Andy Farrell was left seething by Ireland’s first-half passivity against France as his team sank to a 36-14 Guinness Six Nations defeat on Thursday night but said his players had no choice but to regroup ahead of their round-two clash at home to Italy on Saturday week or their disappointment would stand for nothing.
It was a chastening night in Paris for Ireland, with the seeds sown by what the head coach described as “a lack of intent” in defence as a ruthless French side exposed Irish errors to take a three-try, 22-0 half-time lead. A second try of the night from left wing Louis Bielle-Biarrey six minutes into the second half, brought up the try bonus point for the defending champions as the Bordeaux star picked up where he left off in last season’s championship, when he scored a Six Nations record eight as Les Bleus were crowned champions.
Ireland rallied with two quick tries around the hour mark as replacement forwards Nick Timoney and Michael Milne marked their Six Nations debuts with scores, converted by Sam Prendergast but France completed their victory with a fifth try of the night scored by right wing Theo Attisogbe in the final minute.
In his post-match television interviews Farrell had said he had not expected to see that lack of intent from an Irish side.
“Obviously very disappointed, through something that I never thought we’d be saying about this Irish team, we had a bit of a lack of intent in that first-half – missed tackles, winning the scraps on the floor or the fight in the air, it’s just intent,” the Ireland boss told ITV.
“And if that’s lacking you’re not going to win any international game, never mind one in Paris.”
Farrell continued the theme later in his media conference at Stade de France.
“Well I think you make your own luck in this game and you make your own luck by being ahead of the game, in most things probably without the ball, and I thought we certainly lost that battle in the first half.
“I think you make your own luck in things like the high balls, winning the scraps on the floor, running and through tackles and ourselves missing tackles, etc, that’s the main part of the game, isn’t it, and we certainly came off second best in that regard in the first half.
“We had a response to that in the second half and a gallant response, but it’s not what we want to be, a responding team to something that we need to show up with from the get-go.”
Asked about needing to regroup on Ireland’s return home and the beginning of preparations for Saturday week’s home clash with Italy, Farrell replied: “Well we have to, don’t we? Otherwise the disappointment stands for absolutely zero, so we have to be honest with each other and say it as it is, and roll up to work next week and make sure that this stands for something.
“We need to use it not just individually but obviously collectively to make sure that we give a better showing of ourselves throughout the rest of this competition, obviously starting with Italy next week.”
Farrell had been without a number of his frontline regulars with loosehead props Andrew Porter, Paddy McCarthy and Jack Boyle as well as senior tighthead Tadhg Furlong missing in addition to lock/flanker Ryan Baird and back-three stars Hiugo Keenen and Mack Hansen, all of whom are injured. Centre Bundee Aki is suspended for the first three matches of the championship and as a result of all the absences there were Six Nations debuts for starters Tommy O’Brien on the right wing, and Cian Prendergast at blindside flanker as well as Timoney and Milne off the bench, the latter on his 27th birthday. Starting loosehead Jeremy Loughman was making his first Six Nations appearance in two years and left wing Jacob Stockdale his first championship start since 2021.
The head coach added: “I learned a lot about the team and the individuals. I suppose these type of occasions, these type of events are a first for quite a few of our group.
“Every game that you play for your country, whether it be a big win or a tough loss, there has to be a learning curve. We have to take those learnings from that. As a group and as individuals, we need to use it in the right manner and move on.
“I felt that we had the right intentions with our preparation of how we wanted to play the game. Hopefully that does stand to us. But you cannot play the game at this level without having the right intention. It’s an absolute must.
“It’s the first thing that has to be done on the list to make sure that it’s delivered every single time that we take a field.”
That said, Farrell insisted he was not concerned but confident about Ireland’s potential to bridge the gap to Test rugby’s elite, despite having lost to New Zealand, South Africa and now France this season.
“Yeah, I am because I know the people that we’ve got. I know the good people that we’ve got, the good players that are not just here but who are at home as well.
“I know that there’s a determined group to make sure that we are constantly up there at the top of world rugby to be able to compete. That will always be the case.”
