'Business as usual' for Ireland despite Farrell absence

Paul O'Connell says "it has been business as usual" during the first week of Ireland's Six Nations training camp as they prepare for a title defence without head coach Andy Farrell.

With Farrell having seconded to the British and Irish Lions, Simon Easterby has stepped up to lead Ireland's bid for a third straight Six Nations triumph.

Despite Farrell's absence, forwards coach O'Connell - a leading contender to join Farrell's Lions coaching ticket - says there has not been a major change to his role.

"We have a bit of a formula which we stick to, we tweak it a little bit to keep it fresh. But it's been good," said O'Connell, speaking from Ireland's training base in Portugal.

"I think in the first week you're just trying to reintroduce our way of doing things and reintroduce our language and get players comfortable with that."

The Ireland squad assembled in Dublin on Monday and travelled to the Algarve on Wednesday for their training camp ahead of their Six Nations opener against England in Dublin on 1 February.

The world's number two-ranked team go into this year's Six Nations on the back of an autumn campaign that yielded a painful loss to New Zealand and wins over Argentina, Fiji and Australia.

"We [the coaches] have been living in this game since the end of the autumn internationals, that's the challenge for us, the players have had a busy period of European games, big inter-provincial games," added O'Connell.

"Sometimes you want to come in as a coach and start working really hard straight away so we've to be a little bit aware of where they're coming from, the language they have in their heads from their provinces, and we have to drip-feed in what we're doing here.

"That's generally what the first week is for us, it's about getting back to our way of doing things, which very often isn't too dissimilar to the provinces but there are subtle differences and differences in the language.

"It's about getting the players comfortable with our way of doing it in the first week."

While England head coach Steve Borthwick has lost hooker Jamie George, scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet and back row Alex Dombrant to injury, O'Connell also reported a clean bill of health for Ireland eight days out from the Aviva Stadium encounter.

Dan Sheehan and James Lowe will feature for Leinster in Saturday's United Rugby Championship game against the Stormers before linking up with the squad in Portugal, while uncapped prop Jack Boyle (Leinster) and scrum-half Caolin Blade (Connacht) will also play for their clubs this weekend.

While the island of Ireland has been hit by Storm Éowyn over the past 24 hours, the national rugby team has enjoyed the calmer surroundings of Quinta do Lago, which has become a regular stop for the squad ahead of big campaigns in recent years.

"It's a bit of a change of scenery. When we come out here, the players definitely enjoy it," said O'Connell.

"It's a great training facility, they really enjoy the hotel. I suppose there's a bit of a feeling of 'we're in with Ireland now.'

"We're out of the country and there's this special experience because it is a great week. The training pitch out there is beautiful.

"We get to have a lot of meetings outdoors because of the weather. Generally, you stay around on the pitch a bit longer, you get to have a few more conversations with players."