Only time will tell how damaging Saturday’s 24-13 defeat to South Africa at a feverish Aviva Stadium will prove to be for this Irish team, and particularly for its scrum.
But it could certainly have been much worse, and Andy Farrell maintained his team will take more positives from this astonishing game than seemed conceivable.
The Irish head coach had been relatively critical of his side’s performances in losing to New Zealand and beating Japan. He was not having rustiness as an excuse and he could scarcely conceal his anger at what he thought were players feeling sorry for themselves. But there was none of that here.
“How can you not be proud of that effort?” he asked rhetorically after his side has resisted all manner of blows, be they Boks tries, four yellow cards and a 20-minute red that saw them start the second half with 12 players and trailing 19-7.
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Noting how they dealt with what he called the chaos, Farrell added: “But how they stayed on in there and gave themselves a chance because let’s be real, if we had had taken our opportunities, we would have been in with a chance. It would have been an unbelievable story, wouldn’t it to write really considering what went on during the match.”
It would have been one to tell the grandchildren about all right, albeit some of the damage was self-inflicted.
“That’s what we’ve got to look at ourselves in the mirror with those type of things, the manageable ones that give them the access but, at the same time, how we got through that, along with the cards and set-piece stuff, how they managed to fight through all of that. That’s what shines through for me.”
It’s a very fine line between achieving the mix of aggression and discipline needed for epic Test showdowns like this, especially one against the game’s most confrontational opponents and in such a crackling atmosphere. And Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was fortunate that he was allowed to cross that line in the fifth minute.
In not even issuing a yellow card to the outhalf after catching Tommy O’Brien high, the referee Matthew Carley and his officials abrogated their responsibilities toward player safety and did not adhere to World Rugby’s guidelines around head contact.
But, with temperatures still running high in the 20th minute, James Ryan incurred what would become the first red card of his career, leaving Ireland down to 14 men for 20 minutes and without their right-sided lock for the rest of the game, as well as the difference between leading 7-5 and trailing 0-5.
If Ryan and Ireland could have one moment back, that would undoubtedly be it.
“He’s gutted,” said Farrell. “He’s upset in there. He apologised to the group. There was other things that went on within the game as well that we need to address. It’s not just one man’s doing by far. We’re all in this together.”
Farrell was determined to maintain an upbeat tone despite, or perhaps because, this season’s biennial Six Nations itinerary encompasses games away to France and England, beginning in Paris just 10 weeks from next Thursday, and believes this November window has set Ireland up well.
“Well, I just said to the lads that I think it’s been great for us as far as our journey, because when you look at the likes of Paddy [McCarthy], I thought he was really good today.
“And then the experience that you’re giving to people who are stepping up at this type of level now in Cian Prendergast and Nick Timoney, Tommy O’Brien, all those type of people that have got more and more experience. They need that.
“I mean, wow, that’s like fast-tracking international experience going through that type of experience tonight.”
The biggest concern, for sure, is the scars which the Springboks inflicted on the Irish scrum, particularly as the one team best equipped, and inclined, to target the Irish pack in this area is France.
Ireland conceded a penalty try, two yellow cards, six penalties and two more tries with scrum penalty advantages on Saturday. Much of the carnage was suffered by a numerically depowered Irish pack but the tone had been set by the first scrum and other points when it was 8 v 8. And this was Ireland’s all-Lions frontrow.
Furthermore, save for Ryan Baird succeeding Peter O’Mahony, this was the exact same starting pack which fronted up in the 19-16 win over South Africa here three years ago and the only change from the 13-8 World Cup pool win was Rónan Kelleher starting ahead of Dan Sheehan.
It was the same personnel for the drawn series in July 2024 in South Africa plus Joe McCarthy, who will hopefully return from his foot injury in good time for the Six Nations.
His younger brother Paddy has made giant strides this month and should continue to do so over the next two years, and while he too incurred displeasure of Carley, but clearly Andrew Porter has developed more of an issue in the pictures he presents, especially for English referees.
The coach sought to play down these concerns, publicly anyway, and probably doesn’t have much choice.
“If you look at our scrum, over the last five or six years it’s been world class at times. There’s a Lions frontrow in there. So, that’s not been an issue for us at all. It’s been a strength for us and we pride ourselves on that. Sometimes they catch you. They’ve caught plenty other teams and the momentum, they kept on going for the blood, didn’t they?”
But one ventures Farrell is privately more worried than he was letting on, and so must be the scrum coach John Fogarty.
Fittingly, Saturday’s bruising and heroic effort against the Boks also took its toll physically.
“Mack [Hansen] has injured his foot again, so that’s a little bit ongoing,” said Farrell, of something that is also a little bit worrying. “We’ll see how that turns up tomorrow.
“Ryan Baird, I believe, has fractured his tibia. He tried to carry on within all that as well, so some courage being shown there.”
Every Irish player dug deep, none more so than Josh van der Flier and Garry Ringrose, who departed in the 73rd minute.
“Garry was out on his feet,” said Farrell. “I thought Garry Ringrose was outstanding tonight in his efforts. I mean, he ran his blood to water and he was running on empty at that stage, so we needed a bit of fresh legs.”
He wasn’t alone.
