Ireland suffered a 24-13 defeat to South Africa in Dublin,a match marred by a flurry of cards,but head coach Andy Farrell expressed immense pride in his team’s resilience.
The game saw a remarkable four Irish players sin-binned – James Ryan (later upgraded to a red card), Sam Prendergast, Jack Crowley, and Andrew Porter – alongside Paddy McCarthy, leaving Ireland with as few as 12 men on the field.Despite the numerical disadvantage, Farrell highlighted his team’s character in facing the world champions.
The defeat, while disappointing, comes with Ireland preparing for the upcoming six Nations Championship and maintaining their status as a top-ranked team. Farrell took exception to a reporter’s description of the first half as “borderline shambolic,” responding,”I said chaotic. Yeah, I won’t repeat your word because I think you’re wrong.”
“I haven’t seen a game like that ever, and you think you’ve seen it all, and I haven’t seen a game like that ever,” Farrell continued. He acknowledged the need for self-reflection, stating, “I suppose, first and foremost, you look at yourself and why things have happened.So, we’ll do that, and make sure that we learn the lessons from that.”
However, Farrell’s primary sentiment was one of encouragement.”But my overriding thought of the game is that I’m unbelievably proud, so for you to start a conversation off like that doesn’t sit well,” he said. he specifically praised his players’ “bottle” and performance, notably in the opening ten minutes of the second half when playing with a significantly reduced squad. “For all sorts of reasons, I thought going down to 12 men, how the lads came out and showed the bottle for the country… it was absolutely amazing.”
