Dec 01,2024
Andy Farrell says Ireland were feeling sorry for themselves halfway through their game against Australia.
As the IRFU celebrated its 150th anniversary, the visiting Wallabies threatened to spoil the party, leading 13-5 at half-time, and by four points with seven minutes to play.
However, a late converted try earned Farrell's side a third win, 22-19, from four Autumn Nations Series games.
Despite plenty of possession and territory, Josh van der Flier's try was their only score of the opening 40 minutes as Ireland toiled amid 16 handling errors and 12 turnovers.
"We were feeling sorry for ourselves a little bit so there was a bit of honesty from the lads," Farrell, who will turn his attention to the Lions from next week.
"[Captain Caelan 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.
"We spilled enough ball and made enough errors in the first half to lose two matches as well.
"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 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.
"There were 14 [handling errors] 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."
The hosts were much improved at the start of the second half, scoring 10 points from a Doris try and five off the tee from Sam Prendergast.
Joe Schmidt's Wallabies retook the lead with a brace of Noah Lolesio penalties before Gus McCarthy's try, converted by Jack Crowley, edged Ireland in front.
"I thought [the bench] was excellent, some really good impact from Pete [O'Mahony] and Garry Ringrose, the two half-backs.
"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.
"So, delighted with the impact. 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."
Returning former Ireland boss Schmidt looked and sounded like a man who had missed an opportunity against his old side.
"I was proud of the team," said the 59-year-old, who took over at the start of the year with a brief of preparing the team for the summer visit of the Lions.
"I thought they demonstrated a level of grit that you need if you're going to be competitive with the Lions and competitive with Ireland, number two team in the world, and I think we made them work pretty hard tonight to get the win.
"It started at the end of last November when the boys came back after their break post the World Cup, to where we are now, I think there's a bit more confidence in what they're delivering.
"They're a little bit more connected, and there's still a bit of growth to go, I'm hoping.
"I think I already knew that this group of young men, they had that in them, and it was just for them to find it and galvanise each other and then deliver it.
"I felt that at times in that first-half, we didn't quite capitalise on some of the line breaks that we made.
"We did get to the ball, and we did keep the ball, and I felt Max Jorgensen's drive was really well-worked to finish that after going side-to-side.
"In the second half, probably my one disappointment around the game is that I felt we got quite conservative.
"When you do that against Ireland, and you're hanging on, and you've got a four-point lead and you're hoping that's enough, I just think we tried to do that from too far out, started kicking it back or kicking it out, giving them a set-piece to launch from."
