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22nd November 2020
12:27pm GMT

"Of course. You see signs because some of that stuff out there is absolutely priceless for us. I heard James [Ryan] say before about the journey that we're on in comparison to England, it's a completely different side of the spectrum really. "We'll learn a lot about playing against a really good side, number two in the world, at home. We'll learn invaluable experiences from dealing with pressure basically, the pressure that they put on - whether we're going to stick to task or making decisions or go into our shells, etcetera. We'll analyse all those decisions and make sure we take some good learning from it. "But I thought the character, as you would expect from any Irish side, was second to none, especially in that second half. Some individuals became proper international players, I would have thought. There were some immense performances and from guys that would look back and be a little bit disappointed, they'll be bigger and better for the experience as well."[caption id="attachment_220619" align="aligncenter" width="2000"]
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell prior to the Autumn Nations Cup match against England at Twickenham. (Photo by Matt Impey/Sportsfile)[/caption]
The problem for Farrell is that he has not arrived in from a successful province (like Declan Kidney or Joe Schmidt before him) or from foreign climes. He was Joe Schmidt's No.2, so supporters invariably associate him with the previous incarnation of this Ireland team.
Asked if he could understand how Irish fans could be frustrated at being soundly beaten by England, yet again, Farrell commented:
"Well as I've just said the reasons why they are a brick wall is because they're a good side, their tactics of being able to slow the ball down, etcetera, is the reason for that obviously. "That England side have been together for 10 years, they've been through some massive ups and downs and it's those down times that they've learned from the most, and they've become a fabulous side over a decent period of time. And we're on a completely different journey. "As far as that second half performance and coming away with more points than they had and territory and possession, yes, of course we needed to be more clinical, but we can be proud of that, 100% we can be proud of that. So the lads will learn from this experience and look forward to the next time, the next challenge."In his post-match chat with RTE, Farrell spoke about players coming of age at international level and going from 'boys to men' at Twickenham. He only name-checked Chris Farrell (27) after that claim, but later backed those comments up and mentioned Caelan Doris (22), Hugo Keenan (24), Billy Burns (26) and Jamison Gibson-Park (28). Perhaps searching for morsels of positivity after another tough learning day for this Irish side, Farrell was asked if his men could mount a seious challenge in the 2021 Guinness Six Nations. "Yeah, of course," he replied. "You speak to those lads in the changing rooms and they're gutted that they've lost the game but they've showed tremendous spirit there and we'll just show them where the belief needs to keep coming from and we'll be fine on the way forward." We'll have whatever Andy Farrell is having.
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