LATE TONIGHT, IF the unexpected comes to pass in Paris, Ireland will make their way back to the Aviva Stadium to lift the Six Nations trophy.
For now all of that can wait. A championship that started with a humbling defeat to France ends with Ireland celebrating a Triple Crown after winning four games on the bounce, today’s dominant demolition of Scotland sitting alongside the comprehensive win in Twickenham earlier in the tournament, which arrived either side of closer contests with Italy and Wales.
That’s a good return by any measure.
“Proud as punch of everyone involved,” said Ireland head coach Andy Farrell.
“It’s been a hell of an eight weeks and winning matters, but what’s happened over that eight weeks matters more to us in a sense that there’s a lot of firsts with the first caps, first Six Nations, first taking it to the final week when it matters for quite a few people in our group.
“How the group have come together and navigated their way through that has been pretty special, so therefore we grow massively because of it and the group has become more resilient because of that.”
That’s perhaps the most impressive aspect of all of this. Over the course of this championship Ireland have had to plan without the services of Hugo Keenan, Mack Hansen, Andrew Porter, Paddy McCarthy, Jack Boyle and Ryan Baird, to name only a handful.
Tommy O'Brien celebrates with Ciarán Frawley, Craig Casey and Rónan Kelleher after scoring Ireland's sixth try. Nick Elliott / INPHO
Nick Elliott / INPHO / INPHO
“I mean you look at the lads who took the field today and it was their first tournaments. I mean somebody like Darragh Murray to come in, played his first caps in the summer, but to come in and score the try and charge down (a kick), his lineout was great, all of that.
“Mikey Milne, to perform like he did and come on, you could go through it like that and talk about everyone, but for me there’s a couple of standout stories as well.
Advertisement
“The Tom O’Toole thing is amazing. It’s amazing what he’s done, he should be unbelievably proud of himself because it’s a tough thing to do, but how he’s handled it, and you saw the scrum today, how he stood up is a fantastic story.
And then obviously Stu McCloskey. He should definitely be in the running for player of the tournament.
“But for him to back it up five games on the trot is new, certainly in this format, but to perform and be consistently performing to that higher level is amazing, and it’s all because he’s playing in a squad that’s unbelievably close and connected to one another.”
Farrell then moved on to praise his captain, Caelan Doris, who was sat beside him in the Aviva Stadium press room.
“I thought Caelan had one of his best games that he’s played in his career, never mind over the last (while), barring the penalty that he give away.
“Two”, Doris interjected.
“Two penalties, yeah,” Farrell continued. “So again, we could talk here all night about the group and what this last eight weeks has meant to us, but unbelievably proud is the word.”
The Ireland boss was asked to expand on his comments on Doris.
“Well first and foremost, you lead by your actions if you’re a proper leader, then you can say whatever you want, but if you can’t back it up… When you’ve got your captain getting over the gainline time and time again, and the work ethic, the work rate he had throughout was immense, and it’s very easy to follow, that’s for sure.”
Farrell also praised the performance of out-half Jack Crowley, who led the attack with confidence and kicked a penalty alongside four of his five conversions.
“I thought he was outstanding today. I mean, the obvious word is he committed to his performance in every aspect. It wasn’t just the goal-kicking or the ball in the air, but you can see that he committed to every aspect of his game and led the team really well.”
Ireland can now sit back and watch events unfold in Paris, becoming England supporters for the night.
Related Reads
Watch: All the highlights as Ireland defend Triple Crown and strengthen Six Nations tilt
Ireland rise to the occasion on another stunning Six Nations Saturday
Ireland have glorious and agonising memories of Super Saturday
“It’s unique as an Irishman to be cheering them on, but we certainly will be tonight,” Doris said.
“(We have) The usual function upstairs, enjoy a few beers, enjoy the Triple Crown.
“Like it’s special, we reflected on that during the week and how until the last 15 years or so that it’s not a commonly done thing here. So we’ll enjoy that for what it is and obviously be watching on keenly later too.”
Whatever happens tonight, today’s performance was a highly encouraging end to another Six Nations campaign.
“We talked during the week about the next 18 months and how we’re going to map it out and what we’re trying to chase down,” Farrell said.
“There’s a lot of firsts that can happen, how difficult that road is going to be, etc. But the thing is making sure that you grow the squad to be able to do that and therefore grow the belief on the back of it.
“With the injuries coming back and seeing them compete, some of them won’t be back for that (summer) tour, some of them are out for the season, but with the injuries coming back and seeing the rest of the lads, who now 100% believe that this is their team and they’re able to deliver for their team at this type of level, it’s only going to make us stronger as a squad to tackle all those circumstances.”
A strong Ireland performance was roared on by a noisy home support.
