'I knew we could get a big result': Joe McCarthy savours Twickenham triumph

NO ORDINARY JOE: Joe McCarthy with his family, from left, father Joe, brother Andrew, and mother Paula. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile.

Ireland lock Joe McCarthy savoured a memorable first victory at Twickenham by reflecting on the pain the team had suffered following a heavy defeat in their Guinness Six Nations opener against France at the start of the month.

The 24-year-old roared back into form as Ireland registered a record 42-21 win over England on Saturday to banish the demons of the first-round 36-14 loss at Stade de France and he acknowledged that Paris setback could left deep wounds.

“Yeah, definitely been a positive,” McCarthy said of the third-round victory.

“It's a tough week after those games when you lose by a good bit. You're really digging deep into what went wrong and you're having the tough conversations and it's quite uncomfortable to be fair after those weeks.

“But a week like this makes you realise why it's worth sticking with it and staying in the course.”

At Twickenham, Ireland had turned the tables on their form from that first night no-show when France stormed into a 29-0 lead and McCarthy and his comrades looked a spent force. Yet the abrasive second row said he had not lost faith in the team’s ability to produce a statement performance.

“It was kind of weird, that first game. I felt so good, I felt like I'd been playing really well, the training was awesome and then it didn't really come together.

“But I think Faz was quite good at staying quite level-headed and being like ‘this will stand to us’, ‘that experience is going to stand to us and the preparation we're putting in will come good, just trust it and just make sure the intent is properly there’.

“I knew that we could definitely…I was feeling really good going into the game, I knew we could get a big result.”

McCarthy’s personal standout moment was disrupting an English maul to effect a turnover in a dominant display by the Irish forwards.

“I suppose the biggest thing we were thinking was that we just needed intent and getting through it and trying to mess it up. More than most weeks it's probably hitting your slot hard.” “I bloody love mauls to be honest, they're probably my favourite part of the game. So yeah, I was happy to get a steal early in that and I feel I can be quite effective going forward in the maul.

“I love the feeling, it’s kind of like a wrestle or something, I think maybe even my Blackrock days, Seamus Toomey had us doing crazy hard maul sessions and I think that's ingrained that into me. So I love that area.” 

McCarthy was not the only energy giver in the Ireland pack and he praised the work rate of back row trio Tadhg Beirne, Josh van der Flier and captain Caelan Doris, each of whom were in double figures for tackles by half-time.

“There were just dogs out there, it felt great, they were giving loads of energy in the D-line, Caelan, Josh…. Tadhg, I think second row in my head, but they give so much energy in their chat that makes everyone else feel really good. And then they're probably some of the best guys in the world, Tadhg, Caelan and Josh for getting the ball back.

“So it's just such an energy lift when you see them getting over the ball, getting a turnover, forcing it, just such a relief for the tight five. Anyway, we were delighted to see them do that. So yeah, they were awesome. and I think what was probably especially pleasing was even though they scored before half time, it took so much out of them to score that, we knew they had to give everything there to score that and it took a lot of energy to do that so that was quite pleasing even though they did score but it made it tougher.” 

It was a performance in which the thousands of Irish supporters at Twickenham delighted in as the home contingent in the 81,956 crowd was stunned into silence.

“We heard the Fields of Athenry, it was going crazy, it was unreal, it felt like a home game for a bit of that,” McCarthy said.

“I think that was a big part we talked about, just making kind of, you want to make the people of Ireland feel really good and that's definitely something we talk about a lot (in meetings), whatever, something you talk about a lot, the difference you can make to Irish people's weeks and months and the belief it gives them looking at our team. So it's cool being able to do that.”