THE HENE IS NIGH...

Farrell's brought deadline forward but lain's just anxious to get going

- MICHAEL SCULLY

THE die may already be cast as Ireland line up to face Samoa in Bayonne tonight.

Andy Farrell’s decision to bring forward his World Cup squad announcement, from 1.30pm on Monday to 4.30pm tomorrow, suggests the work is done.

Farrell being Farrell, he knows that the potential for a fly in the ointment still exists and he will embrace Plan B or Plan C if that happens.

Certainly, the challenge posed by a physical Samoa team in a final warm-up in the south west of France throws up the potential of injuries, though presumably nothing on the scale of the infamous Battle of Bayonne that occurred on Eddie O’Sullivan’s watch before the ill-fated 2007 World Cup campaign.

That was also in France but as star-studded as O’Sullivan’s squad was back then, Farrell’s squad is layered with a depth of quality that the class of ‘07 didn’t have.

Iain Henderson, who skippers a much-changed side tonight, acknowledges that the plan is to go deeper in the tournament than Ireland have ever gone.

“Obviously, like, when we were repping right from day one of pre-season, that’s what the squad gathered together to do, to go and participate and do the best that we can do,” said the Ulster second row.