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Rugby

'They need to unleash the players and bring in some new blood' | Alan Quinlan

With another quarter-final World Cup exit for Ireland, Andy Farrell is tasked with changing Irela...



Rugby

'They need to unleash the players and bring in some new blood' | Alan Quinlan

With another quarter-final World Cup exit for Ireland, Andy Farrell is tasked with changing Ireland's attacking philosophy. Alan Quinlan thinks it is time for the squad to replenished.

Speaking on Fridays' OTB AM, the former Ireland forward thinks we need to replace some of our senior players in the squad and look to the future.

With some of our best players in their mid-30s our age profile has been a real issue.

"I'm sure there will be a review but they have Mike Catt coming in as attack coach and he has to go reprogramme some of these guys.

"I think the key now is to unleash the players a little bit and bring in some new blood.

"It would be quite difficult if you kept the core group of players exactly the same," Quinlan said.

While he is calling for a change in personnel, he knows that it will take time for the team to transition.

Gradual process 

"They need to bring in players like [Andrew] Conway, [Jordan] Larmour maybe even Chris Farrell.

"It will need to be a gradual process because you can't go change from one way to the other," the former Munster man said.

After one of the most successful years in Irish rugby in 2018, Ireland came back down to earth in 2019 and Quinlan pinpointed one of the areas where our game has regressed.

"Part of the problem of what happened since January is that our kicking game has been really poor, that was one of our strengths.

"There are multiple facets to what needs to happen and change but it's really about adding more attack shape and having more of an attacking mindset," Quinlan stated.

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Alan Quinlan Andy Farrell Irish Rugby