Farrell: It gets tougher from here

Dublin – Ireland head coach Andy Farrell (right) is not getting carried away by his side having a maximum 10 points after impressive Six Nations wins over France and Italy saying “it gets tougher from here on in”.

Farrell was speaking after Ireland, showing six changes from the one that brushed aside France 38-17, eased to an embarrassingly one-sided 36-0 victory over Italy at Lansdowne Road.

It was the first time they had prevented an opponent from scoring in the northern hemisphere rugby championship since beating England 17-0 in the then Five Nations in 1987.

However, any talk about becoming the first team to win successive Six Nations Grand Slams means little to Farrell with home matches against Wales and Scotland to come.

In between those is a trip to Twickenham to play England, who also have Grand Slam aspirations having beaten Italy and Wales.

“Obviously with two from two and maximum points etc, 36-0 is a nice scoreline for us,” Farrell told reporters. “It’s a decent start but it gets tougher from here on in.”

Farrell – who will sit out next year’s Six Nations as he has been named head coach of the British & Irish Lions for the tour of Australia – said parts of the performance had been “clunky and patchy”.

“Sometimes you get a little bit too desperate instead of just boxing away with the stuff that we were doing and doing so well,” said the 48-year-old Englishman.

“But the pleasing thing, and it’s pleasing for quite some time now, is we’re able to get over those type of setbacks and get on with the job at hand.”

For Caelan Doris captaining his country for the first time sparked more pre-match “nerves than usual” but added it had been a special day to be at the helm of the Irish side.

The outstanding back row forward said the Irish had gone off the boil for “20-30 minutes” but overall he was pretty happy.

“They’ve got threats throughout so I don’t think it’s a mean feat keeping them to zero and we’re happy with that, definitely,” said the 25-year-old. –