{"id":560784,"date":"2026-07-21T13:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T13:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/560784\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T13:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T13:14:11","slug":"certainly-closer-than-that-ireland-scoreline-flattered-new-zealand-believes-farrell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/560784\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Certainly closer than that’ – Ireland scoreline flattered New Zealand believes Farrell"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland Head Coach Andy Farrell has suggested that his side\u2019s defeat to the All Blacks flattered the hosts.<\/p>\n

Last Saturday, the All Blacks won 40-21 at Eden Park in a game where they dominated Andy Farrell\u2019s side throughout, bursting to a 28-7 lead at halftime, putting the game beyond doubt.<\/p>\n

And now Ireland are under the microscope as over the past year they\u2019ve now lost twice to New Zealand, as well as losing convincingly to France and South Africa while beating everyone else to firmly place themselves as the fourth best team in the world.<\/p>\n

\"Ireland\"The Ireland team after conceding a try. Pic: Brendan Moran\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

However, speaking to the media after the defeat, Andy Farrell<\/a> felt the 19-point margin of victory flattered New Zealand. <\/p>\n

\u2018I don\u2019t think so, I think the two sides are certainly closer than that,\u2019 Farrell said when asked if the scoreline was a fair reflection.<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019re disappointed with ourselves. We\u2019re full of pride because of the fight, et cetera. But we\u2019re disappointed with how it unfolded, the inaccuracies of a few parts of our game.\u2019<\/p>\n

Farrell went on to explain that it was Ireland\u2019s own fault for giving New Zealand such a platform to score, highlighting the unforced mistakes and ill discipline. <\/p>\n

\u2018The flow of our game is not flowing for many different reasons, whether that be penalties conceded or uncharacteristic poor passing, whether it be [passes] into touch or intercept passing or whatever.<\/p>\n

\"\"Hugo Keenan of Ireland is tackled by Cam Roigard of New Zealand. Pic: Brendan Moran\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

\u2018We got a little bit too desperate at times. Also, our decision-making of when to go early when we created stuff through our carry.\u2019<\/p>\n

He continued: \u2018It\u2019s making sure that we make good decisions, if you look back on it, some of our best ballplayers (didn\u2019t). That\u2019s why I say \u2018uncharacteristic\u2019 really because it\u2019s something you don\u2019t see on a daily basis or on a weekend either.<\/p>\n

\u2018But that\u2019s what big matches do to you and that\u2019s a lesson that\u2019s got to be learned, that\u2019s for sure. These lads have not got it in them to give it up after a poor enough start, especially when things are not going our way.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ireland head coach Andy Farrell. Pic: Brendan Moran\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

With all those mistakes of Ireland\u2019s doing, Farrell believes that Ireland still put in a decent performance, winning the second half 14-12. <\/p>\n

\u2018So, even if the flow of our game never really got going, but how we stuck at it and kept on fighting is there for everyone.<\/p>\n

\u2018We saw that in Australia, and we got a great win on the back of that, but against the quality of opposition you\u2019re playing here, you\u2019re going to come off on the wrong side of the result.<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019ve got to use it in the right manner for what\u2019s happening in the next 15 months.\u2019<\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s Nations Championship continues this November<\/a> when they face Argentina, Fiji and South Africa before the Finals weekend in London at the end of that month. With only the Six Nations to follow, there are only around 10 matches until the start of the tournament in Australia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland Head Coach Andy Farrell has suggested that his side\u2019s defeat to the All Blacks flattered the hosts.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-560784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}