KEITH WOOD believes Simon Easterby has “overcome anti-English bias” to succeed with Ireland.
Easterby is in situ as interim Ireland head coach in the absence of Andy Farrell, who is on secondment with the Lions for the summer tour of Australia.
And his tenure could not be going much better, with Ireland facing France in the Six Nations on Saturday with their Grand Slam dreams very much still on.
And speaking to Sling, former Ireland hooker Keith Wood said he is starting to get the credit he deserves.
The 2001 World Rugby Player of the Year said: “It is great to see Simon Easterby coming out from the shadows.
“He has worked incredibly hard. He has delivered for a long time for Ireland, both as a player and as a coach.
“He is now beginning to get more of the credit for what he brings to the table.”
Ireland already have wins over England, Scotland, and Wales – with the win over the latter bagging a 14th Triple Crown.
But Wood insisted the focus has to be on France and not anything beyond that game.
He added: “It would be a huge achievement to win a Grand Slam. But it’s a huge achievement to talk about after the fact, not before the fact.
“I’m always wary about having that conversation before the fact.
“Not because I think people read too much into it or not, but you never want to even have that hint of complacency to be celebrating before the final whistle.
“I haven’t been inside the tent for a long time. But what you want inside the tent is your confidence in your own ability to have a high level of performance and enough of a game plan to make that to win.
“It’s all about performance and that may not be enough sometimes and it also depends on exactly how France perform and we’ve seen so many different versions of France already in the Six Nations.”
‘ANTI-ENGLISH BIAS’
While originally from Yorkshire and having played over 100 times for the Scarlets, Easterby won 65 caps for Ireland.
He has been defence coach under Andy Farrell since 2021, having previously been forwards coach since 2014.
However, Wood revealed he was subject to anti-English bias at one stage of his career and praised him for overcoming that.
He said: “I often felt that was a bit of an anti-English bias towards the Easterby brothers, Simon and Guy, back in the late 90s, early 2000s.
“They weren’t as loved as some of the more homegrown Irish players.
“They were Yorkshiremen with an Irish mother. I often felt that was the case.
“So, from the outside Simon may not have been as loved, but from the inside he was. The players were always crazy about him.
“For me he was a very quiet leader in the team; he was a guy you could rely on all the time but actually when he spoke, he spoke with great clarity, and he played with great clarity and there was a huge consistency to how he played.
“It seems to be in his coaching he has taken the same sort of view. There’s no rubbish with him.
“He’s not talking for the sake of talking, he has the sort of brusque Yorkshire element to him which is no harm.
“He is much loved within the squad, you want to be where people want you and they don’t want him in Ireland if that makes sense!
“I also think he’s in the midst of something.
“I don’t know what Simon thinks, but I do know he’s involved in a winning side. He’s involved in a side that hasn’t finished its journey yet.
“Whether that’s something he’d like to stay the course with or not, I don’t know.
“Some people think because he’s head coach at the moment that it’s a step back to not be that when Andy Farrell comes back.
“I don’t know if that’s in his mindset yet. I think he’d like to be a head coach at some stage, but there is plenty of time to do that.
“New Zealand tend to look at guys nearly sixty years of age before they become head coach.
“They’ve built that experience; they understand the different things that they have to do and they surround themselves with different skillsets.
“We seem to be in a rush to give jobs to guys in their mid-forties. That can work sometimes, but for the most part, not.”
