Ireland head coach Andy Farrell says he will sit down with the IRFU to discuss his future after the Guinness Six Nations campaign, and has dismissed reports linking him with a move to Saracens in 2027.
Farrell, who has been part of the Ireland coaching staff since 2016 and took over from Joe Schmidt as head coach after the 2019 World Cup, is out of contract at the end of this World Cup cycle, and has previously sidestepped questions about whether or not he would be interested in continuing as Ireland boss after the tournament in Australia next year.
Last week, it was reported that the Englishman is a target for Premiership side Saracens, where he previously both played and coached, and where his son Owen has also played the majority of his professional career.
Saracens rejected suggestions they had already tabled a lucrative offer last Thursday, and Farrell claimed those reports were a case of people jumping to conclusions.
"I mean, you'd expect me to say that I'm here to just concentrate on the Six Nations and what will be will be in the future," he told RTÉ Sport when asked about his future.
"I suppose it's people [putting] two and two together and making five with the connections; good friends with the owner, Owen's there, all of that.
"You can see why that's happened but I suppose we'll sit down and have discussions with the IRFU in the near future, that's for sure."
The Ireland coach made five changes to his side for Friday's meeting with Wales at Aviva Stadium, as his side look to set up a Triple Crown decider with Scotland next week.
Jacob Stockdale comes into the starting team to replace the injured James Lowe, while there are also starts for Tom O’Toole, Rónan Kelleher, Jack Conan and Nick Timoney, while Ulster scrum-half Nathan Doak is in line for a debut off the bench.
Bundee Aki hasn’t been included in the matchday squad, despite completing his four-game suspension for verbal abuse and disrespect of match officials following Connacht’s defeat to Leinster in January.
Stuart McCloskey and Garry Ringrose are the preferred centres in the starting team, while Tom Farrell is named ahead of Aki among the replacements.
"It was close enough that he's training with us for three days," Farrell said of his decision not to include Aki (below).
"It's good to see him. He's fit and able but there are other lads playing well and earned the right to keep rolling on in that position.
"It was nice to see Jimmy O'Brien back in the squad looking sharp as well, as well as Robbie Henshaw.
"All of a sudden there's a little bit more depth coming back into the squad there.
"I'd say whatever's right for the team and the group going forward. I'm making sure that we're able to find out about people who deserve a chance to compete for a shirt.
"I'm making sure that that is a consistent thing, that they're able to keep pushing on with the game," he added.
Ireland haven’t lost to this week’s opponents since 2021, while Stave Tandy’s (below) side are currently on a 14-game losing run in the Six Nations dating back to 2023.
But Farrell is expecting the Welsh to arrive with renewed confidence after they came agonisingly close to breaking their poor run against Scotland last time out.
"It's been written many a times about the decline and how unfortunate it's been, but at the same time we're playing them in a Test match on Friday night and, from what I've seen from game one, like ourselves, they've got better every week.
"The last week, they came very close to winning against a very strong Scottish squad. Therefore, we've heard from the Welsh camp the confidence they've got from that.
"They're coming to Dublin on a Friday night with a spring in their step. We've heard that they're very familiar with how our lads play, because of the familiarity with the URC and all of that.
"What influences that is probably the result last year against us, so it's up to us to show that we've moved on as well."
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