Peter O’Mahony anointed Ireland’s 38-17 demolition of France as one of the greatest wins of his career, but urged caution amid the inevitable talk of back-to-back grand slams. “We’re not going to get carried away here,” Ireland’s captain said. “It was a good performance, which is what you want to start off a campaign like this. We want to get better.”
But even as measured an observer as O’Mahony recognised the significance of this win, Ireland’s biggest ever margin of victory against France away from home. “I don’t think it gets any better, really,” he said. “The stress of the last couple of days, I’d have given all that up for a win, Friday night, first game, Marseille in the Vélodrome. I remember as a young fella, watching Ireland teams and hoping we’d hang on in there. It’s a different animal now.”
O’Mahony also paid tribute to Ireland’s young players, many of whom seized their chance on Friday night.
“Guys like Calvin Nash, Jack [Crowley], big Joe [McCarthy], there were some big performances from guys who were getting an opportunity,” O’Mahony said. “Joe had some great moments in the game, and just continued to get better and better.”
Andy Farrell took pride in how his Ireland team managed to face down the hostile atmosphere. “It’s a French side that was always going to pose questions, and the crowd was going to get behind them,” he said. “But we managed to silence them with our composure, our ability to stay on it for the full 80 minutes and keep attacking the game. When you’re playing against 14 men for a long period, you tend to shut up shop a little bit more. Our intent was pretty good, we were ruthless when we needed to be, and I also thought our lineout was outstanding.”
France’s coach, Fabien Galthié, was philosophical after one of the worst defeats of his tenure, pointing to Paul Willemse’s red card as the turning point. “We played with 14 players almost the entire game,” he said. “But I told the players that this is not the time for reflection. There is too much disappointment to be lucid in our analysis.
“The offensive performance was not there, that’s clear. Waste, turnovers, dropped balls, a lack of speed. We did not prepare accordingly. It’s a moment to live collectively. But the tournament continues. There are still four matches to play.”
