'He should definitely be in the running for player of the tournament'

Andy Farrell hailed Ireland’s “ruthless edge” and said he was “proud as punch” after watching his side claim a fourth Triple Crown in five years with a 43-21 win over Scotland in Dublin.

The result kept Ireland alive in the Guinness Six Nations title race, with their fate resting on England beating France in Paris. But regardless of how the championship plays out, Farrell was unequivocal about the value of his team’s performance and their development over the past two months.

Reflecting on a campaign that began with a damaging defeat in France, Farrell said: “Absolutely, proud as punch of everyone involved.

“It’s been a hell of an eight weeks and winning matters, but what’s happened over that eight weeks matters more to us in a sense that there’s a lot of firsts with the first caps, first Six Nations, first taking it to the final week when it matters for quite a few people in our group.

“How the group have come together and navigated their way through that has been pretty special, so therefore we grow massively because of it and the group has become more resilient because of that.

“We could talk here all night about the group and what this last eight weeks has meant to us, but unbelievably proud is the word.”

Ireland flew out of the gates at the Aviva Stadium, with Jamie Osborne continuing his remarkable try-scoring streak before Dan Sheehan, Robert Baloucoune, Darragh Murray and Tommy O’Brien (twice) crossed in a helter-skelter contest.

Despite Scotland twice drawing within five points in the second half, the hosts held firm and pulled clear late.

For Farrell, it was the way his side responded to Scotland’s sustained pressure that made the win particularly satisfying.

“Well, that’s why it (the result) was so pleasing, they [Scotland] played bloody well, you know?

“They did, they kept banging the door down, the whole time, but I thought we had a ruthless edge to us in how we defended and converted in the 22, I suppose that was the story of the game really.”

Farrell praised the efforts of his batch of rookie Test internationals, singling out Tom O’Toole, Michael Milne and Darragh Murray for high praise.

“Look at the lads who took the field today. It was their first tournament. Someone like Darragh Murray to come in, played his first caps in the summer, but to come in and score the try, the charge down, his lineout was great.

“Mikey Milne, to perform like he did coming on… you could go through it and talk about everyone.

“For me there’s a couple of standout stories. The Tom O’Toole thing is amazing. It’s amazing what he’s done. He should be unbelievably proud of himself because it’s a tough thing to do, but how he’s handled it and you saw the scrum today, how he stood up – a fantastic story.

“And Stu McCloskey… he should definitely be in the running for player of the tournament. For him to back it up five games on the trot is new, certainly in this format, but to perform and be consistently performing to that high level is amazing.

“It’s all because he’s playing in a squad that’s unbelievably close and connected to one another.

The Aviva crowd grew louder as the clock wound down, with ‘The Fields of Athenry’ echoing around the stadium before O’Brien streaked away for his second try to seal the bonus-point win. Farrell said bringing the supporters with them was a key part of Ireland’s identity.

“It’s our responsibility to make sure that that happens, that we bring the crowd into the game.

“I don’t think we’ve heard the crowd like that for some time here and that’s what we’re chasing, to all be in it together, that’s what we’ve done in the past and hopefully people can see the signs of where we’re going in the future as well.”