James Ryan receives huge praise for dig on public enemy No 1 Pollock

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When it's going well, the scenes are incredible, but when it is not going his way, people are lying in wait to put the boot in.

This is exactly what happened after Ireland's 42-21 win over England yesterday, with James Ryan coming in for a lot of praise when a picture of him shoving his Lions teammate's face into the ground was shared on social media.

Ryan himself plays on the edge, and has come in for criticism for going too far at times, but in reality, Ireland badly need hard-nosed players like himself and Joe McCarthy.

Pollock was also one of England's better players yesterday, and looked to bring the fight to Ireland when many of his compatriots shunned their duty.

After the game, head coach Andy Farrell summed up the occasion.

He said: "It’s a special day, to come here and perform like that. We’d obviously be delighted with that,

“But even more so than that for us, I thought the respect that the lads show for one another out there on the field was immense. The respect that they show for the jersey and what it meant to them and the respect for the Irish people really. To learn some lessons and grow as a group, as a team, was the overriding feeling for me.

“Honestly, it does. We just had the Taoiseach in the changing rooms there. We spoke as a group after that as well. It is special. It is special.

“Honestly, I said it to the lads, I didn’t care whether we won or lost today, just whether we grew as a group because we know where we want to go to. And it just so happens that to the people of Ireland winning does matter and it brings a bit of joy on everyone’s face. So, for them, I mean the crowd, the people that turned up, it was immense. I hope everyone at home is just as proud as well.”