Andy Farrell: The respect the lads showed for one another, the jersey and the Irish people was immense

SPECIAL DAY: Ireland's Head Coach Andy Farrell leaves the field after the match. Pic: ©INPHO/Ben Brady.

Andy Farrell hailed a special day for Ireland after they shook off the shackles to put in their best performance in two years to hammer Guinness Six Nations rivals England 42-21 at Twickenham on Saturday.

The head coach could not conceal his delight as he rose from his seat in the Irish coaches’ box and punched the air several times during a record victory on English soil to celebrate his player’s achievements on the pitch below.

Five tries, from man of the match Jamison Gibson-Park, Rob Baloucoune, Tommy O’Brien, Dan Sheehan and Jamie Osborne, along with four conversions and three penalties from Jack Crowley were the crowning moments in Ireland’s bonus-point win as England slumped to successive defeats.

Yet there other telling moments to satisfy Farrell, not least centre Stuart McCloskey’s chasing down of Marcus Smith late on to prevent a try from the replacement full-back.

For the Ireland boss, his team’s collective efforts represented a respect within his squad, for themselves, for each other and for their supporters, both at home and the huge numbers inside Twickenham.

“It's a special day, 100 per cent, to come here and perform like that,” Farrell said. “We'd obviously be delighted with that.

“But even more so than that for us, I thought the respect that the lads showed 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.”

The Irish performance also marked a significant progression in terms of physicality and, to use Farrell’s word, intent, both of which had been lacking on the opening night of the 2026 Six Nations, when Ireland were outclassed by France in a 32-14 mauling in Paris.

The 20-13 round-two win over Italy in Dublin seven days earlier was a step in the right direction without bringing a convincing performance but Saturday’s Twickenham performance was reminiscent of Ireland’s greatest outings under Farrell in 2022 and 2023, when they swept all before them to reach the top of the world rankings.

It certainly delighted the almost 20,000 Irish supporters in the 81,952 crowd, including Taoiseach Michael Martin and Farrell said making the country proud was part of what made it a special day.

"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 that 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 captain Caelan Doris said his side’s comprehensive victory had set a new benchmark as they enter the second half of the championship following the fallow week to come after three rounds.

They have two home games remaining at Aviva Stadium, with Wales in Dublin next, on Friday, March 6, followed by Scotland eight days later and this win has done wonders for the squad’s belief, the skipper thought.

“It's big. I spoke to you guys yesterday about Paris being a reference point where hopefully we'll see a pretty steep incline in terms of performances,” Doris said.

“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.

“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.”