Coach Andy Farrell blasts Irish discipline in 22-19 win over Argentina
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Argentina's flanker Juan Martin Gonzalez during the rugby union Test match between Ireland and Argentina at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Nov 15.
PHOTO: AFP
DUBLIN – Andy Farrell blasted Ireland’s “desperate” discipline after they had to hang on for victory over Argentina on Nov 15, but the coach was full of praise for fly-half Sam Prendergast’s much anticipated debut off the bench.
Farrell, who had judged some of his players were lucky to keep their places after their underwhelming display against New Zealand on Nov 8, said he got “in parts” the kind of reaction he wanted in the 22-19 win.
“I think there was a bit of extra pressure on some of us based on our performances last week,” Ireland captain Caelan Doris said, referring to the error-filled 23-13 loss to the All Blacks.
Conceding 13 penalties for the second successive game was worrying.
“Our discipline at times was desperate,” Farrell said after Ireland had surrendered a comfortable 22-9 half-time lead.
“It’s something that we’ve been outstanding on over the last 10 years... Sometimes (the players) are trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat too much at times. They just need to be a little bit more patient individually and trust the team.
“If I can try and sum up where we’re at. 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 our feet in the intensity of the full 80 minutes... I think we’ll get better as we go through.”
Ireland led at the break after ruthlessly punishing an early Argentina yellow card with two tries in the first six minutes from Jack Crowley and Mack Hansen. Joe McCarthy added a third after Tomas Albornoz had kept the visitors in touch.
A very different Argentina side emerged after the break with Juan Cruz Mallia slicing the hosts open and Albornoz cutting the lead to just three points before Ireland composed themselves, in no small part thanks to an impressive debut from Prendergast.
The 21-year-old, who has started only eight games for Leinster, showed glimpses of why many see him as a long-term successor to Johnny Sexton.
“I thought he was excellent. Playing in that type of position in that type of situation, I thought he was really composed, played at a nice tempo on the line and started to make things happen. It just shows what type of character he’s got,” Farrell said.
Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi, himself a former Leinster No. 10, was disappointed Los Pumas could not complete their second-half comeback but took a number of positives from the performance.
“For us, it is good to understand and get the experience of playing these sorts of games that come down to small margins and very small margins,” he said. “I think the more we can play those sort of games, it’s great.
“Yeah, it’s disappointing and I think we’ve a lot to improve, but we’ve got a good platform to work to improve from.” REUTERS
