Rugby Union - Autumn Internationals - Ireland v Australia - Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland - November 15, 2025 Ireland head coach Andy Farrell before the match REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
DUBLIN (Reuters) -Ireland coach Andy Farrell said his overriding feeling was one of unbelievable pride after his side lost 24-13 to South Africa on Saturday having spent part of a "mad game" down to 12 men after a flurry of cards.
Ireland lost James Ryan to a 20-minute red card early on, had three men in the sin bin during a nine-minute spell late in the first half and suffered a fourth yellow after the break as their scrum succumbed to incessant Springbok pressure.
"To say it was stop-start is an understatement, with all the carry on with the cards and stoppages for the scrums. A mad game. I wouldn't have thought I'd seen anything like that before and I've seen a few things," Farrell said.
"But the overriding feeling is I'm unbelievably proud. Going down to 12 men, how the lads came out and showed the bottle for the country, certainly in the first 10 minutes of that second half was absolutely amazing."
"To be able to win a second half 6-5 under those type of circumstances - I know it doesn't tell the full story of the second half - but it was actually amazing really that occurred."
Ireland conceded seven scrum penalties and Farrell said it was not the first time South Africa's world-class scrummagers had done that.
"They try to cause a bit of chaos, certainly at scrumtime but in general as well and I thought we just lost our composure a little bit," Farrell said.
"Some of the stuff that we did really well last week (in the 46-19 win over Australia) didn't really transfer this week. Our kicking game was a bit long and a bit off at times, our high ball stuff was way better last week and our composure in the 22 was way better."
"But that's the type of pressure that a world-class side like South Africa bring."
The loss capped a mixed November of two wins and two defeats for Ireland, but Farrell maintained they were in good shape heading into next February's Six Nations.
"I think we're in a good place. The experience some of the lads have gotten over the autumn who had very little caps, they're the ones that actually stood up really tall," he said.
"There are great learnings from all of that and we take that into the Six Nations."
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin, editing by Ed Osmond)
