Andy Farrell: 'I'm really proud of the victory because it was hard-fought in the end against a bit of adversity' 

MEET AGAIN: Ireland head coach Andy Farrell, left, and Australia head coach Joe Schmidt will meet again next summer for the Lions Tour to Australia. Picture:  Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Andy Farrell insisted he would celebrate Ireland’s Autumn Nations Series campaign and the milestones reached this month before turning his attention to his next nine months on sabbatical with the British & Irish Lions.

Farrell signed off on Ireland head coaching duties with a hard-fought 22-19 victory over Joe Schmidt’s Australia at Aviva Stadium in the IRFU’s 150th Anniversary match on Saturday that also saw Cian Healy become his country’s record appearance maker, passing Brian O’Driscoll for his 134th cap when he came off the bench on 67 minutes.

Yet before handing over the head coach role to caretaker boss Simon Easterby, the Irish defence coach, for the 2025 Guinness Six Nations and end of season tour matches against Georgia and Portugal, Farrell said he wanted to properly mark the achievements of the past month.

“It sounds like I'm going on holiday,” Farrell said when the subject of his sabbatical was raised during his post-match media conference at the Aviva. “And that's not the case, I can guarantee you that.

“I've no emotion, honestly. The only thing that matters is this autumn and obviously there is a bit of planning that needs to be happening. But the Lions have been brilliant in allowing me to get on with my job. We'll celebrate the autumn and Cian's 134th cap and the IRFU's 150th anniversary well tonight and what tomorrow will bring, it will bring.” 

Farrell had demanded Ireland’s best performance of the November Test window against the Wallabies following a difficult autumn which started with a 23-13 defeat to New Zealand. Improvements were seen in a 22-19 win over Argentina and 52-17 hammering of Fiji but Saturday’s outing did not reach the expected heights.

Ireland had to work hard to overcome a 13-5 half-time deficit as an Australian side revitalised under former Irish boss Schmidt made life extremely difficult for their hosts. Wing Max Jorgensen had scored the opening try to add to Noah Lolesio’s ninth-minute penalty with the fly-half’s conversion opening up a 13-0 lead on 18 minutes. Josh van der Flier’s third try of the month on 23 minutes was Ireland’s only score of the opening 40 minutes with Lolesio’s 32nd minute penalty giving them an eight-point lead at the break.

Ireland opened the second half strongly through a Sam Prendergast penalty and Caelan Doris try, with the rookie fly-half’s conversion pushing the home side in front for the first time on 49 minutes, only to then concede back-to-back penalties as Lolesio kicked the Wallabies into a 19-15 lead in the 62nd.

It needed an injection from the bench to get Ireland over the line, Jack Crowley making an impact after replacing Prendergast with a clever grubber kick that forced Australia full-back Tom Wright to run the ball into touch and from the lineout maul, replacement hooker Gus McCarthy scored for the second week in a row after a starting debut against Fiji. Crowley’s conversion form wide out on the left sealed victory but it was a far from fluent Irish performance.

Farrell’s men conceded 20 turnovers, made 28 handling errors and lost five lineouts and the head coach said: “We had enough possession and territory to win the game twice over in the first half and we spilled enough ball and made enough errors in the first half to lose two matches as well.

"We were feeling sorry for ourselves but you've no right to think that everything's going to go your own way, all singing, all dancing the whole time.

"So with that in mind, we got over ourselves and I thought we came back strong.

"The big picture of the game is that I'm really proud of the victory because it was hard-fought in the end against a bit of adversity, so delighted to get the win.” 

 Of the performances of his two fly-halves, Prendergast, 21, and Crowley, 24, Farrell said they were: "Good, yeah.

“I thought Sam had some lovely stuff. He made some errors, some kicks that weren't perfect. His touch-finding kicks were outstanding and it's a real feature. Some of the kicks he put up in the air were obviously too long and we needed to fix that, it allowed them to relieve a bit of territory.

"He had some nice playing. I don't know what you thought about the quick tap (pulled back by referee Andrea Piardi). There was a water boy on, I think they said, but the referee had given the mark so that's nice, innovative stuff from him.

"Equally I thought Jack was excellent when he came on. He took hold of the game. The little ball that he put into the corner, nice weighted kick, rather than just putting it out. We got the lineout from that that really kicked us on. So delighted with them both.” 

Inevitably the subject of his upcoming Lions tenure was returned to and when a question began with, “you’re leaving for the Lions”, Farrell replied: “ I'm not leaving. What do you mean I'm leaving? I live in Sandymount, 10 minutes away – I'm not going anywhere.

“I'll be keeping an eye on everyone. That's what I love to do anyway. I love watching rugby. It's something that I do constantly the whole time. Being able to have an opinion on everyone is something that I enjoy doing so that won't change.”