Irish ignore abuse as they seek to seal another title
Andy Farrell says Ireland have “battened down the hatches” in their quest to retain the Six Nations title after some players received online abuse in the wake of their last-gasp loss to England.
Ireland’s pursuit of successive Grand Slams ended following Marcus Smith’s dramatic drop goal in last weekend’s 23-22 defeat at Twickenham.
Members of Farrell’s squad, including veteran scrum-half Conor Murray, were subsequently targeted on social media for their performances in London.
Farrell last year branded the “circus” surrounding his son Owen “absolutely disgusting” before the England captain decided to take a break from international rugby to prioritise his mental health.
The Ireland head coach, whose side host Scotland in a championship title decider tomorrow, seemed resigned to players having to deal with online hate but hoped that the situation would change.
“That’s been the way of the world for some time now, hasn’t it, really, in regards to social media?” he said. “We’ve battened down the hatches as far as our concentration on what we need to do to improve our performance and make sure that we’re the best of ourselves.
“And come Tuesday afternoon after the training session and a big session on Wednesday as well, it seems to be that the focus is right where it should be.”
Murray was vilified for kicking away possession in the closing minutes as Ireland attempted to protect a 22-20 lead, while captain Peter O’Mahony was criticised following a second-half yellow card.
Former Ireland international Andrew Conway described the negativity and disrespect aimed at players following his country’s second defeat in 22 games as “staggering”.
“It’s one loss and the bounce of a ball, an interpretation here and there,” said Farrell.
“But that’s the way of the world, you’ve got to roll with the punches as far as that’s concerned because we’ve all talked about it, we’ve all discussed it at length, certainly in this room [referring to Owen Farrell].
“It’s not for changing any time soon. Hopefully it will do though.”
Farrell has named an unchanged starting XV to face the Scots, including retaining Calvin Nash on the right wing. The 26-year-old Munster player was forced off with a head injury inside five minutes against England following a heavy collision with Tommy Freeman.
Farrell said he trusted the medical experts as he moved to allay fears about the selection of Nash.
“If you’re in the inner circle and you understand the process that these players have to go through now, you would thoroughly back that process,” he said.
“One, he has gone through it with flying colours and he never looked like failing for one second. And two, the process is very sound.
“He passed the three stages. He trained fully without doing contact
We’ve battened down the hatches as far as our concentration on what we need to do to improve
within the session, but had to do contact after the session.
“He passed that with flying colours. He had to see an independent doctor – if it’s a seven-day turnaround, you have to do that – and he passed that with flying colours as well. You trust the experts on this.”
Farrell has made two alterations on his bench, scrapping the six-two split of forwards and backs by selecting centre Garry Ringrose ahead of lock Iain Henderson, while Ciaran Frawley, who is unavailable due to a head knock, is replaced by fly-half Harry Byrne.