Nov 10,2024
Finlay Bealham says Ireland won't dwell on their disappointing performance against New Zealand on Friday, as attention now turns to next week's game against Argentina at Aviva Stadium.
Andy Farrell’s side were second best throughout against the three-time world champions, paying dearly for an undisciplined and sloppy performance as they lost at home for the first time in 20 games at Lansdowne Road.
Ireland’s breakdown work was far below their usual standard in the 23-13 loss, losing the penalty count 13-5, and it allowed All Blacks out-half Damian McKenzie to keep the scoreboard ticking over with 18 points off the tee, before Will Jordan’s second-half try eventually put two scores between the sides to close out the win.
"Everyone is obviously bitterly disappointed," Bealham said as he reflected on Ireland’s first Autumn international defeat on home soil since 2016.
"It was a disappointing dressing room. It's always tough to lose at home."
Aside from a few minutes either side of half-time, Ireland’s attack fell flat against Scott Robertson’s side, with just 50 carries and 202 metres of ground gained across a stop-start 80 minutes of rugby.
While New Zealand’s aggressive defence played a part, Ireland’s own poor discipline was the main reason for their inability to get their game flowing.
"They were really good in terms of ruck pressure, and we couldn't get into our flow attack-wise"
"A few areas, like discipline and a few things in the tackle. It's hard to remember everything from the game, we'll look back on it and analyse it and fix it for next week.
"They're a world-class team with some unbelievable individuals. Every time you play them you know it's going to be an absolute war, and today was a war again. They were the better team on the night.
"They were really good in terms of ruck pressure, and we couldn't get into our flow attack-wise. Like I said, we'll analyse all that and look to fix it next week." he added.
The Connacht prop played almost every second of the game on Saturday night. Originally replaced by Tom O’Toole on 57 minutes, Bealham was back on the pitch within a minute after O’Toole suffered a head injury in a tackle, and the 32-year-old says he had only got "a mouthful of water" on the bench before he was summoned back to the action.
Bealham started on what was his 43rd cap for Ireland, and will likely be needed again against Argentina next Friday, with Tadhg Furlong nursing a hamstring injury and O’Toole now a doubt.
But he says the team are determined to right the wrongs of Friday night over the coming weeks.
"Look, there's still three games to go in this series, and we'll dust ourselves off. We're not feeling sorry for ourselves, we'll analyse it properly and another big Test next week. Back on the horse.
"We've world-class coaches, world-class players, and we want to analyse it properly and see where it went wrong and things we can improve on. I'm sure, knowing the group, we'll fix a lot of that.
"We got into a huddle and just said 'No sulking'. We'll get on with it and learn from the mistakes we made. We have an incredibly tough test match next Friday and we'll look to fix the stuff we can be better at," he added.
