Andy Farrell cut a contented figure after Ireland’s commanding 52-17 win over Fiji. He took particularly pleasure in making it a notable day for the debutants, Gus McCarthy and Cormac Izuchukwu, as well as Sam Prendergast in his first Test start, on a day when opportunity knocked for so many.
But the sight of Jacob Stockdale pulling up with a hamstring injury, as well as Jamie Osborne departing due to an adductor injury, somewhat tarnished the day.
“[Stockdale] pulled up sharp with a hamstring so obviously we’ll see how that is tomorrow. But he pulled up quite sharp, so I was gutted for him,” said the Ireland head coach. He added Osborne was unable to carry on, “so that doesn’t look bright at the minute.”
Are Ireland back to their best after thrashing Fiji?
The only blemish on Izuchukwu’s day in becoming the first Irish men’s 15-a-side international from Co Offaly was having a try ruled out by referee Hollie Davidson for a forward pass by Mack Hansen which looked marginal.
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“I was gutted for Izzy in regards to the forward pass, it was marginal, so Mack says anyway,” said Farrell. “It would have been nice for him to get over the line. I thought he was a presence, certainly in the lineout. He’s some athlete.
[ Ireland make light work of ill-disciplined FijiOpens in new window ]
“You give people these opportunities for them to realise their own potential. It’s what they do with that experience now, that’s going to be important pushing on.
“What a story there for Gus,” Farrell said of the 21-year-old Blackrock and Leinster hooker. “Two years ago (he was) lifting the Senior Cup at Caelan’s school. I thought he did a brilliant job.
“A harsh call, I thought, on the first lineout,” added Farrell in relation to the first of two calls deeming McCarthy’s lineout throw crooked. “But it never bothered him at all. He just kept going to play 80 minutes and played the finish at number 7. Himself and his family will remember that forever.”
As he was when Prendergast made his debut off the bench against Argentina a week ago, Farrell was effusive in his praise of the 21-year-old Leinster outhalf.
“I thought he did great. I thought he was really composed. The kick to the corner, that was harsh as well, but it didn’t bother him,” said Farrell of Prendergast’s penalty to the corner which was ruled to have found touch in goal.
“He had a few mistakes within his game but he was pulling the strings for a good while, and he was really, really composed.
“It’s tough against Fiji because you don’t know what you’re going to get in front of you at times.
“Certainly, the breakdown is an absolute mess at times, because they’re so ferocious there and they’re so short defensively that you can see the space but you have them shooting out from out wide, and to have the composure and play the line like he did at times, I thought it was a great showing from him.”
Ireland captain Caelan Doris felt it was the best of Ireland’s three Autumn Nations Series games so far ahead of their game against Joe Schmidt’s revitalised Wallabies next Saturday.
“It felt pretty dominant out there. Good start to the game, similar to last week, and the message at half-time was to have a ruthless start to the second half and to kick on. Our attack hasn’t quite fired in the second half over the last couple of weeks, but it was good today, we got a few tries off the back of it,” said Doris in light of Ireland scoring four tries in each half.
“It’s pretty pleasing, I think like Faz mentioned, there was a bit of an onus on some of the older, more experienced guys to take a bit of a load off the younger guys, and I think there’s a pretty even spread across the week, even the guys who weren’t playing stood up and allowed the young guys to do what they do best.”
Doris, having opened the scoring himself, was heavily involved in a couple more off strike plays, notably the trick tap penalty move when he gave the try-scoring pass to Josh van der Flier, which he accredited to Paul O’Connell.
Prendergast’s day might have panned out differently had his yellow card been upgraded to a red, with the Fijian head coach Mick Byrne remarking: “I think he was wearing a green jersey so it stayed yellow.”
Informed of Byrne’s remark, Farrell responded: “Ah, I get why it is but for me he turned his back and it’s harsh enough. I don’t know, I’ll have to have a look at it again but that’s the game, isn’t it?
“I thought our discipline was pretty good in general and it certainly added to the reason why, if you look at the story of the game and you fast forward it, I thought territory-wise and dominance-wise, yes, a couple of execution bits could have been better, I thought our discipline added to our strong hold on the game.”
Both Byrne and Fiji’s captain Waisale Nayacalevu accepted their concession of 17 penalties was of their own making. “They’re probably on us, they’re definitely on us,” admitted Byrne, while also lamenting “a few defensive lapses”.
Nayacalevu didn’t believe they weren’t being respected by World Rugby and officials, but added: “We got out there and give our best. We train all week to be disciplined, to play the game the way we want to play and at the end of the day, the match officials make the calls.
“Sometimes it doesn’t go your way, which is frustrating. At the moment, it’s happening, and if we can have that fair play call, then we can play more entertaining rugby and we get more momentum as well going into our games, playing how we want to play.”
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