Bernard Jackman expects Andy Farrell to be ruthless with his selections if performances don't improve during the Quilter Nations Series.
With two years to go until the Rugby World Cup in Australia, there has been a big focus on building depth in the squad, as noted by his assistant coach Johnny Sexton ahead of Saturday's meeting with Japan.
Farrell's selections for big games have been largely consistent during his five years as head coach, while he brought 18 Irish players on last summer's British and Irish Lions tour, 12 of whom featured in the Test series.
Several of that core group have looked slow to recapture their form in the early stages of this season, as evidenced by Saturday's defeat to New Zealand, where Ireland faded badly in the final quarter, giving up three tries to lose 26-13.
Farrell is expected to make several changes to his starting team for this Saturday's visit of Japan to Aviva Stadium, but it remains to be seen whether any of those fringe players will be given further opportunities in this month's games against Australia and South Africa.
And Jackman believes Farrell's loyalty will be tested if his established starting team don't find their form.
"You'd only find it out if there's another big underperformance, and that won't be this weekend," Jackman said on this week's RTÉ Rugby podcast.
"The reality is if they don't perform against South Africa or Australia, he'll have no choice..."
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) November 5, 2025
How much will Andy Farrell's loyalty to his frontline players be tested this month?
📺🎧Full pod: https://t.co/P0l8w3yFhB pic.twitter.com/bQWQM6FD7j
While 50 players have made their Ireland debut under Farrell, only 15 of those have amassed 10 caps or more.
Of the current Ireland squad, Nick Timoney has won just four caps since his debut in 2021, while Caolin Blade has made three appearances in that same four-year period.
Cian Prendergast has five caps since his debut in 2022, while Ciarán Frawley is another who has been consistently in Ireland squad in recent seasons, but has played just nine times.
Some of those could be involved this weekend against Japan, but Jackman still expects Farrell to revert back to his first-choice selections once the Wallabies roll into town next week.
"They'd have to be very good, and he'd have to have serious doubts around some of the established players that they're not going to get back [to their best]. I think they deserve another crack, a lot of them, against South Africa, because they are the best.
"The challenge is when we're watching the URC, when we're watching Champions Cup, I'm not sure how many players outside of that squad that he's picked actually could go in and help you beat the All Blacks. Maybe I'm wrong."
While Jackman expects Farrell to stay loyal to his experienced campaigners this month, he believes Farrell will make some "ruthless" calls if the squad continue to underperform.
"Andy Farrell has been incredibly loyal, but I think that's a good thing," he added.
"I've no doubt that that coaching staff of Farrell, O'Connell, Easterby, Sexton, Goodman, Fogarty, they have the capacity to be ruthless, and will make the call, but they'll make the call based on a couple of performances rather than one.
"Farrell is loyal, but he's well able to make big calls, and they'll make them if they have to. So now the challenge is for those frontline players to step up.
"With the Lions tour, long holiday, limited preparation going into it, 10 days in Chicago, the match, another week here, whether you play against Japan or not, there's absolutely no excuse not to be match ready for South Africa and Australia.
"And I think the reality is that if they don't perform against South Africa or Australia, he'd have no choice, because he'd have to make a call then. If you want to get caps into the Tommy O'Briens or whoever else you see coming in, they're going to have to play Six Nations because you want to have them at 15 caps-plus, or be established in the team by the time you go to Australia.
"So I think this is a massively important month for a lot of our best players to wear an Irish jersey."
Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Watch Ireland v Japan in the Quilter Nations Series on Saturday from 12pm on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra
