ANDY FARRELL, THE coach who has guided Ireland to a series win in New Zealand, has described it as the proudest moment of his career.
Given everything he has achieved in it – Grand Final wins with Wigan in rugby league – coaching successes with England and the Lions, that is quite the statement.
Yet we shouldn’t be shocked when we put Ireland’s achievement in its proper context. Only four teams have ever won a series against the All Blacks on New Zealand soil before, the Springboks in 1937, Australia in 1949 and 1986, France in 1994 and the British and Irish Lions in 1971. To that list add Ireland’s name.
“This is not mine, it’s theirs,” said Farrell. “They’ve grabbed hold of it hugely. I talked yesterday about the leadership group, how they’ve grown and developed and we’ve coached this team together. That’s the truth.
“Some of the stuff that they’ve done out there today, we’ve done it together so I suppose when you look at it like that I suppose it’s the most proud that I’ve been as part of a group, without a shadow of a doubt.”
Farrell’s respect for New Zealand rugby runs deep. He was here with the Lions in 2017 and recalls how that drawn series was considered a success. Now, here with Ireland, he has gone one better. This victory, coming on the back of last weekend’s win in Dunedin, is the first time New Zealand have lost successive Tests at home since 1998.
“That’s the hardest thing to do in rugby by a country mile. We lost game one and our backs were against the wall. And apparently we were going to feel the full wrath of the All Blacks today and we said that was the challenge that we wanted.
“Then you saw what happened out there. Our best 40 minutes of the campaign was in the first half and that says a lot about how they are as a team and where they’re going and the belief that they’ve got.”
That mental resilience was put to the test in the second-half as the All Blacks reduced a 19-point gap to just three points when Will Jordan swept past Johnny Sexton to score in the corner.
There and then huge questions were asked of Ireland’s resolve. They answered each of them.
“The most pleasing thing for me was the composure we showed when they came back at us. Because they always do, New Zealand. And we never got ahead of ourselves when we were in front and we never panicked when they started to come back.”
He added: “This is special … special because some of these lads have not played in eight weeks. Some are coming off the back of a loss in a quarter-final, a semi-final, a final. They are a special group. They deserve everything they get.”