Rugby: Farrell praises ‘outstanding’ Irish pack after win against Springboks 

DUBLIN – Ireland coach Andy Farrell praised his “outstanding” pack for emerging from one of the toughest tests in rugby against world champions Springboks with a 19-16 victory that added to the top-ranked team’s growing momentum.

In a relentless first period on Saturday, Ireland went toe-to-toe with a South African forward pack that loves to grind down opponents, before striking first in a more open second half and remaining resilient to rack up another big win.

After playing scintillating rugby to give New Zealand their first back-to-back home defeats in 24 years in July, Ireland had to adapt their game for the World Cup holders with pure guts seeing them through, captain Johnny Sexton said.

“We’ve got resilience, guts, character... Wow, I thought the character of the side was immense,” Farrell added.

“The character that our lads showed, some of them having not played much rugby at all, bit of adversity with injuries etc and then not missing a beat with the first game of the season. To say it’s pretty pleasing would probably be an understatement.”

Farrell singled out scrum coach John Fogarty and forwards coach, former captain Paul O’Connell, for praise.

South Africa captain Siya Kolisi and coach Jacques Nienaber said Ireland fully deserved their win, with Nienaber saying the attacking game Farrell had fine-tuned in recent outings could disguise how strong Ireland can be up front.

Nienaber was left to rue his side’s goal-kicking after fly-half Damian Willemse struggled early on before handing over kicking duties to full-back Cheslin Kolbe, who was unable to convert either of South Africa’s two late tries.

“If people look at it, probably they’ll say that’s the difference between the two teams. Johnny also missed a kick or two but he nailed the big ones. It’s something we will keep working on,” said Nienaber.

Meanwhile, at the Stade de France, Australia coach Dave Rennie was left deflated by his side’s late loss against France on Saturday as the Wallabies missed out on a morale-boosting win over the 2023 Rugby World Cup hosts on the outskirts of Paris.

Damian Penaud’s try five minutes from time earned Les Bleus a 30-29 win over their visitors, who went into the game off the back of a similarly narrow victory over Scotland last week.

Said Rennie: “We’re all pretty disappointed, but I’m really rapt with the character and the attitude. No one gave us a chance to come here to Paris and take on a French side that’s been very impressive the last 15 months.

“Disappointing outcome, but proud of the effort. It’s a game of inches isn’t it? We got away with a tight one last week and we finished second tonight.” 

At the Millennium Stadium in Wales, the marauding All Blacks were back to their impressive best as they scored eight tries and a record number of points against Wales in a 55-23 win.

REUTERS