Ex-Ireland star Shane Horgan insists that Andy Farrell’s outfit need to “work harder” if they are to get back to the top of the game.
It has been a challenging 2024 Autumn Nations Series so far for the Irishmen with them succumbing to the All Blacks and only just narrowly overcoming Argentina.
Farrell’s side edged past Los Pumas 22-19 on Friday as they struggled to maintain their discipline throughout the encounter.
It has usually been an area of strength for Ireland but it has let them down in this campaign, with their loss to New Zealand also riddled with needless infringements.
Improving for final two games
That area is something they need to get right as they will want to avoid a couple of potentially uncomfortable games against Fiji and the Wallabies over the next two weeks.
“It’s interesting that he (Farrell) says the discipline is desperate because it was. I’m just looking at that scoreboard and the number of penalties was 13-5,” Horgan said on Virgin Media Sport.
“If that’s five penalties each, Ireland win that game by 15 to 20 points, that’s it. We’re then sitting here going, ‘That was a great performance, Ireland are back on track and we’re rolling’.
“That’s not just giving away silly away penalties, it’s working harder to make sure you’re not on the wrong side, working harder to make sure you have the right numbers in the ruck, working harder to make sure that when you are hitting the ruck, you’re hitting the right man and you’re very accurate about it.”
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Ireland went into the All Blacks clash atop the World Rugby rankings but they have since slipped down to third, with New Zealand and South Africa usurping them.
Farrell’s side are struggling to find the tempo and quality which saw them dominate the game for a period before the 2023 Rugby World Cup, but Horgan believes that it could be a relatively simple fix.
However, if they don’t sort it against Fiji then the former wing reckons that the head coach may well read the riot act to his players.
‘There’s going to be trouble’
“People think about a penalty and it’s driving a shoulder into someone’s head or knocking the ball down, it’s not that actually,” he said.
“It’s the ones where they get in over the ball or you don’t have enough numbers in the ruck; they’re the key ones. You eliminate those, you get those numbers down and Ireland are in a much better position.
“Then the momentum that we’re not seeing and the fluidity we’re not seeing, all of a sudden that comes. It’s taking it out of the opposition as well and you’ve got a very different game.
“His message will be next week, ‘lads, if we’re not under 10 penalties, there’s going to be trouble.’”