Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
NZ NZ

Farrell's admission: Ireland didn't '100 per cent' believe in themselves in Six Nations decider

By PA
Andy Farrell doesn't believe Ireland fully believed in themselves /Getty Images

Andy Farrell will send Ireland into the fast-approaching Autumn Nations Cup demanding his players stick to their convictions. Ireland were bested 35-27 by the resurgent France to end the 2019/20 season’s eight-month Six Nations in third place.

ADVERTISEMENT

Head coach Farrell’s men arrived in Paris still in slender sight of a fourth title in seven years, but departed empty-handed after a horror-show performance, especially in chance conversion.

Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack outshone Conor Murray and Johnny Sexton, with France’s half-backs both running in tries amid a penalty score and a fine effort from Virimi Vakatawa.

Video Spacer

The moment England lifted the Six Nations trophy:

Video Spacer

The moment England lifted the Six Nations trophy:

Ireland have precious little time to lick their wounds, with their Autumn Nations Cup opener against Wales coming up on the rails in Dublin on Friday, November 13.

And boss Farrell will tell his players they must cement their self-belief before stepping straight into another set of top-level Test matches.

“I actually thought at half-time we were only at 80 per cent, not quite 100 per cent at it and not quite fully believing,” said Farrell.

“That’s what I’m saying about opportunities close to the line, and not quite getting there with our rucking, collision work

ADVERTISEMENT

“I thought it was OK at times, but you’ve got to make your own luck in games like this against guys like that.

“We didn’t 100 per cent go for it as far as accuracy and physicality, we could have come away with more points in that first-half.

“At half-time you try to correct a few things and give belief, but they scored that try.

“There were quite a few big moments in that game, we had a lineout on their line and came away with nothing at 28-20.

“The set-piece a couple of times, we spilt a few balls, missed touch a few times, there’s an array of things that sap you and give energy to the opposition.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Cian Healy toasted his 100th cap with a well-bludgeoned finish of a try, Robbie Henshaw conjured a marvellous score out of nothing, and Jacob Stockdale stormed in for a consolation with the final play.

In between all that Ireland were well beaten by Fabien Galthie’s fast-improving French, who clearly already bear many classic hallmarks of a team boasting Shaun Edwards as defence coach.

Asked what went wrong in the wake of defeat, Farrell replied: “Quite a few things actually, I think there were enough opportunities there for us to win two games, and we certainly weren’t clinical enough with the opportunities that we had.

“And if you don’t take your chances in big games like this they you come unstuck eventually.

“It’s an obvious thing to say but we’d enough entries into the French 22 and didn’t come away with the points. It’s as simple as that really.

“At half-time the chat was about belief, it was a little bit off, and obviously they scored just after half-time wasn’t great.

“But we killed our own momentum at times, and that stopped the fluidity.

“The errors we made were across the board, it wasn’t just one area.

“But being clinical in the last third was the main point.”

Ireland could have required a bonus-point win to swipe the title, and that try hunt was evidenced on a number of occasions where the visitors rejected several kickable penalties in favour of punting to the corner.

Scrum-half Murray opened the night by hooking a long-range penalty attempt from his own half, but after that Ireland rarely prioritised shooting at the sticks over seeking tries.

When quizzed on the overall strategy of a tricky night, though, Farrell insisted his players have full licence to make the right decisions in the heat of battle.

“The plan is pretty simple, it’s the feel and flow of the game,” said Farrell.

“And the guys out there have that feel and flow. Conor (Murray) fancied himself, even though it was long-range kick he’d been banging them over for fun in the warm-up and he backed himself to do that.

“You’re probably getting to the point just before HT whether to go for posts or to the corner.

“I back the players to feel what’s right, feel the flow of the game, and I suppose everyone would judge the decision what’s right and what’s wrong.

“But I would more go down the line once you make a decision it’s how you execute that. And those are the bits I’d be critical of.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 6

Sam Warburton | The Big Jim Show | Full Episode

Japan Rugby League One | Sungoliath v Eagles | Full Match Replay

Japan Rugby League One | Spears v Wild Knights | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 10 | Six Nations Final Round Review

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | How can New Zealand rugby beat this Ireland team

Beyond 80 | Episode 5

Rugby Europe Men's Championship Final | Georgia v Portugal | Full Match Replay

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
Jon 3 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

35 Go to comments
j
john 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

28 Go to comments
A
Adrian 8 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

28 Go to comments
T
Trevor 11 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
FEATURE
FEATURE Luke Cowan-Dickie: 'I didn’t feel right. I felt like I was going to pass out. Everything was going black in front of me' Luke Cowan-Dickie: 'I didn’t feel right. I felt like I was going to pass out. Everything was going black in front of me'
Search