England’s win over Ireland a ‘confidence boost’ for Wales clash says Saracens’ Farrell
England's Maro Itoje during the Guinness Six Nations match at Twickenham Stadium, London. - Credit: PA
Saracens’ Owen Farrell believes England’s win over Ireland on Sunday was the perfect confidence booster ahead of their penultimate Guinness Six Nations clash with Wales on March 7, writes Ziad Chaudry.
Ireland's Jacob Stockdale (right) gets away from England's Courtney Lawes during the Guinness Six Nations match at Twickenham Stadium, London. - Credit: PA
Eddie Jones' men kept their title hopes well and truly alive following a hard grafting 24-12 success over a battered Ireland, who are now coached by Andy Farrell, at Twickenham.
And it was two moments of bizarre defensive errors near the dead-ball line by the visitors in the first half which allowed George Ford and Saracens' Elliot Daly to score identical tries.
The Irish, despite being under the cosh, to their credit rallied back, before Luke Cowan-Dickie kept the scoreline to a commanding level.
"I thought it was very constant through that 40 minutes," said England captain Farrell, who scored nine points through kicks.
England's George Ford (centre) celebrates scoring his side's first try of the game during the Guinness Six Nations match at Twickenham Stadium, London. - Credit: PA
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"That shows in the way we prepare and that gives us the confidence to play like that and it was brilliant to be back at Twickenham."
And Farrell, who also played alongside fellow Sarries colleagues Daly, Jamie George, Maro Itoje, George Kruis and Ben Earl, admits he cannot wait to return to Rugby HQ and hopefully give the homes fans another Six Nations victory against the Welsh, who incidentally went down 27-23 against table topping France on Saturday, next weekend.
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"It's massively exciting," added Farrell. "We feel like we've built again going into this week and feel like we've put a good performance in like today, but there's a lot left in us and that's the exciting bit."
Coach Jones was pretty impressed with the way Camden-born second-row Itoje played his part in the victory.
"He wants to take up as a leader for the team within the team," said Jones about Itoje.
"You do that by influencing better performances by the other players and he led the way. I thought him and Courtney Lawes were particularly outstanding."
