To Play Italy

Farrell said that the squad expect to be at their best for every game, “First match and we expect to be at our best, that’s the pressue that we put ourselves under. Do we achieve that? Not always, so that’s a challenge but it’s no excuse. This is a test match for us.

“People can talk about it being a warm up game but there’s no ‘warm up game’ when you’re playing at Aviva Stadium for Ireland, whether that’s the first game of the series or not. This is a test match that we’ll judge out players on.”

Asked whether the team selected is experimental the head coach commented, “I wouldn’t say we’re experimenting. You win world cups because of the strength of your squad, so we’re trying to find about people that have done well in the first place to make the initial forty two. Now they have the opportunity to represent the group and they know the expectation of how we want to play. They know what’s acceptable and what’s not.”