“I don’t think we’ve heard the crowd like that for some time here and that’s what we’re chasing, to all be in it together, that’s what we’ve done in the past and hopefully people can see the signs of where we’re going in the future as well.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
10 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Farrell 'unbelievably proud' of his players after a Six Nations full of firsts
LATE TONIGHT, IF the unexpected comes to pass in Paris, Ireland will make their way back to the Aviva Stadium to lift the Six Nations trophy.
For now all of that can wait. A championship that started with a humbling defeat to France ends with Ireland celebrating a Triple Crown after winning four games on the bounce, today’s dominant demolition of Scotland sitting alongside the comprehensive win in Twickenham earlier in the tournament, which arrived either side of closer contests with Italy and Wales.
That’s a good return by any measure.
“Proud as punch of everyone involved,” said Ireland head coach Andy Farrell.
“It’s been a hell of an eight weeks and winning matters, but what’s happened over that eight weeks matters more to us in a sense that there’s a lot of firsts with the first caps, first Six Nations, first taking it to the final week when it matters for quite a few people in our group.
“How the group have come together and navigated their way through that has been pretty special, so therefore we grow massively because of it and the group has become more resilient because of that.”
That’s perhaps the most impressive aspect of all of this. Over the course of this championship Ireland have had to plan without the services of Hugo Keenan, Mack Hansen, Andrew Porter, Paddy McCarthy, Jack Boyle and Ryan Baird, to name only a handful.
“I mean you look at the lads who took the field today and it was their first tournaments. I mean somebody like Darragh Murray to come in, played his first caps in the summer, but to come in and score the try and charge down (a kick), his lineout was great, all of that.
“Mikey Milne, to perform like he did and come on, you could go through it like that and talk about everyone, but for me there’s a couple of standout stories as well.
“The Tom O’Toole thing is amazing. It’s amazing what he’s done, he should be unbelievably proud of himself because it’s a tough thing to do, but how he’s handled it, and you saw the scrum today, how he stood up is a fantastic story.
“But for him to back it up five games on the trot is new, certainly in this format, but to perform and be consistently performing to that higher level is amazing, and it’s all because he’s playing in a squad that’s unbelievably close and connected to one another.”
Farrell then moved on to praise his captain, Caelan Doris, who was sat beside him in the Aviva Stadium press room.
“I thought Caelan had one of his best games that he’s played in his career, never mind over the last (while), barring the penalty that he give away.
“Two”, Doris interjected.
“Two penalties, yeah,” Farrell continued. “So again, we could talk here all night about the group and what this last eight weeks has meant to us, but unbelievably proud is the word.”
The Ireland boss was asked to expand on his comments on Doris.
“Well first and foremost, you lead by your actions if you’re a proper leader, then you can say whatever you want, but if you can’t back it up… When you’ve got your captain getting over the gainline time and time again, and the work ethic, the work rate he had throughout was immense, and it’s very easy to follow, that’s for sure.”
Farrell also praised the performance of out-half Jack Crowley, who led the attack with confidence and kicked a penalty alongside four of his five conversions.
“I thought he was outstanding today. I mean, the obvious word is he committed to his performance in every aspect. It wasn’t just the goal-kicking or the ball in the air, but you can see that he committed to every aspect of his game and led the team really well.”
Ireland can now sit back and watch events unfold in Paris, becoming England supporters for the night.
“It’s unique as an Irishman to be cheering them on, but we certainly will be tonight,” Doris said.
“(We have) The usual function upstairs, enjoy a few beers, enjoy the Triple Crown.
“Like it’s special, we reflected on that during the week and how until the last 15 years or so that it’s not a commonly done thing here. So we’ll enjoy that for what it is and obviously be watching on keenly later too.”
Whatever happens tonight, today’s performance was a highly encouraging end to another Six Nations campaign.
“We talked during the week about the next 18 months and how we’re going to map it out and what we’re trying to chase down,” Farrell said.
“There’s a lot of firsts that can happen, how difficult that road is going to be, etc. But the thing is making sure that you grow the squad to be able to do that and therefore grow the belief on the back of it.
“With the injuries coming back and seeing them compete, some of them won’t be back for that (summer) tour, some of them are out for the season, but with the injuries coming back and seeing the rest of the lads, who now 100% believe that this is their team and they’re able to deliver for their team at this type of level, it’s only going to make us stronger as a squad to tackle all those circumstances.”
A strong Ireland performance was roared on by a noisy home support.
“I don’t think we’ve heard the crowd like that for some time here and that’s what we’re chasing, to all be in it together, that’s what we’ve done in the past and hopefully people can see the signs of where we’re going in the future as well.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
andy farrell Reaction Rugby Six Nations 2026