Farrell: They’re Unbelievably Close And Connected To Each Other

Head coach Andy Farrell had plenty of players to pick out for their key contributions after Ireland secured the Triple Crown and a second place finish at the end of a captivating Guinness Men’s Six Nations.

Three tries in each half, coupled with a 13-point kicking haul from Jack Crowley, saw Ireland close out the 2026 Championship on a high. Indeed, they had one hand on the Six Nations trophy until Thomas Ramos’ last-gasp penalty for France against England.

Farrell’s side may have come up short in the title race, with France becoming back-to-back champions in dramatic circumstances, but how they reacted to that losing start in Paris, stringing together four wins while blooding emerging players, has left them with a rewarding spring renewal.

Silverware was won in the form of a fourth Triple Crown in five years, 35 players were used, there were three new caps and eleven Six Nations debutants in total, and a record away win over England (42-21) and a joint-largest winning margin at home to Scotland (43-21).

The seven-try performance against the Scots stirred memories of the power and panache of Twickenham from just over three weeks ago. To rise to the occasion on ‘Super Saturday’ with five Six Nations newcomers in the matchday squad was particularly satisfying.

“You look at the lads who took the field today and it was their first tournaments,” said Farrell, speaking in the aftermath at the Aviva Stadium. “Somebody like Darragh Murray to come in, got his first caps in the summer, but to come in and score the try and charge down (a kick). His lineout was great, all of that.

“Mikey Milne, to perform like he did when he came on. You could go through it like that and talk about everyone, but for me there’s a couple of standout stories as well.

“The Tom O’Toole thing is amazing. It’s amazing what he’s done (going from tighthead to loosehead prop), he should be unbelievably proud of himself because it’s a tough thing to do. But how he’s handled it, and you saw the scrum today, how he stood up is a fantastic story.

“Then obviously Stu McCloskey, he should definitely be in the running for the player of the tournament. But for him to back it up five games on the trot is new, certainly in this format.

“To perform and be consistently performing to that higher level is amazing, and it is all because he’s playing in a squad that’s unbelievably close and connected to one another.”

Ireland’s back-line was missing some big names for the full tournament or parts of it. Injury ruled out both Hugo Keenan and Mack Hansen for its entirety, Bundee Aki was suspended for the first three rounds, and Robbie Henshaw only returned to fitness for the concluding stages.

Step forward McCloskey, the experienced Ulster centre who has gained widespread acclaim for what he has done in the green jersey these last few weeks. He played all 400 minutes of Ireland’s campaign, providing some eye-catching assists and highlights in both defence and attack.

The Bangor native was the team’s top ball carrier (74), supplied six try assists – a figure only matched by France’s Matthieu Jalibert – and was a Championship leader for turnovers won (8) and dominant contact (18), and also in the top five for defenders beaten (20), post-contact metres (105), and offloads (8).

The newly-formed back-three of Jamie Osborne, Robert Baloucoune, and Tommy O’Brien were all beneficiaries of McCloskey’s playmaking and distribution skills, with the trio – two of whom made their Six Nations debuts – running in 10 tries between them.

Farrell gave a special mention to Osborne, who came in cold following his recovery from a serious shoulder injury but quickly hit the ground running in the pivotal full-back position, maning that Ireland did not miss a player of Keenan’s calibre as much as they could have.

“Jamie came back into the squad (after his injury), and it was amazing because we got all the lads with under 10 caps to stand up and Jamie stood up at the start of the tournament.

“You think he’s an experienced bloke but he’s not at this level. You would think. He played no rugby. He had a shoulder injury in the early part of the season, and played no rugby at all.

“He’s playing in a position that he’s played for us before but only once or twice, and he’s played every game there and shone like a light.

“Then you look at, say, Tommy O’Brien, first Six Nations. Rob Baloucoune, at 28, he gets the best newcomer award. We’ve seen some amazing finishes and we saw another one (from him) today.

“I think it’s pretty similar to Stu. I mean, to be given his start to deliver and go on to the next one and on to the next one and be consistently good, it’s pretty hard to do at this level when it is something that’s new to you.

“Rob has grown massively in confidence. We’ve seen that daily in camp. It’s what you do with that now, isn’t it, when you go out of camp and how you progress over the next coming months and see what we can do in the summer.

“But you could go through the squad like that and pick them out as I’m sure you all will. The story of this Six Nations has been a powerful one for us, certainly internally anyway.”

The Wigan man had similar praise for out-half Crowley who landed six of his seven place-kicks against Scotland, made an early line break and landed all bar one of his 12 tackles.

“I thought Jack was outstanding today. The obvious word is he committed to his performance in every aspect. It wasn’t just the goal-kicking or the ball in the air, but you can see he committed to every aspect of his game and led the team really well.”

Another player with a big impact over the last few rounds was captain Caelan Doris. He spoke after the hard-fought home win over Wales about the last week of the Six Nations being one which Ireland have not ‘typically done our best in’.

The collective determination to finish on the strongest possible footing was obvious from Doris’ play, as the number 8 made a team-high 16 carries, beat five Scottish defenders, and racked up 18 successful tackles in a dynamic player-of-the-match display.

“I thought Caelan had one of his best games that he’s played in his career, bar the penalty, or two penalties, that he gave away! First and foremost, you lead by your actions if you’re a proper leader.

“When you’ve got your captain getting over the gainline time and time again, and the work ethic, the work-rate that he had throughout was immense, it’s very easy to follow, that’s for sure,” added Farrell.