Ireland’s final November Series game descended into disciplinary farce as the Springboks won 24-13 at the Aviva Stadium and Andy Farrell was blown away by what he saw
13:02 ET, 23 Nov 2025Updated 13:02 ET, 23 Nov 2025
Referee Matthew Carley awards Ireland’s Sam Prendergast a yellow card(Image: ©INPHO/Gary Carr)
An exasperated Andy Farrell witnessed Ireland‘s final November Series clash against South Africa spiral into disciplinary chaos in Dublin.
English official Matt Carley brandished four first-half yellow cards to Ireland as James Ryan, Sam Prendergast, Jack Crowley and Andrew Porter were all sent to the sin-bin; Ryan’s yellow was upgraded to a 20-minute red by VAR while Paddy McCarthy also received a second-half yellow.
“I’d say it was chaotic, I haven’t seen a game like that, ever,” said the Ireland coach. “My overriding feeling is unbelievably proud, if you can’t learn from that you are in the wrong place.
READ MORE: Aaron Rodgers’ actions after arriving at Soldier Field will need to be censored by TVREAD MORE: Bill Belichick family member ‘launched wild 40-minute Jordon Hudson rant’ after UNC game
“The yellow card that went to red was a try (Dan Sheehan had crossed afterwards). I just think we lost our composure, some of the stuff we did well last week didn’t transfer to this week.
“For all sorts of free reasons, I thought going down to 12 men, the lads showed their bottle for the country. To be able to win the second half 6-5 under those circumstances was amazing,” reports the Irish Mirror.
That Ireland only dropped 13-24 was attributable to almost miraculous defensive efforts by the Irish squad which Farrell viewed as a silver lining.
“When you fight so hard and after 72 minutes we were still in with a chance to put ourselves into the game,” he added. “With four minutes to go we had a chance to score a try and that would have put us right back in the game.”
Andy Farrell was left exasperated by Ireland’s defeat
Leading the team on the night carried extra complexity given all the on-field challenges, cards, substitutions and injuries.
“You’re just trying to get a bit of order of people who are playing in different positions and positions that actually don’t exist because of a 12-man gym,” Doris explained.
“People are covering obviously two, three positions. Different positions in attack and different positions in defense.
“So you’re just trying to get a bit of order and let the lads understand who’s coming back at what time and how we need to manage the game in that period and amongst all that, I thought they did outstandingly well.”
READ MORE: Ian Garry tells Islam Makhachev ‘you’re done’ after battering Belal MuhammadREAD MORE: Ian Garry gets away with two controversial moves and everyone makes same Jon Jones point
Ireland was also up against the world’s most formidable scrum, at one point reduced to six forwards.
Doris continued, “It was pretty unique. Chaotic is the word that sums it up, definitely. Like Faz’s reference earlier, I’m proud of the fight, the courage, the character that we showed at times.
“I do think, obviously, you want that to transfer into points and results, but I do think it’s going to stand to us going forward, definitely.
“There was a good reset at half-time and there was excitement about going out and enjoying the chaotic nature and trying to stay calm within that and keep fighting. So I thought it was good. We were aware that it was four or five minutes until we had numbers back in and the way we dug in, I thought it was pretty good.”