THERE WAS NO strong emotion from Andy Farrell in the aftermath on Saturday night at Kings Park Stadium, no victorious declarations of his joy, nor any moments of giddiness and glee.
He was proud of how his players dug out victory over the Springboks when it looked unlikely late on, of course. The Ireland boss gave the likes of Ciarán Frawley their dues, rightly so. Farrell enjoyed the Irish physicality in the first half, no doubt.
But he was fairly muted after what must rank as one of Ireland’s most enjoyable evenings on the pitch. Downing the back-to-back world champions on their home soil is a big achievement but Farrell was measured.
He highlighted how many errors Ireland had made in the second half, said he felt for the Springboks because it had been so close, and shared his apparent bemusement at this series not having a third game.
“Look, it’s a 1-1 series draw, if you call it a series,” said Farrell.
“It’s a win away from home in our last game.”
Unsurprisingly, Farrell is jealous of the Springboks and All Blacks’ plans to revive traditional Test series tours against each other every four years. With the Nations Championship on the way in 2026, Ireland won’t have any more traditional tours unless the IRFU comes up with something innovative.
Still, as Farrell reflects on it in the coming weeks, he will surely see the win in Durban as the ideal way to end a long season.
Farrell never entertained the notion that his players might be tired despite a 13-month season that kicked off with the World Cup. It seems that some players did privately worry they were running low on physical and mental energy, but Farrell never saw that and the manner in which Ireland finished the second Test was impressive.
“I never get the vibe that they’re just turning up to just muck about and see how they go because they’ve been playing a 13-month season,” said Farrell
“They don’t see it like that. They go again and keep on playing because that’s how much it means to them.”
The point he missed here is that Farrell himself seems to be able to inspire and coax more from these men. Last week, he questioned their character after the relatively poor first Test performance. They responded in a ferocious fashion.
One of the other things that Farrell can be happy about is that Ireland beat the Boks without Jamison Gibson-Park, Mack Hansen, Hugo Keenan, Dan Sheehan, and Jack Conan – all of whom have been key men.
“That’s the best part about it all,” said Farrell. “Jamison, for me, if there wasn’t a number nine in France [Antoine Dupont]… he is world-class. So is Hugo. All the players that we miss are unbelievably important to the squad and to the dynamics of the squad. But the strength of the group is the group and that’s genuinely how it is, and how it should be.”
James Lowe was joking when he wrote ‘Hugo who?’ on Instagram as he shared a picture with Jamie Osborne but you would wonder what Keenan made of the second Test. All of a sudden, there is competition for the number 15 jersey. 22-year-old Osborne was superb in Durban and showed he has the mettle for the highest level.
As has been the case a few times, Farrell’s surprise selection of Osborne at fullback on this tour worked out brilliantly. His decision to give Craig Casey a start at scrum-half in the first Test was rewarded with the Limerick man’s best performance in green.
Then there was the big call to send Caolin Blade and Ciarán Frawley on for the final quarter of the second Test, a decision that raised a few eyebrows because Conor Murray and Jack Crowley were going well.
“Because of how I’ve seen them train and they deserved it and deserved the responsibility to show what they can do,” said Farrell of why he had faith.
“Bladey has always been a guy who has come in in the middle of a competition and had a week to get up to speed and his thought process has been in overdrive. This time, he’s been in the squad from the start and is more and more comfortable.
“Frawls is exactly the same. He’s been a bit part at 10 and a bit part at 15, filling in at 12. He deserved the chance to slot in at 10. There was a bit of Jack in him actually. The crossfield kick that went out on the full, he could have crumbled there, but his strength was his mental ability to dare to dream.”
It will be fascinating to see what happens next season with Frawley and Osborne. The former wants to play out-half and the latter is clearly a very good fullback.
There’s also the question of whether Tom O’Toole could get games at loosehead for Ulster given that Ireland have been exploring the value of him switching from tighthead.
“I’ve got a great relationship with all the coaches, but it has to be this way – that the provinces are allowed to have their own say because they have to manage a full season, it’s different,” said Farrell when asked if the provinces could help him in a few instances.
“Nobody is ever working against each other in Irish rugby. Even if we disagree on a few things, everyone is always working towards what’s best for Irish rugby.
“For example, is somebody a number six or four or five, you’ve got to go after both really – different permutations across a season, etc, you can’t help all that.
“You try and work on it together, chats behind the scenes, just because somebody is playing in one position, I’d constantly pick up the phone and ask do you think he could this, ask about his skillset.
“All of those conversations, it never marries up perfectly because of situations like injury, rotation and things like that.”
Farrell can be happy with how Caelan Doris’ promotion to the captaincy in the second Test worked out too.
It was a big call to drop tour skipper Peter O’Mahony to the bench but Doris seemed to enjoy the additional responsibility.
“He had a magnificent game,” said Farrell. “He was outstanding throughout, like he was last week. He’s in great form. But we asked the lads – you know when there’s a brick wall in front of you?
“It shows your character, how hard you carry when there’s not much that’s on for you.
“He ran so hard on one of the collisions, he got absolutely smashed but he got up and went again and again and again, and that’s proper leadership. When your captain’s doing that, others tend to follow.”
All in all, the page has already been turned to open a new chapter for Ireland.
Farrell can be pleased with a win in South Africa but he is already looking forward to November Tests against New Zealand, Fiji, Argentina, and Australia in Dublin.
“We’ve a new head physio, a new head S&C coach, Andrew Goodman has come in [as backs coach],” said Farrell.
“Young lads coming in, other people coming in because of injury, etc.
“So I just said to them in the changing room: the journey continues, y’know? The hunger’s where it should be because of the competition and the fight to want to get to the next game.
“That type of competition is priceless to us and it’s wins like that – big wins – I’ve no doubt that people sitting at home, or the lads who didn’t get a chance on this tour, it whets their appetite, and it makes them fight harder for sure.”
And to top it all off, Ireland were missing 5 starters and 1 maybe 2 (not sure if Casey gets that spot ahead of Murray) from the bench. Not many teams in in the world could go to Durban and snatch the win without 33% of their regular starting team. Osborne has been a revelation at FB and it significantly puts away some of the questions regarding his selection policy. Injury helped to force some selections that wouldn’t have ordinarily been made but that just reinforces the point that Ireland need to forge their own path to finding depth rather than trying to replicate how other countries tries do it!
@Paul Ennis: think Osborne under that pressure was the find of the tour ..he was immense specially in that second test for such a new cap and rightly should now be competing for that jersey against Keenan as a starter..
@Stuart: Absolutely… Keenan can enjoy the Olympics now, safe in the knowledge there is a real backup option.
U’ve gotta hand it to Faz. The best manager in world rugby, imo. To bring a team from mediocrity to sublime, from inconsistent to ultimately consistent and beating the best in the world in their own back yards. We didn’t win the WC but I think he’ll put his hand up there also in selection mistakes (2 injured wingers) that he won’t make again. His ability to get each player play at their optimum. We got lucky in getting him.
@Noel Lynn: Agreed, which is why he is the best man for the next world cup. Put the naysayers back in their box… surprisingly, there’s a few of them.
@Noel Lynn: I think you will find Schmidt took Ireland from mediocrity to the top table . Farrell has harnessed and finessed this to a different level . Not disagreeing with your sentiment just the description- Schmidt played a formative role and taught Irish players about unrelenting discipline as a building block. He was too trenchant in later stages of his tenure – Farrell blends the process with creativity and is better at managing his squad.
Andy the boss great coach