5 hours Ago
He bemoaned his side’s “desperate” intensity while also admitting that some of his players are “struggling to find their feet” in the intense opening to a November campaign against southern hemisphere sides who have been on the road for several months. Ireland clung on as Argentina searched for a late winning score they would have deserved after a stirring comeback aided by some familiar Irish woes, including soaring ill-discipline and a wobbly lineout. “It was three or four games in one, wasn’t it really? Obviously the over-riding feeling is we’re delighted to get the win,” said Farrell.
“There were a few things we needed to learn from last week, and some things that we didn’t address on the field. But we said last week we had a chance of winning ugly. We did that this week, that’s a plus.
“We showed really good intent in how we started the game. We were direct, we were piling into them, we were hard to handle playing off quick ball. On the back of that, if we get that Tadhg Beirne score, it justifies the score a little bit because of the dominance that we had.
“But we know the kind of side they are, they’ve improved out of sight. And the pressure they put on us, and that we put ourselves, obviously brought them back into the game and to cut a long story short, we held our nerve towards the end and just about got there.” Ireland have now conceded 54 points as a result of penalties in their last three test matches.
“Our discipline at times was desperate. It’s an individual thing, it’s not done out of spite or desperation,” said Farrell. “It’s through wanting to try and make a difference and sometimes you just have to be patient enough and trust teammates.
It’s something we have to address because it’s something we've prided our game on in the past". “It’s something that we’ve been outstanding on over the last ten years actually. But certainly in that amount of time you’re saying there, it’s not done out of players going out there to be ill-disciplined.
“It’s coming from the right place, if that may sound stupid. All they’re trying to do is do the right thing by their team. They just need to be a little more patient individually and trust the team and what they’re about.
“I think if I can try and sum it up of where we're at, I think 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 out feet in the intensity of the full 80 minutes, for that top 1% gains. “Obviously New Zealand and Argentina have been playing those games for the last five months. It looks like our lads, some of them, are a little bit shy of that type of intensity.
Hopefully we'll build it through this month and we'll see the best of it in the next two games.” Farrell praised the impact of Jack Crowley – and debutant Sam Prendergast, who came on the final quarter as Ireland nervously edged their way to victory. “Some real good stuff actually,” he said of Crowley.
“And then some bits that you'd obviously like to tidy up like everyone else. You always ask a question about an individual and I have to answer the question, but at the same time it's a team game. “He either does some good stuff and some bad stuff, so it's not just Jack.
“I thought Sam was excellent. I thought he was really composed, playing your first cap in that type of position, that type of situation, I thought he was really composed. “He played at a nice tempo at the line and started to make things happen.
That just shows what type of character he's got.”.
