The Andy Farrell verdict on ‘feeling sorry for ourselves’ Ireland win

Sabbatical-taking Ireland boss Andy Farrell has declared himself delighted that he is stepping back temporarily from his head coach role on the back of a 22-19 comeback win over Australia in Dublin. The unsettled Irish trailed the Wallabies 0-10, 5-13 and 15-19 at various stages during an Autumn Nations Series encounter where their 15-13 lead courtesy of a converted 48th-minute Caelan Doris try was short-lived.

In the end, it needed a 73rd-minute try from rookie sub Gus McCarthy to rescue the victory that left Farrell satisfied ahead of taking up his British and Irish Lions head coach position on a full-time basis for next summer’s tour to Australia.

Ireland trailed 5-13 at the interval but Farrell admitted he didn’t say much himself in the dressing room to instigate the 10-point second-half spurt that soon had them in the lead. “Not much,” he said when asked what conversations he had with his team at the break.

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“We were feeling sorry for ourselves a little bit. There was a bit of honesty from the lads. He [Doris] led the way with the honesty as well. Just feeling sorry for ourselves a little bit because I understand, it is human nature, and we had enough possession and territory to win the game twice over in the first half but we spilt enough ball, made enough errors in the first half to lose two matches as well.

“We were feeling sorry for ourselves but you have no right to think that everything is 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 picture of the game is I’m really proud of the victory because it was hard fought in the end against a bit of adversity. Delighted to get the win.”

Much of the pre-match build-up was dominated by Farrell’s bold decision to retain rookie Sam Prendergast at out-half and only recall first-choice No10 Jack Crowley to the Ireland bench following last weekend’s win over Fiji.

The Irish were 15-19 behind when the coach decided to put in Crowley for Prendergast and it was the sub’s clever kick in behind the cover that tempted Australia to give up the lineout that led to the result-saving McCarthy try from the ensuing maul.

“I thought Sam has some lovely stuff, made some errors, some kicks that were perfect,” Farrell began when assessing the performances of his two out-halves. “His touch-finding kicks were outstanding, weren’t they? It’s a real feature.

“Some of the kicks that he put up in the air were too long and we needed to fix that as it allowed them to relieve a bit of territory. He’d some nice play. I don’t know what you thought about the quick tap [he had a first-half try ruled out]. There is a water boy on I think they said but the referee had given the mark so that’s nice, innovative stuff from him.

“But equally I thought Jack was excellent when he came on. He took over the game. The little ball he put into the corner, nice weighted kick rather than just putting it out. We got the lineout from that. That really kicked us on, so delighted with them both.”

Ireland had struggled to get genuine impetus from their bench during previous outings in their four-game Autumn Nations Series, but their subs were crucial when it came to swinging this final result in their favour. “Delighted,” he said of his bench.

“I felt it was excellent. Some really good impact from Pete (O’Mahony) and Iain (Henderson), Garry Ringrose, two half-backs. I thought Gus was excellent again. Nerves of steel. For a young kid coming on in that type of pressurised situation, and things weren’t smooth in the lineout at times, but when he came on he nailed everything. To score the try as well, so delighted with the impact.

“I suppose there is a little bit of you having nothing to lose when you are behind and the performance wasn’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 so we were delighted with the bench.”