‘Never seen a game like it’ – Farrell on SA loss

After being decked out in a frantic defeat by South Africa in Dublin, Ireland head coach Andy Farrell said he was “unbelievably proud” of the fight his players displayed.

Sam Prendergast, Jack Crowley, Andrew Porter, and Paddy McCarthy all received sin-binned as Ireland lost to the world champions 24-13 after James Ryan’s yellow card was upgraded to a 20-minute red.

Farrell was upbeat about his team’s reaction to a chaotic opening period that saw Ireland finish with 12 players and a 19-7 lead. He also took issue with a reporter who claimed the first 40 minutes had been “borderline shambolic.”

“I meant chaotic,” I said. Yes, but I won’t say it again because I believe you’re incorrect, according to Farrell.

You think you’ve seen it all, and I haven’t seen a game like that ever, and you say, “I haven’t seen a game like that ever.”

You must first and foremost look at yourself and explain what has happened, I suppose. So we’ll do that and ensure that we take the necessary lessons.

“But I’m unbelievably proud of the game, so starting a conversation off like that doesn’t sit well,” I said.

Farrell criticized “stupid errors” and acknowledged that Ireland lost their composure in the face of a dominant South African scrum despite being encouraged by his team’s second-half efforts.

“You can look at all kinds of different situations in the game and say that was the turning point,” he continued.

We had scored and obviously had a chance to score the try that went red.

Then, I believe, three offside penalties were resulting from our playing the ball through the ruck. We did not grant them that access because they are the manageable ones, but you do.

Last week, Ireland won against Australia in an air showdown, but Farrell was disappointed by his side’s kicking performance against the Springboks.

Some of the things we did really well last week didn’t really transfer to this week. Our kicking routine was a little sluggish and occasionally off.

“Our conversion in the 22 was significantly better last week, and our high-ball stuff was significantly better last week,” he said.

In their victories over France and Italy, South Africa assistant coach Mzwandile Stick made the claim that the Springboks had been unfairly treated after Lood de Jager and Franco Mostert received red cards.

When asked if Stick’s comments had an impact on the officiating, Farrell responded, “Well, we brought it up with the referees before the game and they said it would never be a factor, obviously, because this is a separate game and I’ll let you be the judge of that.

Rassie Erasmus, the head coach of South Africa, said: “The game was very physical and a 20-minute red card was given, which I thought was the right call.

We held on to our position for the majority of the game, but we were unable to end it.

It was difficult to manage and hectic. Sometimes it was challenging to comprehend who was on, who was off, who returned, who had a head injury assessment (HIA) and who was hurt.