Nov 16,2024
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell praised his side's ability to hold on for a tense win against Argentina at Aviva Stadium, hut he’s admitted they need to get a hold on what has become a "desperate" lack of discipline.
Farrell’s side were 22-19 winners against Los Pumas in a thrilling Test match, but were given a major scare against a determined Argentina, who came from 22-19 down and kept Ireland scoreless for the final 48 minutes.
With 32 minutes played, it looked like Ireland were cruising towards a morale-boosting win after Joe McCarthy pounded in their third try, but Felipe Contepomi’s side never wilted, with a huge defensive stand in their own 22 in the final minute seeing Ireland hold out for the victory.
"Obviously the overriding feeling is we’re delighted to get the win. There were a few things we needed to learn from last week, and some things that we didn’t address on the field. But we said last week we had a chance of winning ugly. We did that this week, that’s a plus.
"We showed really good intent in how we started the game. We were direct, we were piling into them, we were hard to handle playing off quick ball.
"But we know the kind of side they are, they’ve improved out of sight. And the pressure they put on us, and that we put ourselves, obviously brought them back into the game and to cut a long story short, we held our nerve towards the end and just about got there."
For the third game in a row, it was Ireland’s discipline that invited their opponents back into the game. Just as they did against New Zealand, they gave up 13 penalties, conceding more than twice as many as their opponents.
While they have only conceded two tries in their last three games, the four penalties they allowed Tomas Albornoz to kick ensured Argentina could maintain scoreboard pressure, and stay alive in the contest.
Of the 66 points they have conceded in the last three games, a staggering 54 of those have been three-pointers off the tee.
"We were rolling pretty nicely at this stage but our discipline at times was desperate," Farrell said on Virgin Media Sport immediately after the game, and he elaborated on those issues later.
"It’s something that we’ve been outstanding on over the last ten years actually. But certainly in that amount of time you’re saying there (last three games), it’s not done out of players going out there to be ill-disciplined.
"It’s coming from the right place, if that may sound stupid. All they’re trying to do is do the right thing by their team. They just need to be a little more patient individually and trust the team and what they’re about.
"We looked lethargic and you could say that's because of penalties given or losing the collision or whatever that may have been, but in general I think that the quality of opposition has been very strong in these first two games and will get better as we go through."
On Wednesday, the Ireland coach admitted that some of his players were lucky to keep their places in the side after the defeat to the All Blacks, and he says while he did some a response "in parts" from his side this week, they still have a lot of room to improve.
"I think if I can try and sum it up of where we're at, I think when you're looking at two top sides that we've played in the first two weeks, it looks like we're still trying to find out feet in the intensity of the full 80 minutes, for that top 1% gains.
"Obviously New Zealand and Argentina have been playing those games for the last five months. It looks like our lads, some of them, are a little bit shy of that type of intensity. Hopefully we'll build it through this month and we'll see the best of it in the next two games," Farrell added.
