Rory Best backs Andy Farrell to succeed as Ireland boss
Rory Best has backed Andy Farrell to be a success as Ireland head coach when he takes over from Joe Schmidt after next year’s World Cup.
Current Ireland boss Schmidt announced that he will step down from the role for family reasons, with assistant coach Farrell then taking the reins.
Farrell has been assistant manager for England, Ireland and the British and Irish Lions but has never taken a top job before. However, Best believes he should make the transition seamlessly.
“I don’t see any reason at all why not, I think he did a lot more in England than he does with us,” Best told the Belfast Telegraph.
“From what I gather he took a bit of the attack there. Here he takes the defence and Joe (Schmidt) the attack. Andy is a very smart rugby player, he was when he played and he is as a coach.
“When you get somebody like that and you put them into an environment like we’ve been in for the last couple of years, he’s going to learn a lot from Joe Schmidt.
“Joe’s biggest legacy is going to be the coaches he leaves behind.
“Once the trophies have all been packed up and the dust has settled on them, it will be the coaches, the likes of Andy Farrell, Simon Easterby, Richie Murphy, some of the players he’s coached too, you see it with Leo Cullen now; that is going to be his lasting legacy.”
Best was awarded an OBE by Prince Charles for his service to rugby last week, having guided Ireland to back-to-back Six Nations titles. And the 36-year-old believes Farrell possesses all the attributes to carry on the legacy left by Schmidt.
“I think probably the thing that Faz (Farrell) does better than any other coach, he makes it feel personal for him,” said Best.
“He really buys into it. He stands in front of you, he’s a big frame, and he speaks, and it’s impossible not to like him.
“But when he talks about defence, he makes you want to go and defend. If he talks about any aspect of the game, you just want to buy into it.
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“One of the things about being a head coach that Joe got, yes it’s about all the technicalities, but a lot of the time it’s about being a good man-manager, being liked and knowing how to interact with the players.
“And probably there’s nobody better than Faz for that. Whenever he asks you to do something, he has so much passion about it.
“It’s actually sometimes a bit surreal to be coached by someone that you watched on Grandstand running around for Wigan when they dominated absolutely everything.
“He was their key figure; he was their go-to man. He’s never happy with our defence, even though New Zealand didn’t score a try against us, he was still saying we can do this better, we can do that better.
“He is driven. It’s all about perfection, it’s all about being driven and trying to be better.
“And if somebody gets in the way of us achieving that, we’ll go past them, over them, whatever it takes.”