Andy Farrell: Squad competition key to keep players 'hungry'

Andy Farrell says he needs to keep his players "hungry" to impress, after he sprung a couple of surprises in his side to face Argentina on Friday night. Craig Casey and Nick Timoney come into the starting team among seven changes in total, as Ireland gear up for the second half of their Nations Championship campaign.

Farrell had been expected to make alterations to the side that started the 40-21 defeat to New Zealand in July, some due to injury and others due to players returning from injury. Andrew Porter, Ryan Baird, Sean Jansen, Robbie Henshaw and Mack Hansen had all been touted for starts on Friday night, but the inclusion of Casey and Timoney ahead of Jamison Gibson-Park and Josh van der Flier went against most predictions.

"You have to keep them hungry," Farrell (below) said. "They will stay hungry no matter what, because that's the type of people that they are, but you’ve got to make sure your squad is your strength, certainly for what’s coming up in the next 12 months. It’s important that we keep feeding that.

"If ever a player feels comfortable, we’re failing the group. We are. We’ve not got those players anyway.

"I don’t think people are comfortable, just by their nature, but if you want to keep ambition growing as a group then you’ve got to keep the ambition within the individual." While Casey has started three games for Ireland in the last year, the Munster scrum-half has had to contend with limited minutes in Ireland's bigger games, given Gibson-Park's importance.

The 27-year-old played six minutes off the bench against the All Blacks, and was an unused sub against Australia in the Nations Championship opener in Sydney, while he played a combined 20 minutes in three bench appearances in the Six Nations. And Farrell says Casey has earned his chance to impress.

"Craig deserves to play in a big game at the start of the season, to have the responsibility to be in charge of the week and how they go about that and take responsibility for how we play on Friday. "We need him to be able to have the opportunity to do that. Plus he’s been playing pretty well himself.

"He knows the competition is there but he’s got the shirt so it’s up to him and his team-mates to make a good first impression," he added. Timoney's (above) role in the Ireland squad has grown considerably in the last year. The Ulster back row won just four Ireland caps between the summer of 2021 and 2025, but will feature for the 11th time in 12 games.

"Certainly last year he [Timoney] grabbed hold – finally – of the understanding of what he can bring and what international rugby is all about. We saw a consistency within that. "He brings a lot not just to our game but in different positions as well.

Look at our 23, and you’ll see a decent bench as well – James Ryan coming on and Bundee Aki and all of that. "Nick gets to wear the seven jersey for the first game and I’m sure Josh will have something to do with that in the coming weeks as well," the head coach said. Ireland went through some mixed form to start the Nations Championship in the summer, with wins against Australia and Japan followed by a heavy defeat to New Zealand.

Home games against Argentina, Fiji and South Africa will lead into a finals weekend in London at the end of November, and Farrell wants to use this month as a springboard for what's to come in Australia next year. Ireland were beaten 40-21 by New Zealand last time out "It's a year that means a lot to us, so it's an exciting one because we want to grow our game and make sure that we build the right belief for what's coming in 12 months' time.

"There's no better way to start that 12-month journey with a first game of the international season against a really tough and respected opponent in Argentina. "We know that this fixture has been coming, so we met on the 31st of August and set our stall for the pre-season and for the year ahead.

"The lads have been in for eight or nine days now and we've seen certainly a step up in where they're at in a good few areas, so that tells me that they're in good form and excited for the month ahead." Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts , Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and email us at sportpodcasts@rte.ie Follow a live blog of Ireland v Argentina on Friday (8.10pm) on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app, and listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1's Sport Extra