Andy Farrell: 'Ireland ready for everything Twickenham can throw at them'

Head coach Andy Farrell. Pic: Ben Brady/Inpho

Andy Farrell has declared that his Ireland team is braced for anything that might come its way on Saturday as they look to claim a rare win in Twickenham and keep their slim hopes of another Six Nations title alive.

The visitors sit fifth in the table after the opening two rounds on four points. That's six points off leaders France but with Scotland, England and Italy within closer reach as the Championships passes the halfway stage.

Like those three, Ireland have won one and lost one so far but a stiff test lies in wait against an English side frustrated by last week's performance and loss to the Scots in Murrayfield but one that boasts a daunting track record in this fixture in London.

Ireland have enjoyed some great recent days at the home of rugby. They clinched a Grand Slam there on a snowy St Patrick’s Day back in 2018 and sauntered to a 32-15 win four years ago. England, though, have won eight of the last ten.

Farrell has turned to experience on this latest trip, drafting Tadhg Furlong, Tadhg Beirne, Josh van der Flier and Jamison Gibson-Park back in to his XV. All four featured in that 17-point London win four years ago. Could it be that Ireland are looking to that recent history for motivation or belief?

“We go back into the Dark Ages sometimes, we go back further than two years," said the head coach. "Last year was a pretty exciting game as well, like you would expect it to be. We're ready for anything that's going to be thrown at us because we expect England to have a reaction to that [Scotland] game.

“We know from what they've been saying emotionally, they thought they didn't get it right. I suppose [with] where they think their squad is at right now, they were obviously talking at the beginning of the tournament that they wanted to take it to the last weekend there in France.

Jamison Gibson-Park has been recalled to steady the Irish ship. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

“The Grand Slam is gone but the competition is still on for them, and we'd like to think for us as well. It all adds up to what the Six Nations should be about: different emotions week to week because of what's happened the week before and here we are at the halfway stage. We've got a cracker to look forward to.” 

The Ireland boss has made five changes in all from last week’s defeat of Italy in Dublin: the four already mentioned, plus Jack Crowley. He steps up from the bench in place of Sam Prendergast who has not travelled to England and instead gets the weekend off.

The discourse around the No.10 short has taken on a poisonous hue online. Ronan O’Gara wrote about the “toxicity” in these pages recently. Farrell himself shredded the “keyboard warriors” following the game against the Italians last weekend.

Whatever about the tone, the debate itself will go on.

Crowley made an instant impression when replacing his Leinster counterpart just shy of the hour last time out and, while he wasn’t perfect, he has done enough in comparison to an off-colour Prendergast to get his first start in six games for his country.

“The two lads probably came in to camp… They've probably been in better form. I'm not saying they were in bad form, in better form (sic), but you see during training which way that you're going to go through performance, etc. You back what you see and all of that.”

The hope is that Crowley will follow the form lines drawn by James Lowe, who was exceptional against Italy after missing out in France, and James Ryan, who followed a similar curve after starting on the bench on opening night in Paris.

“That's because people are able to just sit back a little bit and make sure they make sense of it all and get over themselves and rip into the performance. I think you saw that in Jack's performance last week.” Ciaran Frawley’s greater versatility made him a better option on the bench once Prendergast was second-best in the race for No.10, but Farrell has earned a reputation as a leader with a rare degree of emotional intelligence. That’s clearly a factor here too.

Whatever the arguments for Crowley or for Prendergast, the Munster man is two years older and he has more than twice the caps (32). His selection is fully in tune with the reliance on greater experience shown elsewhere in the ranks.

All that makes sense going to Twickenham.

“Sam's a fantastic international player. He's on a journey that's obviously learning like all of us. That would never stop. It's the same for Ciaran [Frawley] and for Harry [Byrne].

“We've talked all along about the four lads competing against one another and the balance is right for this team this weekend.”