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'You wonder how much input he had' | Andy Dunne on Farrell's role under Schmidt

Andy Farrell is the one who is calling the shots now in the Ireland camp but according to Andy Du...



Rugby

'You wonder how much input he had' | Andy Dunne on Farrell's role under Schmidt

Andy Farrell is the one who is calling the shots now in the Ireland camp but according to Andy Dunne, he is not sure how much say he had under Joe Schmidt. 

In his eyes, the way that Schmidt coached meant there was not much room for other voices to influence how Ireland played.

Speaking on Friday's OTB AM, Dunne said he thinks the English coach was shut out from things under Schmidt.

"If you look at an Irish team warming up on matchday Andy Farrell is not even on the field. It's constantly Joe, he is everywhere.

"He [Schmidt]is an extremely hands-on coach and you would wonder how much input he [Farrell] had or how many opportunities he had to influence how the team play," Dunne said.

He does not think Farrell has been tarnished by the end of Schmidt's reign because he was not that involved with the decision making in the first place.

Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Micromanaging 

"I would be curious to find out what input any of the coaches had because Joe is someone that micromanages things at every level.

"It would be nice for Andy to come out from the shadow now and say 'right here is my philosophy and here is what I do', let's give him a chance," the former fly-half said.

Overall, he does not feel that too much has to change in the Irish set-up for the national side to be more successful in the long run.

"We should ask the players about where they think things went wrong and also players should be picked based on form.

"From what I gather, I think Andy Farrell has got a very similar outlook on attack to Stuart Lancaster seeing as they worked together with England.

"That alone makes me relax a little bit and think right, we're actually going to play some rugby," he said.

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Andy Farrell Irish Rugby Joe Schmidt