'You're being cruel': Andy Farrell treads carefully on 'special' day

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has said it is “cruel” not to single out every Ireland player following their resounding 42-21 win over England at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium in round three of the Guinness Six Nations.

England were comprehensively dominated at home for the first time in a long time, with almost every Irish player outperforming their counterpart.

Farrell pinpointed his captain Caelan Doris after a “special” day, saying he had “his best game in a good while” in a display where he made a match-leading 20 tackles and produced a crucial break early in the second half to extend Ireland’s lead.

The British and Irish Lions boss continued to reel off players who impressed him, before saying that he could spend two minutes talking about each player on the field, saying it is “cruel” to leave anyone out.

The performance came after an opening two rounds of the Championship where Ireland had not hit their straps, leading the team to have a “good discussion” in the week.

“I thought he had his best game in a good while,” Farrell said of his captain. “He was immense in his carrying. That’s Caelan at his best. How we led from the front and got us over the gain line was always outstanding. But we could 100 per cent have two minutes on every single person out there. Jamison [Gibson-Park], Stu McCloskey, Josh [van der Flier], Tadhg Beirne, Joe McCarthy.

“You’re being cruel to leave people out, but the growth in the team is with the likes of Rob Baloucoune. Stu McCloskey, dominating at this type of level in such a big game like that. Cian Prendergast coming on and showing that he belongs at this level. Nick Timoney coming on and doing exactly the same with respect that they have now got from the peers is pretty solid.

“We felt there was a bit of heavy legs or whatever getting the feedback from the Paris game, and that’s all because we’re not fully in and fully committed and going for the game and being free in your own mind. We’ve done a bit of work over the last couple of weeks to do with that. We had a good discussion on Wednesday where everyone, to a man, was being honest with how they’re going to attack the game, and they stuck true to the word.

“It is special. It is special. Honestly, 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.”

One negative for Ireland was the first-half injury to winger James Lowe, with Farrell saying: “It didn’t look too good, but it is what it is.”