Andy Farrell: Unbelievably proud of Ireland players after Six Nations win vs France | ‘Tadhg Beirne injury does not look good’ | Rugby Union News

Andy Farrell spoke of “unbelievable pride” in his Ireland players after superb Six Nations bonus-point win over France in Dublin; Farrell added Tadhg Beirne’s injury “does not look great”; Ireland skipper Johnny Sexton says win over France “not worth anything” if Ireland don’t back it up

Andy Farrell says he is ‘unbelievably proud’ of his Ireland players after victory over France

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell spoke of his “unbelievable pride” after his side’s thrilling Six Nations victory over France, but added the injury to Tadhg Beirne “does not look great.”

Hugo Keenan, James Lowe, Andrew Porter and Garry Ringrose scored tries for Ireland as they registered a 32-19 win over defending Grand Slam champions France at the Aviva Stadium in a rip-roaring Test.

“The first half was incredible wasn’t it? Wow, it was just end-to-end stuff,” Farrell said post-match in Dublin.

“It was what we all hoped it would be like, it certainly was.

“Even though I thought we controlled it field-position wise pretty well in the end, it’s not over until it’s over.

“We won a titanic game in that respect. I’m unbelievably proud of the lads and what they’ve been through in recent weeks. They dug in hard and it meant a lot to them today. They certainly showed that.

“The character more than anything [won Ireland the Test]. The want to cover each others back, the togetherness, the sprit that we know we’ve got. And to show it to everyone else in world rugby was good to see.

“I could talk for hours in that regard for people showing up when the chips are down.

Ireland notched four tries to beat reigning Grand Slam champions France in Dublin

“It’s a realisation of where we’re at, where we need to get better and how hungry we are on a daily basis to try and achieve.”

Ireland were without Robbie Henshaw (wrist), Tadhg Furlong (calf), Jamison Gibson-Park, Cian Healy and Dan Sheehan (all hamstring), and lost both skipper Johnny Sexton (groin) and Tadhg Beirne (ankle) early in the second half.

While the injury to Sexton is not thought to be serious, Farrell conceded the outlook for Beirne was not positive.

“It’s not looking too great [for Beirne] at this moment in time,” Farrell added.

“It’s something that needs to be looked at in more detail. It doesn’t look great. We’ll see tomorrow.”

Ireland second row Tadhg Beirne limped off with an ankle injury

Asked as to whether he felt France prop Uini Atonio should have seen a red card for his high tackle on Rob Herring – for which he was controversially sin-binned – Farrell refused to overly be drawn on it.

“He’s [Herring] going through the HIA and didn’t come back on, so obviously there’s that to factor in.

“It is what is it. The referees are paid to make that decision. Wayne [Barnes], his team of three, the team of four with the TMO, they couldn’t get any closer to the big screen to see it.

“As it was, you’ve got to trust that call.”

France tighthead Uini Atonio was sin-binned for a high tackle, and very fortunate to avoid a red card

Sexton: Win over France “not worth anything” if Ireland don’t back it up

Captain Sexton insists the stunning 32-19 victory over France is “not worth anything” if Ireland do not push on towards the Six Nations title.

“It was an incredible game, wasn’t it? It felt like we were on the up after getting that (Keenan) try and then suddenly out of nothing they can come alive, that’s what we spoke about,” Sexton said.

“Even though we won and got five points in the end, you still didn’t feel very comfortable.

“We knew how big it was in terms of the championship and now we’ve got to decompress, take a few days off and come back.

“It’s not worth anything if we let it slip now in terms of against Italy in the next game.

Johnny Sexton celebrates at full-time, but says the win is ‘not worth anything’ unless Ireland kick on

“We won a Triple Crown last year and we want to go better this year. That’s what we speak about, keeping the trajectory like this (going upwards) as opposed to in 2019 when we dipped.

“To get better is to win the championship or a Grand Slam. How you do that is concentrate on the next two weeks and try and beat Italy away which, if you saw their game last week (a 29-24 loss to France), (you know) how tough a game it’s going to be.”

Head coach Fabien Galthie said: “It is almost two years since we have lost, it is hard to take. The series of wins are there, now it is necessary to learn how to take a defeat.

“Defeat is not really a friend, but we will have to spend the day with her. We came to play and win the match. Like every match, we worked hard for it but our adversary beat us. We really needed to keep control territorially.”