Simon Easterby spoke to Irish Rugby TV today about the new coaching set up, the challenge for places in the backrow and day one of the Ireland training camp in Portugal.

Speaking about the new coaching set up he said,

So many parts of the game are interlinked and nothing is done in isolation and we can’t just work on the lineout, the scrum, everything has to link up and that’s the way coaching is going. What I like about this group is that we all share ideas and backing each other.

A noted back row who captained Ireland, Easterby is excited to see the new faces in the squad in his old position. The uncapped duo of Max Deegan and Caelan Doris have been named in the squad on the back of some strong performances for Leinster while Munster’s Jack O’Donoghue is also in a rich vein of form and will be hoping to add to the two caps he already has to his name.