Jack Conan paid tribute to the way that Ireland recovered from a host of injury setbacks during their Six Nations clash with Scotland, to set up a Grand Slam decider against England next weekend.
A strong second-half performance from Ireland saw them run out 22-7 winners at Murrayfield but they leave Edinburgh with a lengthy injury list as Caelan Doris, Dan Sheehan, Iain Henderson, Ronan Kelleher and Garry Ringrose were all forced off.
Ringrose is a particular concern ahead of Saturday's clash with England at the Aviva Stadium after suffering a nasty head injury which saw him leave the field on a stretcher.
Conan insisted that Ireland were always prepared to face adversity in Murrayfield, but even he was taken aback by how many players his side lost.
"I think it’s such a testament to the belief that we ourselves as a squad have in each other and the management have in us," he told RTÉ Sport.
"We spoke during the week about adversity, about what happened a few years ago - coming here, rocking up a few minutes late - we said no excuses.
"Faz [head coach Andy Farell] spoke during the week about rocking up 10 minutes before the game and getting the job done. We could have walked off the bus and played and it wouldn’t have mattered to us.
"It’s such a testament to how mentally strong and the resolve that the lads have and that the coaches have fortified within us.
"To lose both hookers, two world class players, to lose one of the best back rowers in the world in Caelan Doris, one of the best second rows in the world Iain Henderson in the first 20 minutes, I don’t know how many other teams could have bounced back from that and put on the performance that we did."
"We could have walked off the bus and played and it wouldn't have mattered to us" - Jack Conan hails the Irish psychology after a big win in Scotland #RTErugby #SixNations pic.twitter.com/s4k5ClTQYR
— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) March 12, 2023
Conan admitted that he, and Ireland, weren’t at their best today but he’s confident that they’ll be ready to face a wounded England team on Saturday.
"We weren’t great at times," he said. "I felt that when I came on at the start I was probably a little bit sluggish, a bit slow in some of my contacts.
"But it’s one of the best days I’ve ever been involved in with this Irish squad. Unbelievable a group of lads, it’s just so special after everything we went through in the 80 minutes.
"There’s obviously a lot of things that we need to get better at before next week.
"England will be disappointed with how they went yesterday against France, we’ve no doubt that they’ll bounce back and will be better and we’ll need to be better than we were today at stages.
"Obviously there’s a lot of sore bodies and a lot of boys will need to recover and get right. It will be a short turnaround so our first thing is just to make sure we’re physically ready to go on Saturday come 5pm."
