Farrell ready to pit his wits against former brilliant mentor

NEWS: Andy Farrell, the coach set to pit his wits against Joe Schmidt’s developing Australia side for both Ireland and the Lions, believes his brilliant old mentor is on track with his Wallabies project.

Farrell will reunite with the coach he helped assist during Ireland’s three-and-a-half-year stretch of glory when the two teams meet in a special match at Lansdowne Road on Saturday to mark the 150th anniversary of the Irish Rugby Football Union.

And it will be Farrell’s last match with Ireland before he takes a sabbatical to fashion a British & Irish Lions side who’ll take on Schmidt’s Wallabies in next year’s three-Test series in Australia.

So their friendly rivalry will be a huge plotline for Australian rugby over the next eight months, with the first chapter being written at the Aviva Stadium when the master tackles his old apprentice for the first time.

“It’s not been a distraction for me or the squad. The only thing that matters is this week,” insisted Farrell, when asked about his impending sabbatical and the irresistible Lions-Wallabies sub-plot.

“But I won’t be shying away from it this weekend. We’ll use everything we’ve got. So will they. It’s an exciting last game of the year for everyone.”

What the Englishman is happy to predict already, though, is that whatever happens this weekend, his old boss will have Australia well-honed and much more of a threat by the time the Lions roar into Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney next July and August.

“I think it’s progressing exactly how we thought it would do,” said Farrell, when asked how he felt Schmidt was crafting the Wallabies.

“By playing a good few players, he took a little bit of pain, but he’s done the right thing for the squad. They’re reaping their reward for that now, he’s got them playing really good rugby.”

Kiwi Schmidt is a bit of a folk hero in Ireland, after doing the sort of transformative job on their national rugby outfit over six glorious years that another ‘outsider’, Englishman Jack Charlton, did for their football.

“I think he’ll get an amazing reception when he walks into the Aviva and I think the Irish crowd will acknowledge him for all the things he achieved,” Johnny Sexton, the masterful No.10, who pulled the strings on the field for Schmidt’s Ireland, told the BBC.