In some respects the party was only beginning but even within an hour of the game, and even by the standards of his high achieving seven-season tenure, Ireland head coach Andy Farrell admitted that the record-breaking 42-21 away win over England amounted to “a special day”.
Outside, tens of thousands clad in green among the 81,953 were in high spirits and after a visit to the away dressingroom Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Farrell admitted he didn’t know exactly where this victory ranked in his time as Ireland head coach.
But he has rarely looked or sounded prouder after such a commanding 80-minute display by a team whose performance levels had been questioned in the loss to France and win over Italy.
“I don’t know. I suppose we’ll have a good think about that whilst we’re reminiscing later on this evening. But it’s a special day, to come here and perform like that. We’d obviously be delighted with that,” said Farrell.
“But even more so than that for us, I thought the respect that the lads show for one another out there on the field was immense. The respect that they show for the jersey and what it meant to them and the respect for the Irish people really. To learn some lessons and grow as a group, as a team, was the overriding feeling for me.”
What made Farrell additionally proud was that his team delivered such a commanding display in front of an estimated 15-20,000 Irish supporters.
“Honestly, it does. We just had the Taoiseach in the changing rooms there. We spoke as a group after that as well. It is special. It is special.
“Honestly, I said it to the lads, I didn’t care whether we won or lost today, just whether we grew as a group because we know where we want to go to. And it just so happens that to the people of Ireland winning does matter and it brings a bit of joy on everyone’s face. So, for them, I mean the crowd, the people that turned up, it was immense. I hope everyone at home is just as proud as well.”
Ireland’s head coach Andy Farrell leaves the field after the match. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho
Farrell singled out individuals more than he usually does, albeit it was hard to know where to stop given so many played exceptionally.
“I thought he [Caelan Doris] had his best game in a good while,” said Farrell when nodding to the captain beside him, who made 20 tackles as well as 11 carries for 49 metres.
“He was immense in his carry. That’s Caelan at his best. How he led from the front and got us over the gainline was outstanding, but we could 100 per cent have two minutes on every single person out there.
“Jamison [Gibson-Park], Stu McCloskey, Josh [van der Flier], Tadhg Beirne, Joe [McCarthy], it’d be cruel to leave people out
“But the growth in the team is there with the likes of Rob Baloucoune and Stu McCloskey dominating at this type of level in such a big game like that; Cian Prendergast coming on and showing that he belongs at this level; Nick Timoney coming on and doing exactly the same. The respect that they have now got from their peers is pretty solid.”
Farrell was asked specifically about Jack Crowley’s performance, after the outhalf worked seamlessly in tandem with Gibson-Park – given a standing ovation by the Irish in the crowd and a nailed-on man-of-the-match – and landed seven from nine for a 17-point haul.
“Well, he was one of many who was very impressive in how they got over themselves. We felt there was a bit of heavy legs or whatever, getting the feedback from the Paris game and that’s all because we’re not fully in and fully committed and going for the game and being free in your own mind.
“We’ve done a bit of work over the last couple of weeks to do that. We had a good discussion on Wednesday there where everyone to a man being honest with how they’re going to attack the game and they stood true to their word.”
Ireland’s Caelan Doris is tackled by England’s Alex Coles tackles. Photograph: Inpho
England had responded to a third-round loss in Murrayfield two years ago by beating Ireland 23-22 next time out and Farrell referenced that painful defeat which effectively denied a historic repeat Grand Slam.
‘We got told we needed to dampen them down and rightly so because we were here two years ago when England lost to Scotland and they played outstandingly well and played some outstanding rugby on that day as well.
“So there’s a lesson to be learned there for us, but more so the lesson from Paris and us growing as a group is the key,” he added with regard to the 36-14 defeat on opening night in the Stade de France.
“It’s about doing the things that you promised each other that you were going to do and be free, get out of your own way and just let go and play the game that’s in front of you and have no distractions. We did that and what that accumulated to was some fantastic rugby in broken field stuff.
“We got them on the break, made line breaks from deep in our own half and ground it out as well on their line,” said Farrell, who singled out McCloskey chasing back Marcus Smith in the 73rd minute, which had the Irish coach jumping up from his seat and punching the air at the time.
If it doesn’t break you it can make goes the saying, and evidently that disappointing opening night against France at least in part fuelled this display, admitted Doris.
“I spoke to you guys yesterday about Paris being a reference point where hopefully we’ll see a pretty steep incline in performances. I think this will now be a reference point that we look back on as a proper good performance that’s given us a lot of belief,” said Doris.
“I’ve also mentioned to you guys that at the core of what we’re doing in training, in camp, there has been belief still, and I think you saw some of that through how we played today.
“But yeah, it was just an unbelievable atmosphere out there. You talk about inspiring the nation and getting the Irish people behind us and hopefully that brought both the people here and at home a bit of joy today. We definitely enjoyed it.”