READY FOR FARRELL’S HURTARENA
England braced for a bruising encounter with Ireland boss on revenge mission
ENGLAND are muscling up for a visit to the “hurt arena” when Andy Farrell returns to Twickenham for the first time as Ireland boss.
Five years after being sacked by incoming England head coach Eddie Jones, Farrell is back at his old stamping ground with the Irish unbeaten and joint leaders of the Six Nations.
With Mike Catt, another of the Red Rose coaching team fired by Jones, also on Ireland’s staff there is no shortage of motivation for the men in green. And Elliot Daly, coached by Farrell on the 2017 Lions tour, warned his team-mates that the father of England captain Owen would be bang up for the contest.
“He’s an emotional guy and understands really well what physical and mental state you need to be in before big Test matches,” said the Saracens wing. “You see it from speeches he’s done before games. A few on Lions tours were good.”
Farrell famously roused the Lions to close out their 2013 series against Australia by demanding his players “take them boys to the hurt arena”. The result was a record Lions win and in New Zealand four years later Farrell was at it again, delivering another impassioned speech to the Lions.
“We’re going to have to take ourselves to a place that individually we’ve not been before,” he said.
Daly and pals absorbed his words and came from behind to shock rugby and force a series draw with the world champions.
England, yet to hit their straps in this championship, will doubtless recall how the last time they played at Twickenham they put 57 points on Ireland in a World Cup warm-up and achieved a record winning margin in the fixture.
Of greater motivational use is the memory of Ireland’s most recent Six Nations visit, two years ago, when they not only beat England but sealed – and celebrated – a Grand Slam.
“That is a motivation,” confirmed prop Mako Vunipola. “We don’t forget. It wasn’t just the Grand Slam they won that day. We lost in the performance, we let ourselves down. We want to put that right.”
George Ford added that while that game might not specifically be spoken about in the run-up to Sunday’s rematch, some memories do not need to be.
“It’s a balance isn’t it,” said the fly-half. “You don’t want to look too far in the past but if it’s something you can use to get yourself to a higher level then you use it.”