Although he readily acknowledged the Irish performance was not without its flaws, Andy Farrell maintained he was “really proud” of the hard-fought 22-19 win over Australia which signed off their Autumn Nations Series.
“The big picture of the game is that I’m really proud of the victory because it was hard-fought in the end against a bit of adversity, so delighted to get the win.”
Save for a seven-minute period after their second of three tries by Caelan Doris early in the second period and then for the last seven minutes of the game, Ireland trailed from the 10th minute and had to recover from a 13-5 deficit at half-time.
Asked what he said at half-time, Farrell revealed: “Not much. We were feeling sorry for ourselves a little bit so there was a bit of honesty from the lads.
“He [Doris] led the way with the honesty as well. We were feeling sorry for ourselves a little bit because I understand it’s human nature, and we had enough possession and territory to win the game twice over in the first half and we spilled enough ball and made enough errors in the first half to lose two matches as well.
“We were feeling sorry for ourselves but you’ve no right to think that everything’s going to go your own way, all singing, all dancing the whole time.
“So with that in mind, we got over ourselves and I thought we came back strong.”
The match stats on the Six Nations’ website attributed Ireland with a whopping 28 handling errors and Farrell admitted: “There were 14 of them in the first half. That’s a hell of a lot. You obviously take the positives from the fact of being down there in the right parts of the field but I mean, some of them were simple ball in hand and then dropping them ... Some of them were lineout stuff.
“A lot of them were a bit fancy – not seeing the pass, just presuming that people are going to be there. Our timing was off a little bit.
Is Joe Schmidt the right man for Australia?
“Our stats over the last however many years have been really good in the sense that if we get in front early in the first half, our winning percentage is pretty high. It’s not as great when you’re losing but to be eight points down and find a way is very pleasing for us.”
Sam Prendergast demonstrated his innate flair with the range and timing of his passes, while nailing penalties up the line as he does, albeit his performance was not without its errors, and the same was true of Jack Crowley after he injected some purpose and a running threat of his own while also putting one kick out on the full. Farrell thought both played well.
“I thought Sam had some lovely stuff. He made some errors, some kicks that weren’t perfect. His touch-finding kicks were outstanding and it’s a real feature. Some of the kicks he put up in the air were obviously too long and we needed to fix that, it allowed them to relieve a bit of territory.”
“He had some nice playing. I don’t know what you thought about the quick tap. There was a water boy on, I think they said, but the referee had given the mark so that’s nice, innovative stuff from him.
“But equally I thought Jack was excellent when he came on. He took hold of the game. The little ball that he put into the corner, nice weighted kick, rather than just putting it out. We got the lineout from that. That really kicked us on. So delighted with them both.”
He spoke as effusively about the impact of the bench.
“I thought there was some really good impact from Pete and Andy, Gary Ringrose, the two halfbacks. I thought Gus was excellent again. I mean, he had nerves of steel. A young kid coming on in that type of pressurised situation when things weren’t smooth in the lineout at times, but when he came on he nailed everything, and to score the try as well ...
“I suppose there’s a little bit of you’ve nothing to lose when you’re behind and the performance isn’t as good as it should be but they didn’t just try to fit in, they tried to add in many departments but mainly with the energy and the grunt.”
Reflecting on Ireland’s four-match Autumn Nations Series, overall Farrell maintained that there had been growth from the opening defeat against New Zealand.
“The massage initially was that we needed to see improvement, we need to keep evolving. Other teams are getting better, we need to as well. That’s been the message throughout. You’ve seen it in the results, probably saw it in the first half against Argentina, you saw it last week and against a better side today, we saw it in parts, definitely not in full.
“From an individual point of view, the more opportunities you get to do it, the more comfortable you become with the extra responsibilities. I feel that there has been some growth there in the last number of weeks. I’m sure if I get to do it again, I’ll continue to grow. I’m confident in that.”
This was Farrell’s last game as head coach before taking a sabbatical to coach the Lions and when asked about it he quipped: “It sounds like I’m going on holiday. And that’s not the case, I can guarantee you that. I’ve no emotion, honestly. The only thing that matters is this autumn and obviously there is a bit of planning that needs to be happening.
“But the Lions have been brilliant in allowing me to get on with my job. We’ll celebrate the autumn and Cian’s 134th cap and the IRFU’s 150th anniversary well tonight and what tomorrow will bring, it will bring.”
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