Bernard Jackman has tipped Grenoble’s former Ulster centre Chris Farrell as a dark horse for Joe Schmidt’s Ireland World Cup squad.
Jackman, Farrell’s head coach at Grenoble, has been impressed with the progress of the powerhouse centre, who joined the French side at the end of last season.
“He got here and everybody has been really unbelievably impressed with him in terms of what a good athlete he is,” the former Ireland hooker said on the RTÉ Rugby Podcast.
“We went to Argentina for a pre-season tour and he got a little stress fracture in his foot, which set him back about five weeks.
“He played against Oyonnax two weeks ago, which was his first game - first real game in probably two years – and he did well enough to start against Racing. And he got a great try [against Racing]; he ran a very good line.
“For me, it was the stuff outside of that try: his passing, for a big, physical centre, his range of passing and his decision-making on the ball is phenomenal.
“He has the physical attributes to be a 12 but he has the all-round game to be a 13.
“He’s a definite dark horse for Ireland’s World Cup squad. He could actually play on the wing if you were stuck.”
“I remember, when he was under 18s, people speaking about him as being the next big thing in Irish rugby because, physically, he’s a monster" - Bernard Jackman
Jackman said that he had spoken to Ireland boss Schmidt about Farrell and that while the former Leinster coach would prefer if the 21-year-old was playing in Ireland, he would also appreciate that he was getting game time.
“There’s no Irish-qualified player in the world that [Schmidt] is not on top of and keeping track, but I think that Chris might not be as far away as some other guys.”
Jackman also gave some insight into how Farrell had made the move to France, and indicated the difficulties in attracting Irish players.
“It’s so hard to get guys out of Ireland,” he said.
“The set-ups in the provinces are top-notch, in terms of coaching, S&C [strength and conditioning], medical, nutrition, most guys can study if they want. So it’s very hard to get guys out.
“Anyone who is in the running for Ireland positions generally doesn’t leave.
"But you’ve a lot of young kids who are happier just to go into the workplace; once they come out of the academies they maybe come to France and try and forge a professional career.
“When I heard that Chris was potentially interested, obviously I wanted to make it happen, and I flew to Dublin, met him, and found him to be a very mature 20-year-old who just had two seasons with horrible luck with injuries.
“[He] had his knee reconstructed, and while he was rehabbing that, and just about to come back, he destroyed his ankle ligaments, and had another operation.
“I remember, when he was under-18s, people speaking about him as being the next big thing in Irish rugby because, physically, he’s a monster
"He’s six foot four, he’s 106kg now, he has a huge frame. And for a back: Ireland generally don’t have many big, physical backs.
“And when I spoke to him he just said, listen, he was happy at Ulster, but he just felt that he was in a rut with injuries, and obviously Darren Cave, Stuart Olding, Luke Marshall, Jared Payne was going to convert to a centre: there was a little bit of a log-jam ahead of him.
“And he just finished his studies, and he wanted to get over to France. He’s a bright kid, he’s fluent in Spanish; he likes languages.
“Everything just fell in line for us, and obviously, having Irish staff here, we’ve the same agent: it was just really good timing for us.”
