'Faz is an incredible coach, an incredible motivator' - O'Toole steps up at loosehead
TOM O’TOOLE WAS brought in to speak to the media shortly after Ireland had lifted the Triple Crown trophy, entering a room Andy Farrell had not long vacated. During his own post-match press duties, Farrell had spoke glowingly about the Ulster tighthead who did done a fine job filling in at loosehead across the Six Nations.
“The Tom O’Toole thing is amazing,” Farrell said.
“It’s amazing what he’s done, he should be unbelievably proud of himself because it’s a tough thing to do, but how he’s handled it, and you saw the scrum today, how he stood up is a fantastic story.”
O’Toole himself then tried sum up his feelings after a Triple Crown win in which he played a central role.
“Still kind of just taking it all in at the moment, still processing it,” O’Toole said.
“It’s been a crazy few weeks, training in Portugal and then not involved in the France game and then playing off the bench a couple of times, then unfortunately Jeremy (Loughman) picks up a knock and I have been given an opportunity the last couple of weeks.
“So, I don’t know, I guess sitting here, just extremely privileged and honoured to be part of this group. It’s a special day and I just really want to enjoy the moment.”
O’Toole and Farrell could be seen in conversation on the pitch following the game, the Ireland boss congratulating the 27-year-old on a job well done.
“Faz is an incredible coach. He’s an incredible motivator. He spoke to me a few times throughout this campaign, one-on-one. And there’s an expectation when you put on a green jersey and when you play for Ireland that you have to perform. So I just try not to give myself any excuses.
I just did my utmost to play for this team and then to play for the coaches because they create an unbelievable environment that you want to perform, and you have to perform.”
O’Toole signed off with another strong showing against Scotland, helping to set the tone by forcing a scrum penalty which eventually led to Ireland pouncing for an early try through Jamie Osborne.
“I guess early on in the game, the last few weeks, I just wanted to approach that piece with a mindset to attack it, not try and feel my way into it, have real no regrets coming away from the game.
“So to attack it. I’m pretty blessed to have Dan (Sheehan) and Tadhg (Furlong) on the other side and have a pack nearly full of Lions. We’re pretty confident that I know if I just do my job I’ll hopefully get a result. But it’s pretty pleasing to start the game like that, to get an opportunity to get an opening try, which would put us in a good place.”
Those senior players have helped O’Toole during his recent move across the front row, stepping up with Andrew Porter, Paddy McCarthy and Jack Boyle all injured, while Cian Healy has also been available for words of advice.
“We have a pretty consistent preparation,” O’Toole explains.
O'Toole with Tadhg Beirne and Jack Conan. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
“I feel probably we’re one of the best sides in the world in regards to our preparation. This week, we really wanted to attack that and make sure that we wouldn’t miss anything or wouldn’t skim over anything. So we put a lot of detail into our preparation.
“It was short, sharp, but we wanted to put a pressure on ourselves to execute. I guess one thing I said over the last few weeks is that I got the confidence from that training week to then into the weekend. And then when I got to it, I was going against pretty experienced tightheads over the last few weeks, so I just tried not to put myself under too much pressure or think too much about that. I wanted to focus on myself and what I can do.
“I wanted to attack it from the off, and I felt like the preparation throughout the week allowed that.
“It’s been class having chats with Cian the last few weeks. And with his experience, just give me a little bit of advice. But as I touched on, with the experience that we have in the squad with Tadhg and everything like that, sitting down with him during the week, making sure that we’re going over thoroughly through our sessions and making any fix-ups.
“We had a couple of fix-ups throughout the week, but I was pretty confident that I could bring that down into the weekend. So it was pleasing when we brought those fix-ups in.”
It all feeds into the sense that this squad is moving in the right direction.
“It’s an incredible unit that we have, an incredible squad. There are some players that have missed out due to injury, and when they come back in and we have a fully fit squad it’s hopefully going to be unbelievable what we can achieve.
“It’s been a great campaign for guys getting opportunities, such as myself, to really perform within the squad and build that depth and build that character.”
