IRELAND HEAD COACH Andy Farrell said he was “unbelievably proud” of his team after their 24-13 defeat to South Africa.
Farrell’s men were on the receiving end of three yellow cards and a 20-minute red card in the first half, meaning they played part of the game with only 12 players, while referee Matthew Carley showed another yellow card to Ireland in the second half.
Ireland’s scrum was taken to the cleaners by the Springboks pack, earning the visitors a penalty try before half time and resulting in two of the Irish yellow cards.
But Farrell’s team clung on to the South Africans when things threatened to get ugly on the scoreboard.
The head coach bristled at a question in the post-match press conference that suggested the first half had been a shambles and stressed his pride in the Irish players.
“I’d say chaotic,” said Farrell. “Yeah, I won’t repeat your word because I think you’re wrong. I haven’t seen a game like that ever. You think you’ve seen it all, and I haven’t seen a game like that ever.
“I suppose, first and foremost, you look at yourself and why things have happened. So we’ll do that and make sure that we learn the lessons from that.
“But my overriding thought of the game is that I’m unbelievably proud, so for you to start a conversation off like that doesn’t sit well.”
Farrell continued to praise his players again for their physical efforts.
Yet he believes there are important lessons for Ireland to take from this defeat.
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“Well, if you can’t learn from that, then you’re in the wrong place,” said the Ireland boss.
“For all sorts of reasons, I thought going down to 12 men, how the lads came out and showed bottle for the country, certainly in that first 10 minutes of that second half, it was absolutely amazing.
Ireland boss Andy Farrell. Gary Carr / INPHO
Gary Carr / INPHO / INPHO
“And I think you could see with the crowd, the effort that they put in, that the crowd recognised that and supported them.
“To be able to win a second half 6-5 under those types of circumstances, I know it doesn’t tell a full story of the second half, but it’s actually amazing, really, that that happened, or that occurred.”
As for lessons, Farrell pointed to Ireland overplaying in their own 22 in the closing stages of the game as he credited South Africa for seeing out their win.
While Ireland had to deal with five cards, the Springboks appeared to be lucky to escape one for out-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu in just the sixth minute when he high-tackled Tommy O’Brien.
Farrell indicated that he thought it should have been a card.
“Well, you’re asking the question because you thought so as well,” said Farrell.
Ireland skipper Caelan Doris, sitting alongside his head coach, felt that Feinberg-Mngomezulu should have been carded.
“I thought the same,” said Doris.
Yet Farrell regretted some of the things that were firmly in Ireland’s control.
He pointed to James Ryan’s 20-minute red card as a key moment, given that it meant Tadhg Beirne’s try was also chalked off. Ireland would have led 7-5 if it had stood. Farrell also bemoaned some poor discipline and kicking.
“The yellow card that went to red was a try that we’d scored and obviously pulled back and started the game pretty well, but then on the back foot, certainly as far as under the pump there with the scrum, obviously,” he said.
“Then a few stupid errors from ourselves playing the ball through the ruck and I think with three offside penalties. They’re the manageable ones that you don’t give a team like that access, but we did.
Ireland captain Caelan Doris. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
“They try and cause a bit of chaos within the game, certainly at scrum time, but in general as well I thought we just lost our composure a little bit as far as that’s concerned. Certainly at the end, though, as far as our shape is concerned.
“Some of the stuff that we did really well last week didn’t really transfer this week. Our kicking game was a bit long and a bit off at times. Our high ball stuff was way better last week and our conversion in the 22 was way better last week.”
The scrum was obviously a huge part of the game, with South Africa repeatedly winning penalties there before Andrew Porter’s yellow card and the penalty try. Another bout of scrum dominance led to Paddy McCarthy’s second-half yellow.
“You can talk about all sorts of stuff that you’ve talked to the referees beforehand during the week and say, ‘Those are the same type of pictures,’ etc. but you’ve got to look at yourself first,” said Farrell.
“You’ve got to give the referee the access to see you in whatever type of light that he was seeing us in.
“And he saw a dominant scrum. And whether there’s illegalities within all that, we’ve got to see past that and be better than that.”
