'That doesn’t sit well': Farrell pushes back at media's 'shambolic' comments
REACTION: Andy Farrell stopped short of calling Ireland’s 13-24 loss to the Springboks shambolic, but the head coach didn’t hesitate to brand the chaotic contest as one of the strangest he’s ever seen.
The result ended the Springboks’ 13-year wait for a win at the Aviva Stadium – a significant milestone on its own – but the match will be remembered even more for Ireland’s extraordinary discipline collapse.
James Ryan was shown a 20-minute red card, while four more Irish players spent time in the sin-bin. At one stage, Ireland were reduced to just 12 men, fighting to stay afloat against a ruthless South African pack.
In the post-match conference, some Irish media labelled the performance shambolic, but Farrell immediately pushed back.
“I’d say chaotic. I won’t repeat your word, because I think you’re wrong,” said Farrell.
“I’ve never seen a game like that, ever.
“I suppose, first and foremost, you need to look at yourself and why it’s happened. We’ll do that and make sure we learn the lessons from that.
“My overriding thoughts on it are that I’m unbelievably proud, and for you to start the conversation off like that doesn’t sit well.”
Farrell voiced his frustration with the officiating, especially at scrums – an area in which the Boks enjoyed near total domination.
“Obviously, you can talk about all sorts of stuff that you’ve talked to the referees beforehand during the week and say those are the same type of pictures, etc. But you’ve got to look at yourself first.
“You’ve got to give the referee access to see you in whatever type of light that he was, obviously, seeing us in. And he saw a dominant scrum. And whether there’s illegalities within all that, we’ve got to see past that and be better than that.”
Despite the defeat and the end of Ireland’s long home winning streak, Farrell insisted there were positives to take from the performance.
“If you can’t learn from that [defeat], you’re in the wrong place, really.
“Going down to 12 men, how the lads came out and showed the bottle for their country. Certainly, the first ten minutes of the second half was amazing, and you could see from the crowd, the amount of effort they put in, the crowd recognised that and supported them.”
*Additional Source: Rugbypass
