Autumn Nations Cup: Ireland's Andy Farrell pleased with 'dominant' win over Wales
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Farrell's four wins as Ireland head coach have all come at home
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has praised the comprehensive nature of his side's Autumn Nations Cup win over Wales in Dublin on Friday.
Quinn Roux and debutant James Lowe scored tries as Ireland took a deserved 32-9 victory to reignite a degree of optimism around the direction of the squad following their Six Nations loss in France two weeks ago.
"Overall, I thought it was a dominant performance and the scoreline was a reflective one," said Farrell, whose side led 16-6 at half-time.
"First half, [we played] some really good dominant stuff that I thought was better than a 10-point lead at half-time."
Ireland turned over Wales' line-out four times and enjoyed considerable success at the scrum, with loose-head prop Andrew Porter in particular continuing his run of good form in the absence of Tadhg Furlong.
Farrell has won four - all at home - of his opening six matches in charge.
Ireland will expect to pick up another win in two weeks' time when Georgia come to Dublin, but before then Farrell's side travel to Twickenham to face England.
"You'd like to think that any Irish side at the Aviva is able to be dominant," said Farrell.
"How do you get to be dominant? Your set-piece has to be good.
"Our scrum was really abrasive and our defensive line-out was better as well and we took some ball off them.
"To be dominant you need a good defence and I thought our defence was physical; got off the line.
"It was better than a 10-point lead at half-time and then, second half, [it was] a little bit disjointed at times - but I thought Wales did a good job on our speed of ball and breakdown. It just stopped a little bit of continuity."
Ireland hopeful key trio will face England
Farrell is still optimistic about being able to call on Johnny Sexton for next week's game, after the fly-half was forced off by injury in the first half.
The head coach also expects Iain Henderson (illness) and Jacob Stockdale (calf) to be available at Twickenham. The Ulster duo were late omissions from the Ireland side, having initially been named to start.
Sexton limped off with a hamstring problem after kicking his second penalty, while Henderson and Stockdale withdrew because of an unspecified medical issue and a calf injury respectively.
"It doesn't feel too serious, just very frustrating," said Sexton. "I thought initially I was going to be able to run it off but unfortunately not.
"I will probably get a scan and see if there is any little damage done, but I am still hopeful for next week."
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