Simon Easterby opens up on Lions appointment as Ireland coach reveals Andy Farrell’s ‘unusual’ approach
Simon Easterby during his unveiling as an assistant coach for the British & Irish Lions and in action for the touring side in New Zealand in 2005.
Newly appointed British & Irish Lions assistant coach Simon Easterby will be highly motivated to gain success on their upcoming tour to Australia.
The 49-year-old was confirmed as one of Lions head coach Andy Farrell’s four assistants – along with John Dalziel, Richard Wigglesworth, John Fogarty and Andrew Goodman – but is the only member of the coaching staff who represented the famous touring team as a player.
Easterby, who was Ireland’s interim coach during the recent Six Nations, was part of the 2005 Lions tour to New Zealand and played in two Tests against the All Blacks, who clinched a 3-0 series victory.
A former blindside flanker, who also made 65 appearances for Ireland during his playing days, Easterby joined that Lions tour as an injury replacement for Lawrence Dallaglio before being selected for the last two Tests.
He admitted that being selected as part of Farrell‘s coaching staff makes him reminisce about his experiences as a Lions player, while he also opened up about the head coach’s “unusual” approach before appointing him.
‘Some good memories and some bad memories’
“It brings back some good memories and some bad memories. I think one of Goody’s (Andrew Goodman) great memories is watching Dan Carter play so well,” he told Sky Sports News.
“I said I watched him play well at that tour as well. So it was a tough tour, obviously one that I was thrilled to be involved in, but yeah, the results weren’t quite what we wanted.
“And I think over a period of time, you finish your playing career, you go into coaching, you get opportunities.
“And I’ve been very lucky with my coaching career to get to work with great people. When Faz messaged me to say, I’d like to speak to you, he doesn’t do that. You know, he usually just gives me a call, but he messaged me twice in the same day, which is unusual.
“I thought I’d better ring him. There must be something on the card. So yeah, I was a bit surprised and obviously delighted to get the opportunity as a coach to take part in another tour.”
Easterby highlighted the importance of gelling as a unit as part of the Lions and said the side’s coaching staff have already started that process.
‘It’s incredible how quickly you can make connections’
“I think Lions tours are about connecting,” he explained. “We’ve already done that, you know, over the last 24 hours. It’s incredible how quickly you can make connections with (fellow assistants) John (Dalziel) and Wig (Richard Wigglesworth).
“And you know, those are the important parts of touring.
“You’ve got to come together very quickly. We’ve got to be on the same page very quickly as a coaching group so that when the players come in, they feel like we’re already a step ahead because it’s such a short space of time to come together.
“And we probably, over certain tours over the last 20 years, teams have done that really, really well.”
Apart from his experiences as a player on a Lions tour, Easterby also revealed that he has been a long-time fan of the side.
“In ’05, maybe we didn’t quite get that right,” he said. “But you know, it’s the biggest challenge, I think, to bring four nations together to go and compete against not only a brilliant team, but just to go to Australia. And my abiding memory as a kid growing up was the 89 tour (in which the Lions sealed a 2-1 series win over the Wallabies).
“You know, Finlay Calder was captain, and I was chatting to Wig earlier about Rob Jones at the base of the scrum, having a little head-to-head with Nick Farrar-Jones.
“So I think you look back at things that were really important in my sort of growing up, in my career, was watching those days. And hopefully we can reproduce that type of tour again this year.”
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