Twickenham wounds have fully healed, insists Farrell

As miserable as Ireland’s performances were against England in 2019, Andy Farrell insisted there would be no lingering scar tissue from those heavy defeats when his side runs out at Twickenham on Sunday.

Of the matchday squad of 23 the Ireland head coach named yesterday for the 2020 Guinness Six Nations third-round showdown at the old cabbage patch, all but two of the players played a part in one or both of those hidings, a humbling 32-20 home defeat in last year’s championship opener and a 57-15 World Cup warm-up humiliation in the sweltering London heat last August 24.