“Having been brought up and schooled in England, I always knew I wanted to play for Ireland”

Patrick McCarry

The former flanker has been with Ireland since 2014.

As apprenticeships go, Simon Easterby has more than served his time. Following the November Tests run, he should be handed the keys to this highly-tuned Irish team.

With Andy Farrell confirmed as British & Irish Lions head coach for the 2025 Tour to Australia, the biggest knock-on effect will be felt on these shores. Farrell has signed on with Ireland until after the 2027 World Cup but he will step away in December 2024 to prepare for that Lions trip Down Under.

Paul O’Connell is on the Ireland coaching ticket but Easterby is the man we expect the mantle to be passed to. Ireland are No.2 in the world, right now, but face a testing Six Nations [away to France and England] and they have a two Test tour to South Africa, to face the world champion Springboks, this summer.

After that – though expect frequent contact and consultations – Farrell will pull back to focus on the Lions and Easterby will take up the reins. The 48-year-old has been with Ireland since 2014, when Joe Schmidt hired him as forwards coach. He was previously defence coach with Scarlets before being promoted to the top job at the Welsh club.

Easterby and his brother, Guy, both represented Ireland in the 2000s. In the year 2000, they were drafted straight into the Ireland squad after Warren Gatland’s side were hammered 50-18 by England, at Twickenham, in the Six Nations.

“I watched that match in a pub in Cardiff,” Easterby once recalled. “It was pretty horrific. I had played in the [Ireland] A side against England at Franklin’s Gardens, the night before, and we had got by them. Myself and Guy were in the side and had both played reasonably well. We went back to Cardiff to watch the main game. It didn’t go particularly well.”

Gatland had seen enough at Twickenham and immediately ushered in a new set of players that would go on to be Test mainstays for much of the following decade. Simon Easterby was one of five new caps, to face Scotland, with Guy on the bench, backing up the uncapped Peter Stringer. Other new caps included Leinster’s Shane Horgan and the Munster duo of Ronan O’Gara and John Hayes.

Easterby had a fine outing in the No.6 jersey but joked that he was ‘blowing a bit out of my back-end for most of the match’. Ireland beat the Scots 44-22 and the new lads were off and running.

Shane Horgan, Peter Stringer, Simon Easterby, Ronan O’Gara and John Hayes, pictured together in February 2000. (Credit: Matt Browne/SPORTSFILE)

‘That day will live long in the memory’ – Simon Easterby

Simon and Guy Easterby were born and raised in the North of England. They would play club rugby, in those early years of professional rugby, at places like Ebbw Vale, London Scottish, Rotherham and Leeds Tykes. Guy went on to be a top scrumhalf at Leinster while Simon forged his path with Scarlets. As the brothers had an English mother, they were identified as future Test players and broke through after their ‘A’ stints.

Seven years after an English rollicking saw him fast-tracked to the Ireland team, Easterby started in a back row with Denis Leamy and David Wallace when the chariot pitched up at Croke Park. Easterby, who would become a father for the first time, the day after that famous 43-13 win, described it as ‘a weekend I will never forget’.

“The build-up to that game – everything about it – was different. For myself, having been brought up in England and schooled there, I always knew I wanted to play for Ireland. I went through the Under 21s system to get there. To get a chance to play in that game – with the history of Croke Park and everything that had gone on before – and then to produce that kind of performance, it was very special. That day will live long in the memory.”

13 months after the highs of Croke Park came a defeat to England at Twickenham that marked the end of his time with Ireland. It was also the final game of Eddie O’Sullivan’s reign. Declan Kidney took over the top job and new back-rows, such as Stephen Ferris and Jamie Heaslip, were bursting though.

Easterby played on until 2010 then went into coaching. He guided Scarlets to the 2012/13 league knock-out stages but was undone by Ulster. Within a year, he had joined Joe Schmidt’s Ireland coaching set-up.

Ireland defence coach Simon Easterby, left, and Tadhg Beirne and Stuart McCloskey during a squad training session at the 2023 World Cup. (Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile)

‘Don’t get on the wrong side of him’

Back in 2007, Simon Easterby lamented that Ireland did not often get the respect of southern hemisphere giants as ‘we have not beaten them near enough’. As forwards coach, Ireland have put it up to the best in the world – defeating South Africa, Australia and New Zealand on their home turf and on summer tours.

Former Scarlets and Wales captain Ken Owens played with Easterby and was then coached by hi. “Quite a quiet bloke, softly spoken, but you don’t want to get on the wrong side of him either,” he reflected. “That’s how he was as a player. He was never known for his flair or skill, but he’d be the guy making 30 tackles a game, or 40 clear outs at the ruck.”

That same work ethic transferred to his coaching, with Ireland conceding a mere 10 tries across the last two Six Nations championships.

It remains to be seen if the IRFU will bring in an additional coach – Andrew Goodman is taking over from backs coach Mike Catt after the summer tour to South Africa – but Easterby should be a steady hand at the 2025 Six Nations tiller.

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