Andy Farrell chose his words carefully when discussing the performance of referee Nic Berry in Ireland’s 40-21 defeat to New Zealand on Saturday.
Ireland were comfortably second best in Auckland, on a night that showed the gulf that currently exists between them and world rugby’s “big three” of NZ, South Africa, and France.
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Few would contend Ireland would have been full value had they managed to sneak a win, but there were a few decisions that went against them at Eden Park.
Luke Jacobson was seriously lucky to avoid his yellow card being upgraded to a red in the first half when he led with his elbow to the face of Josh van der Flier.
In the second half, Quinn Tupaea somehow avoided any card for the clearest deliberate knock-on you’re likely to see in the Nations Championship.
When asked about the performance of Nic Berry and his team of officials at full-time, Ireland head coach Andy Farrell chose his words very carefully.
Andy Farrell calls out referee
“There’s incidents all over the field tonight that you could talk about and we’re not able to do that, so I’ll pass on that one,” Farrell said when asked if Jacobson should have seen red for his hit on van der Flier.
Though Farrell refused to outright condemn the performance of the match officials, he did express his displeasure with several of the key decisions on Saturday.
Though any prospect of a win was long since gone for Ireland, the final whistle did appear to be blown when another play should have been allowed, with Ireland chasing a try bonus point.
In previous tours that would have been inconsequential, but with the Nations Championship a league table format, any prospect of bonus points is crucial to Ireland’s hopes of reaching November’s final.
Farrell was, for the most part, tight-lipped on the refereeing on Saturday, but did admit Ireland wanted “answers” as to how the game was allowed to end when another play should have followed.
We look at the screen, we know that there’s a few seconds left, I don’t know what the explanation is.
We’re chasing a bonus point. Hopefully we can get an answer.
In reality, Ireland’s chances of reaching the grand final in November appear slim on the evidence of Saturday’s game in Auckland.
Their past six games against France, South Africa or New Zealand have all seen Ireland end up on the losing side by 10 or more points, suggesting the gulf between them and the world’s best is widening.
One man who does not believe that hypothesis is Andy Farrell.
“I don’t think so,” Farrell said when asked if he felt the 19-point margin between the teams was a fair reflection of where they were at.
“We’re disappointed with ourselves, we’re full of pride because of the fight, but we’re disappointed with how it unfolded in the accuracy of a few parts of our game. I think the two sides are certainly closer than that, but I suppose the only thing that matters is how both teams keep on improving over the next 15 months.”