Andy Farrell: I thought England deserved it

Andy Farrell praised England after ending his side's Grand Slam dream and says his focus will quickly turn to retaining their Guinness Six Nations title.

Marcus Smith dropped a goal with the clock in the red to earn Steve Borthwick's men a shock 23-22 win at Twickenham.

The defeat ended Ireland's ambitions of becoming the first side to do back-to-back Slams in the Six Nations era.

Ireland led 12-8 at the break and were ahead deep in stoppage time but England, beaten by Scotland in round three, were not to be denied.

"To cut a long story short, I actually thought England deserved to win," Farrell told RTÉ Sport.

"We fought back unbelievably well against the run of play sometimes. Certainly coming back in at half-time like that. And again in the second half, finding a way to get ourselves in front.

"I thought England deserved it with the pressure that they had and created, so congratulations to them.

"Look at the quality of the players that they've got.

"Certainly when you're coming off the back of a defeat it tends to concentrate the mind a little bit - hopefully it does for us next week.

"We always prepare for every game for everyone to be at their best.

"I thought they were super tonight, I thought they were physical, they were challenging on the gain line and played a nice brand of rugby as well."

Ireland are four points clear of England at the top of the table and can win the championship if they beat Scotland on Saturday.

"You talk about the Grand Slam stuff, well every game matters," added the former England dual code international when asked about overcoming the disappointment ahead of next weekend.

"We want to win everything and we've never shied away from that. Today was obviously one of those games that we wanted to win but