‘Ireland show they’re far from done with record-breaking win’

There was a moment, deep into England’s nightmare at Allianz Stadium, that summed up the ferocity and intensity that fuelled one of the great Ireland performances.

With a famous Six Nations scalp on English soil already in the bag, Ireland surrendered possession with a rare mistake. Marcus Smith intercepted Jack Crowley’s attempted pass and off he went.

England were 42-14 down, but Stuart McCloskey still wasn’t prepared to let Smith out of his sight. Even with a mountain of work already behind him, the seemingly indefatigable Ulster centre hared after the England replacement, chased him down and barrelled him into touch.

It prompted one of the loudest Irish cheers on an afternoon soundtracked by them and was highlighted by head coach Andy Farrell in his post-match remarks as evidence of the unrelenting appetite that drove Ireland to a record 42-21 win in the home of English rugby.

“Honestly, I said it to the lads, 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 to and it just so happens that to the people of Ireland winning does matter and it brings a bit of joy on everyone’s face,” said Farrell.

After being mercilessly pummelled by France a fortnight ago, Ireland arrived in south-west London and showed the rugby world they’re not quite done yet.

On Thursday, Farrell urged his players to “fire a few shots”, and they responded to end England’s nine-match winning run at home in ruthless fashion and ruin Maro Itoje’s 100th cap.

Heavily criticised for their passive, leggy display in Paris, Ireland rediscovered the defensive grit and attacking flair that propelled them to the top of the world rankings leading into the 2023 World Cup.

There were monumental performances all over the field.

Caelan Doris produced one of his best displays as captain, Crowley impressed at fly-half, Rob Baloucoune delivered crucial moments at both ends of the field, and Josh van der Flier responded emphatically to being dropped for last week’s win over Italy.

But no Irish player stood taller than Jamison Gibson-Park, who epitomised Ireland’s desire to best England on both sides of the ball with a virtuoso display at scrum-half.

The British and Irish Lion, who said he sought feedback from the coaches after being benched against Italy, scored Ireland’s first try, created the second for Baloucoune, and ended his day with a much-deserved player of the match award.

“I called it after a few of his first moments that he’d get man of the match,” legendary Irish scrum-half Conor Murray said on the Ireland Rugby Social.

Over the past 12 months, Ireland have struggled to carry the weight of expectation.

Demolished at home by France in last year’s Six Nations, double-digit losses to New Zealand and South Africa in November strengthened the argument that Farrell’s side were being ushered away from rugby’s top table.

And while they cannot definitively settle that debate until the World Cup, Saturday’s win should act as an important checkpoint on their journey to next year’s tournament in Australia.

“In the camp in the lead-up to this, I know they were offended by the criticism and everyone saying this team’s done,” added Murray, who won 125 Ireland caps in a career that yielded five Six Nations titles.

“They came out and said, ‘Lads, we’re still here, this team is still class’.”

There is still much work to be done, of course. Scotland’s dramatic late victory over Wales in the later Saturday kick-off leaves Ireland third in the table, two points behind Gregor Townsend’s side.

France, who face Italy on Sunday, are a point above Ireland. After a much-needed rest week, Ireland still need to beat Wales and Scotland at home and hope France slip up somewhere along the way.

But Farrell thought better of being sucked into any title talk in the immediate aftermath against England. For him, a continuation of the progression Ireland showed on Saturday stands above all else.

“What will be will be, we just need to move on after this,” he said.

“We have a fallow week. We’ll review the start of the competition and see how much we’ve grown.