Underdog status should be irrelevant – Farrell

Head coach Andy Farrell has called on Ireland to “put our stamp” and insisted their underdog status should have no bearing on Saturday’s must-win Six Nations game against England (14:10 GMT).

Having followed up a dismal defeat by France with a hard-fought victory over Italy, Ireland are aiming to deliver a statement result against an English side still hurting from last week’s Calcutta Cup loss to Scotland at Murrayfield.

Farrell has made five changes for the trip to Allianz Stadium, including Jack Crowley’s reinstatement at fly-half and the return of British and Irish Lions Jamison Gibson-Park, Tadhg Furlong, Tadhg Beirne and Josh van der Flier.

Asked if he has seen a determined mindset from his players this week, Farrell said: “Yeah, but you’ve heard talk plenty of times about ‘we’ve trained, we’ve prepared well’ and all that but you’d expect that from this Irish team because that’s the type of lads we’ve got.

“We care about preparation and all that but you’ve still got to go out there and deliver. We want to be a team that goes to places like this and fire a few shots, there’s no doubt about that.”

Seeking back-to-back Grand Slams, Ireland were favourites when they travelled to England in 2024, a game they lost 23-22 after Marcus Smith’s late drop-goal.

Despite their loss to Scotland, England are favourites for Saturday’s game as they chase a 10th successive home win, but Farrell says his side’s perceived underdog status should have no bearing on the appetite they bring to the 144th instalment of this old rivalry.

“I don’t want that to be the case at all,” he said.

“Human nature tells you that works for some people but we want to be as good as we possibly can. We want to be able to deal with being favourites or not.

“That should be irrelevant if we’re in the right frame of mind.”

Farrell will come up against several of the England players he brought on last summer’s British and Irish Lions tour to Australia, including Northampton Saints back row Henry Pollock, who starts his first game for England.

“[He’s a] bit of a free-spirit,” Farrell said of Pollock, who was the youngest player in last year’s Lions squad.