EITHER ANDY FARRELL had gotten stuck into the John Wayne collection in his spare hours in camp these past weeks, or he simply felt no need to put too much flowery language in his views.
‘True grit’ was the phrase he kept returning to after Ireland had kept a vibrant Scottish side try-less after being forced to play the majority of the game in their own half despite leading through most of the match.
Gregor Townsend side, embattled as they were after the Finn Russell debacle, were innovative and energetic in attack. Yet aside from Stuart Hogg’s howler of a spill in the second half, Ireland managed to thwart them.
“It was a good Test match. It was a tough old Test match,” said Farrell after seeing his side come off the wrong side of an 18-27 dominant tackle count.
“First up it was very attritional. Scotland’s forwards were excellent, they were hitting hard
“We know what a threat they can be with ball in hand and we had to fight and dig deep plenty of times.”
Before today’s curtain-raiser to his tenure as a head coach, Farrell was reluctant to lay out grand plans for his side. Instead, saying his team would ‘stand for something’ and he repeated that sentiment after they stood their ground to chisel out a win.
“We asked the guys to stand for something. I think you can easily see that true grit, especially in the tight-five.”
And the words came back to the tip of his tongue when speaking about the attacking exploits of his side.
“Some glimpses. Some of the decision making was good, some was a bit wayward. Those type of things are going to be a work in progress.
We asked the boys to stand for something and it was true Irish grit out there. The rest of it, we’ll keep building on.
“I thought we didn’t have much field position, but when we got into the 22 it was a little more dynamic and it was flowing a bit better. Second half, when we got in the 22 and they gave the penalty away we made good yards.”
No forward made more yards than man of the match CJ Stander. The Munster man’s move to blindside was brief due to Caelan Doris’ early concussion, but he excelled in his 75 minutes at number 8 while racking up 73 metres in 17 carries.
“His performance epitomised what all the scrum was doing for each other,” said the head coach of Stander who achieved the most dominant tackles of any Irish player and came in behind only James Ryan for completed tackles.
True grit, grim determination, bloody-mindedness. Call it what you will, it was enough to bring Ireland to a winning start in the Six Nations today.
