“He was always talented. He was someone they were saying was going to come through.”
For Ulster, Chris Farrell is most definitely one that got away.
Seen as an outstanding prospect when he lined out for Ireland U20s, Farrell’s breakthrough at Ulster was hampered by an ACL [knee] injury and a jammed midfield that contained the likes of Stuart McCloskey, Darren Cave, Luke Marshall and Jared Payne.
Farrell did not fancy hanging around waiting for snatches and sub appearances, so opted to continue his rugby development in the Top 14 with Grenoble. A successful stint in France was wrapped up when Joe Schmidt personally reached out to see if he fancied another crack at Ireland. He was interested, and so were Munster.
The 25-year-old has not had a sustained run at it for Munster yet but has suitably impressed in his 17 months at the club to earn the respect of his teammates and comparison with an All Blacks legend. Barry Murphy and Andrew Trimble raved about Farrell’s return [from 17:00 below] in Baz & Andrew’s House of Rugby.
“Munster are on a roll at the moment,” said Murphy. “They are scoring tries for fun.
“I do think getting Chris Farrell back on the pitch is a massive, massive bonus. He’s like the Sonny Bill Williams of the Irish rugby scene at the moment.
“His ability to move at pace, even though he’s 18-stone, his offloading, his lines of running… He created two brilliant tries and scored two brilliant tries. He’s just a weapon that Munster haven’t had in such a long time.”
Trimble called the performance from Farrell ‘very impressive’ and it certainly was. The former Ulster and Grenoble centre made 63 metres off 12 carries, which included two clean breaks and six defenders beaten. He commits defenders too and his passing is highly underrated.
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The return of Farrell, and his immediate form, opens up backline options for both Munster and Ireland.
Primarily a 13, it means Johann van Graan can use the versatile Jaco Taute and Mike Haley elsewhere across the back. For Ireland, too, it opens up the possibility of a Robbie Henshaw dropping to fullback.
That would leave Schmidt with Farrell, Garry Ringrose and Bundee Aki to choose from. One hopes Farrell can get a clear run from injuries over the next 12 months because, if he does, Ireland have a game-breaker and game-changer in their arsenal.
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