“Something that I never thought we’d be saying” – Andy Farrell’s scathing assessment of his players

Not impressed.

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell hasn’t held back on his assessment of his Irish players following his side’s 36-14 defeat to France in Paris.

The men in green were well beaten in the end after getting off to a poor start, conceding two tries early on.

Ireland were without several of their key players for the game through injury, but Farrell has questioned his players’ desire on the day, stating that they seem to lack intent.

“Oh, I mean, there’s a lot going through our minds at this moment in time, but I’m obviously very disappointed,” Farrell told ITV.

“Through something that I never thought we’d be saying about this Irish team, you know, with a little bit of lack of intent in that first half and, you know, missed tackles or winning the scraps on the floor or winning the fight in the air, it’s just intention, you know.”

Farrell lamented Ireland’s poor start to the game and said they must learn from their defeat.

“Well, reacting when it’s a little bit too late isn’t the way that we want to do things, obviously,” he added.

“But, look, I mean, you know, they played well and they’re off to a great start and why not, but we’ve all been involved in this competition and seen this competition throw up a lot of different things along the way, so this result, and it’s not a good one for us, but it has to stand for something”

“We’ll be honest, we are an honest group and (2:03) we’ll make sure that we use this in the right manner. It’s a must.