"Jack Played Outstandingly Well" - 5 Talking Points: Andy Farrell reacts to Ireland's narrow win over Italy

After the match, Andy Farrell headed to the press conference room at the Aviva Stadium, to give his lay of the land with his side now with a win in the Championship. Covering everything from the on-going saga with Ireland's number 10 jersey, to the notable Ireland newcomers on the Six Nations stage, here are the five biggest talking points from what the Ireland head coach had to say.

After a slow start for Ireland, Jack Crowley was flung on into the fray to replace Sam Prendergast at fly half. The Munster man had a tremendous impact off the bench, with plenty of growing plaudits around the out-half to take the Ireland 10 jersey for the incoming trip to Twickenham. Andy Farrell expressed his delight in Crowley's performance, and was quick to stamp out any frustrations regarding the match-ending miss-kick that denied Ireland's hopes of a bonus point win in the final play.

ANDY FARRELL: "I thought Jack played outstandingly well when he came on, so I'm actually gutted for him because you know he wouldn't normally do that [kick the ball dead]. I mean, there's a few things to check there as far as offside and jumping up and down in his eye-line for the kick, but still it was a bit of a shank, but that wouldn't be the overriding thought of what I take from Jack's game. I thought he was outstanding when he came on."

The in-form Ulster wing got his long awaited hit out in the Six Nations, in what marked the culmination of many years of continued pushing towards an extended run in the Ireland squad. Farrell was quick to tip the hat to the flyer, who crossed for a well taken try and earned the Player of the Match honours.

ANDY FARRELL: "I'm delighted for him because he's obviously had a few caps before, but it's been a stop-start [international career] and it's been frustrating for him. The talent for everyone to see when he puts the Ulster jersey on, to get the opportunity now coming back into fitness and to show what he can do at this type of level is very pleasing for him and for the rest of us.

"To see him believing in himself and backing himself, not just beating people and scoring tries, but winning balls in the air. A very good defensive decision-maker as well, so I'm delighted for him."

On Baloucoune's decisive try, Farrell added; "The flow, the continuity, the speed of it. The want, to call the play that we wanted to happen rather than just settle for something that was conservative, or setting stuff up and being able to play to space early and Jack was at the forefront of that."

Making a key involvement in two of Ireland's tries, was Ulster's Stuart McCloskey. The in-form centre seems to make everything he touches turn to gold, as he provided stunning offload passes to assist both Jamie Osborne and Rob Baloucoune's tries today at the Aviva. Farrell is delighted with what he sees from the midfielder, who has stepped up in the absence of Robbie Henshaw and Bundee Aki.

ANDY FARRELL: "He [McCloskey] was excellent, yeah. He carried really well for us in parts last week, but there's more to his game than that and he knows there's more to his game and he certainly addressed that this week as far as how he made others feel around the park as well. But his ability to not just take the ball for the line, but to offload. I thought he was a great line by Jamie (Osborne), but Jamie knows who to follow because Stu is so good at that."

Farrell was also quick to recognise the set-piece power of this afternoon's opponents, as Italy brought a devastating pack to the Aviva Stadium. The Italian scrum were ruthless in how they took the fight to Ireland, with scrums won against the head in favour of the Azzurri on an Irish put in. A stand out moment saw the veteran Tadhg Furlong up-ended for a penalty, as Italy showed why their scrum is such a weapon.

ANDY FARRELL: "Well, [Ireland scrummed] not too well at times obviously, Dan [Sheehan] and Tadhg [Furlong] getting their wings a couple of times said quite a bit, didn't it. It's phenomenal how quickly they've [Italy] come on over the last year. Part of the reason I think - I'm just talking out loud here - of why South Africa was so dominant against us is because Italy put them massively under pressure the week before and there was a reaction to that.

"That doesn't make it right, at no point, but the scrum has been phenomenal there for the last 12 months, that's for sure. I thought probably one of the best parts of our game today was when Tom O'Toole came on and hadn't much experience, certainly at this level anyway, but that scrum under our post five metres out, that was rock solid. That, being under pressure all afternoon for Jamie Osborne to put that ball out on the halfway line or near it was a big moment in the game for us."

Next up on the agenda for Ireland's 2026 Six Nations plans, is the incoming hop across the Irish sea over to Twickenham as they prepare to face off against England. Steve Borthwick's side began their campaign with a strong win over Wales, and are currently bringing the fight to Scotland this evening at Murrayfield. Whilst Farrell is excited to take on England, there are more immediate celebrations to be had.

ANDY FARRELL: "Well, we need to celebrate Edwin's [Edogbo] first cap, that's for sure, because it's one hell of a story and I'm so pleased that we're able to get a win and show some fight to be able to get a win for him because his story's a phenomenal one. We'll celebrate that with him. Everyone's talking up England and rightly so because the form is good and they're playing some good rugby.

"It's another fantastic experience for us. It's a big away game, we had one of those last week, we didn't turn up for that. We need to learn some lessons from it but we've a big test coming up and we need to get excited about that and we are because it's another experience that will sound to us."