Farrell content with win but predicts tough test ahead

Andy Farrell was pleased with his side's victory over Italy having secured back-to-back wins to kick-off this Guinness Six Nations championship, however, the Ireland head coach believes that the 2024 campaign is really just starting.

Farrell’s side followed up their emphatic away win against the ever-dangerous French in Paris last weekend with another comprehensive win, dismantling Italy 36-0 at the Aviva Stadium, and are very much on course to win back-to-back championships.

However, the Ireland coach knows the difficulty of the finish that awaits his side as they must face Wales, England and Scotland in the remaining fixtures of this year’s campaign.

Ireland proved professional in their first home game of the Six Nations in what was a facile win against Italy, and while Farrell was happy with the result, he saw some room for improvement, while taking into consideration the fact that Italy proved tough to play against.

"You have to be happy with that," said Farrell, speaking to Virgin Media television after the game.

"Italy are a lot more pragmatic than they used to be, and when they are not playing rugby in their own half, it’s hard to get the ball back at times, and we had to find different ways of doing that, and we did at times.

"[We were] a bit patchy in parts, a bit clunky in parts," he added, before offering some context.

"When I say clunky, it was hard to get the ball back off them when they are just kicking the ball coming out of their own half all the time.

"But then towards the middle of the second half when we made the changes, I thought we got a bit too desperate trying to chase the game instead of working hard and making things happen like we had done.

"But we settled down as far as that was concerned, so I think