Ireland 'pretty gloomy' after defeat in New Zealand as Andy Farrell names two mistakes | Rugby

Head coach Andy Farrell lamented a mistake-riddled performance after under-strength Ireland slumped to a deflating 23-13 defeat to New Zealand in Dublin.

The Six Nations champions went into their autumn opener as favorites before succumbing to a first home defeat in 20 games dating back more than three years.

Will Jordan’s 37th try in 39 tests sealed a deserved success for the All Blacks at a sold-out Aviva Stadium, contributing to six penalties for Damian McKenzie.

Ireland, who were defeated by the Kiwis in the World Cup quarter-finals in France last year, conceded 13 penalties during a stop-start affair and were unable to build on a 13-9 lead after Josh van der Flier’s score. early in the second half.

Farrell said: “(I’m) disappointed. It’s easy to sum it up with the atmosphere in the locker room: it’s pretty somber.

“The boys are gutted, we are all gutted together. I thought we prepared well, trained well, I thought we were excited about the game and we were.

“We didn’t manage to express our game on the pitch. It’s clear that the opponent has a big influence on that, but I thought we made too many mistakes and sometimes almost suppressed ourselves a little bit.

“The accuracy was not what was needed to win such a big test match.”

Ireland had a man advantage when Van der Flier plundered the opening try of the match in the 43rd minute as Jordie Barrett was adjudged for a high tackle on Garry Ringrose just before half-time.

However, repeated fouls sucked the life out of the packed crowd and swung the encounter decisively back in New Zealand’s favour.

Ireland’s defeat was just a second on home soil during the Farrell era, following a 15-13 loss to France in February 2021.

“It’s a funny old feeling because it doesn’t bother us too much in the locker room,” Farrell said. “That’s life, congratulations New Zealand.

“There are no excuses for us. The opposition, to make a long story short, deserved to win. I actually thought the game was stop-start, it was a bit sloppy.

“There were a lot of mistakes, a bit because of the weather. It was a slow enough game at times and we had to be in charge of taking care of our energy, but we didn’t do that well enough.”

Talk of last year’s thrilling World Cup match has fueled the build-up to a match that has developed into a real rivalry in recent years, after more than a century of being dominated by the All Blacks.

Simmering tensions threatened to boil over in the 13th minute during a scuffle between Kiwi captain Scott Barrett and Ireland’s Joe McCarthy.

Barrett accused fellow lock McCarthy of deliberately targeting New Zealand fly-half McKenzie after a ruck.

“Normally I don’t make an exception but I saw something that, I think, was below the line for me,” said Barrett, whose side built on last weekend’s 24-22 win over England at Twickenham and top-flight Ireland drifted out of the rankings. world rankings.

“I think you should make it clear that you’re not referring to our ten tonight.”

“It looked like Damian was on the ground and Joe cleaned him up. From where I saw it, it looked like it was around his head. It looked like a bit of a shoulder for a guy on the ground.”