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'My overriding thought is that I'm unbelievably proud' - Andy Farrell
IRELAND HEAD COACH Andy Farrell said he was “unbelievably proud” of his team after their 24-13 defeat to South Africa.
Farrell’s men were on the receiving end of three yellow cards and a 20-minute red card in the first half, meaning they played part of the game with only 12 players, while referee Matthew Carley showed another yellow card to Ireland in the second half.
Ireland’s scrum was taken to the cleaners by the Springboks pack, earning the visitors a penalty try before half time and resulting in two of the Irish yellow cards.
But Farrell’s team clung on to the South Africans when things threatened to get ugly on the scoreboard.
The head coach bristled at a question in the post-match press conference that suggested the first half had been a shambles and stressed his pride in the Irish players.
“I’d say chaotic,” said Farrell. “Yeah, I won’t repeat your word because I think you’re wrong. I haven’t seen a game like that ever. You think you’ve seen it all, and I haven’t seen a game like that ever.
“I suppose, first and foremost, you look at yourself and why things have happened. So we’ll do that and make sure that we learn the lessons from that.
“But my overriding thought of the game is that I’m unbelievably proud, so for you to start a conversation off like that doesn’t sit well.”
Farrell continued to praise his players again for their physical efforts.
Yet he believes there are important lessons for Ireland to take from this defeat.
“Well, if you can’t learn from that, then you’re in the wrong place,” said the Ireland boss.
“For all sorts of reasons, I thought going down to 12 men, how the lads came out and showed bottle for the country, certainly in that first 10 minutes of that second half, it was absolutely amazing.
“And I think you could see with the crowd, the effort that they put in, that the crowd recognised that and supported them.
“To be able to win a second half 6-5 under those types of circumstances, I know it doesn’t tell a full story of the second half, but it’s actually amazing, really, that that happened, or that occurred.”
As for lessons, Farrell pointed to Ireland overplaying in their own 22 in the closing stages of the game as he credited South Africa for seeing out their win.
While Ireland had to deal with five cards, the Springboks appeared to be lucky to escape one for out-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu in just the sixth minute when he high-tackled Tommy O’Brien.
Farrell indicated that he thought it should have been a card.
“Well, you’re asking the question because you thought so as well,” said Farrell.
Ireland skipper Caelan Doris, sitting alongside his head coach, felt that Feinberg-Mngomezulu should have been carded.
“I thought the same,” said Doris.
Yet Farrell regretted some of the things that were firmly in Ireland’s control.
He pointed to James Ryan’s 20-minute red card as a key moment, given that it meant Tadhg Beirne’s try was also chalked off. Ireland would have led 7-5 if it had stood. Farrell also bemoaned some poor discipline and kicking.
“The yellow card that went to red was a try that we’d scored and obviously pulled back and started the game pretty well, but then on the back foot, certainly as far as under the pump there with the scrum, obviously,” he said.
“Then a few stupid errors from ourselves playing the ball through the ruck and I think with three offside penalties. They’re the manageable ones that you don’t give a team like that access, but we did.
“They try and cause a bit of chaos within the game, certainly at scrum time, but in general as well I thought we just lost our composure a little bit as far as that’s concerned. Certainly at the end, though, as far as our shape is concerned.
“Some of the stuff that we did really well last week didn’t really transfer this week. Our kicking game was a bit long and a bit off at times. Our high ball stuff was way better last week and our conversion in the 22 was way better last week.”
The scrum was obviously a huge part of the game, with South Africa repeatedly winning penalties there before Andrew Porter’s yellow card and the penalty try. Another bout of scrum dominance led to Paddy McCarthy’s second-half yellow.
“You can talk about all sorts of stuff that you’ve talked to the referees beforehand during the week and say, ‘Those are the same type of pictures,’ etc. but you’ve got to look at yourself first,” said Farrell.
“You’ve got to give the referee the access to see you in whatever type of light that he was seeing us in.
“And he saw a dominant scrum. And whether there’s illegalities within all that, we’ve got to see past that and be better than that.”
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andy farrell Big call cards chaotic Scrum South Africa