SOME OF US might have forgiven Ireland for easing up in the sweltering conditions in Bordeaux, but not Andy Farrell.
His side had already dismantled Romania in their opening game of the World Cup, yet Farrell wanted more. He made his way down from the coaches’ box and urged them to keep going until the very end.
Farrell wasn’t worrying about the possibility of a late injury, he just wanted more points. And there was one more try in Ireland as Tadhg Beirne galloped away from Bundee Aki’s pass after Jack Crowley’s clever chip kick.
When it comes down to it, points difference might matter in Pool B so Ireland’s winning margin of 74 points is welcome. Farrell had urged his players to have a ruthless mindset, so he enjoyed that final flourish in the last play of the game.
“I didn’t know what was happening,” said Farrell after Ireland’s 82-8 win at Stade de Bordeaux.
“I was down on the sideline and was begging them to keep the ball in play. I thought at one stage Hugo was going to kick it off, and then Mack Hansen started playing like an U12 year old, which was great.
“There was a chip over the top and I was thinking, ‘Why did we chip that?’ and then Bundee got it back, but it was an outstanding way to finish the game, for the crowd more than anything.
“Points matter. We don’t know what different ramifications will happen in two, three, or four weeks’ time. It’s important that we got off to a good start and rack up a few points, and that was the aim.
“To do that you have to stick to the process and I thought we did that pretty well and got our just rewards in the end.”
Farrell was keen to hammer home his point about the fans. Many of the travelling Irish support had frustration in getting into the stadium late amid issues with local transport, but they found their voice in the second half particularly.
A booming rendition of the Cranberries’ Zombie was a nice moment after the game as Ireland did a lap of the pitch to thank their fans.
“I think to get off to a good start is very important for us because of the people not just who travelled today and are around Bordeaux having a great time, but for the Irish public in general,” said Farrell.
“They told me that 60,000 Irish homes have registered with World Rugby for tickets. You do the maths, whether it’s two, three or four per household. The people coming from the UK, America, Europe… wow, what a journey this is going to be.
“I’m more pleased for them, that hopefully they’ve enjoyed themselves, and that the people coming in the next few weeks will enjoy it a bit more. Hopefully, the journey has just started and it’s going to get a little bit better as well.”
In that sense, Farrell saw plenty of scope for improvement in Ireland’s performance. He was pleased with the second half after a stop-start opening 40 minutes in which his team missed a few chances. They also conceded to Romania just two minutes after kick-off.
“I thought we stopped the flow of our game quite a bit in regards to a few errors in our game, and discipline, and got a little bit frantic with our communications, certainly after linebreaks there were a few passes on the floor,” said Farrell.
“I thought after the break we was very composed, I thought we showed our intent, our togetherness as a team, how in-sync we were with the ball in hand, our fitness was great, and our skill level was pretty good as well.
“Delighted with how we played, certainly in the second half, but certainly not the first two minutes.”
Meanwhile, Farrell confirmed that Robbie Henshaw had been withdrawn from today’s matchday 23 as a precaution after feeling a twinge in his hamstring at training yesterday.
“He’s fine,” said Farrell of Henshaw. “He felt a little bit of something in his hamstring yesterday in captain’s run, it wasn’t worth the risk at all. He’ll be fine.
“Everyone else came in pretty well, so a good day all round.”
