{"id":172854,"date":"2025-11-10T09:12:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T09:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/172854\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T09:12:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T09:12:11","slug":"farrell-frustrated-at-ireland-performance-against-japan-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/172854\/","title":{"rendered":"Farrell frustrated at Ireland performance against Japan \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Halfway through their four-game autumnal schedule and Ireland still haven\u2019t found what they are looking for. <\/p>\n

Andy Farrell\u2019s mood is always an accurate barometer, as was evident in the head coach\u2019s frustrated mood after a decidedly uneven 41-10 win over Japan. <\/p>\n

Farrell was almost as subdued as the supposed 50,000-plus crowd at the Aviva Stadium, although even if 6,000 or 7,000 supporters didn\u2019t use their tickets it was a healthy turn-out for 12.40pm kick-off. <\/p>\n

But the performance was certainly not the confidence booster either Farrell or the team were looking for ahead of games against Australia next Saturday night and, yikes, the all-conquering South Africa a week later. <\/p>\n

Three times Farrell was asked if confidence was an issue and he seemed to accept this was the case, albeit without having too much sympathy for his players. <\/p>\n

\u201cWell, that\u2019s our job to make sure that that\u2019s not the case. If it is so we will address that. But I suppose, where they are at, you can have all sorts of excuses, can\u2019t you, with start of the season and travel, jet lag, all that. But not really. It shouldn\u2019t matter. We shouldn\u2019t be giving ourselves that excuse if subconsciously that\u2019s in the back of people\u2019s minds. We need to address that really as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was almost like a Charity Shield game,\u201d added Farrell in likening the game to a seasonal warm-up, \u201cand that\u2019s that shouldn\u2019t be the case. Anytime you play for Ireland, it should be a Test match where you go out there with proper intention from the start and play your game. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems that most people have had a game, so we need to get over ourselves and get on with the big boy stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Five things we learned from Ireland\u2019s win over JapanOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

More than once Farrell talked about \u201cfeeling sorry for ourselves\u201d, adding: \u201cI wasn\u2019t on the field but I could see it was as though we were suppressing ourselves. When everyone\u2019s flying it, you can see [it] in body language, can\u2019t you? You can see with how people move. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were just slowing ourselves down mentally and therefore physically as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were snapshots more than sustained passages of play indicating what Ireland are capable of, as when Jack Crowley pulled the strings and orchestrated his own try in the 20th minute with a fluid, 60m attack through five phases.<\/p>\n

\"DuringDuring the 2025 Quilter Nations Series game between Ireland and Japan in Aviva Stadium on Saturday. Photograph: Tom O\u2019Hanlon\/ Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that\u2019s what we\u2019re after,\u201d said Farrell, before quickly refocusing on the negatives. \u201cI mean we were forcing the pass, weren\u2019t we? Not being patient enough at times and then not playing on the gainline sometimes, not getting our forwards into the game as much as you would have liked. <\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of it comes from not punching onto the ball with proper intent in the first place and getting that quick ball. We kicked a couple out of the ruck ourselves. So, it was multiple things really.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nor was there much in the way of mitigation. Noting Tom Farrell\u2019s full debut and home debuts for Tommy O\u2019Brien and Paddy McCarthy, both of whom were among Ireland\u2019s six try scorers and eight changes in the starting XV, Farrell said: \u201cAll that emotion can get in the way sometimes and it\u2019s up to everyone else to dig each other out and take responsibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut again, it\u2019s not always going to be flowing for you. So, these lessons are good to learn when it does feel like that. How could we not get back on track? And why? What are the reasons? And so they\u2019re all good learnings, especially when you can get back on the horse and get away with a 41-10 win.\u201d<\/p>\n

As to who will be the people to drive the upturn in mood and focus this coming week, Farrell said: \u201cWell, obviously that comes down to the team that we select as well, doesn\u2019t it? So, yeah, some good lessons over the last couple of weeks and we all know about Australia, what they\u2019ll be thinking about coming to the Aviva. It\u2019s obviously a big game for Joe [Schmidt] and certainly will be for us at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Caelan Doris brings a presence to captaincy which makes Ireland prosperOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\"TommyTommy O’Brien celebrates scoring his sides 6th try of the match against Japan. Photograph: INPHO\/ Billy Stickland <\/p>\n

Australia have arrived in Dublin from Udine on the back of a second successive defeat to Italy having been deservedly beaten 26-19 on Saturday and, of course, Farrell will be renewing acquaintances and rivalry with Joe Schmidt and the wounded Wallabies barely three months on from the Lions tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone knows the threats they\u2019ve got, as far as the pace and athleticism in the backline, but I think the threat is up front as well. The way they go about their business up front was a part of their game that got better throughout the [Lions] series. It\u2019ll be a hell of a Test match, next week.<\/p>\n

The win came at a considerable cost too, with Jamie Osborne left on the deck and clutching his shoulder when cleared out at a Japanese ruck in the 64th minute before being helped off. \u201cDoesn\u2019t look good, doesn\u2019t look good. Poor lad,\u201d admitted Farrell.<\/p>\n

In the absence of Hugo Keenan and on the presumption that the unfortunate Osborne is ruled out of the last two games of the Autumn Nations Series, his replacement on Saturday, Jimmy O\u2019Brien, will likely start at full-back. Jacob Stockdale is another option, as is Mack Hansen according to Farrell. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think Mack is progressing so we\u2019ll see how he is,\u201d said Farrell of the Connacht winger\/full-back who has been sidelined with a recurrence of the foot problem he had on the Lions tour. \u201cI don\u2019t know the full story there but I know he\u2019s progressing well. Jacob loves, by his admission, playing full-back. So, there\u2019s options with Jimmy O\u2019Brien as well. It\u2019s just unfortunate for Jamie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Will Skelton\u2019s availability for Saturday\u2019s game is in serious doubt due to an ankle injury suffered playing for La Rochelle in their Top 14 game against Toulon which forced him off near the hour mark.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis week Will played for the club while his country played in Italy,\u201d La Rochelle coach Ronan O\u2019Gara said afterwards. \u201cHe always wants to play in the big games, and he felt that this match against Toulon was one of them. For Australia, I hope he won\u2019t miss next week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt has confirmed that centre Len Ikitau will be available.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Halfway through their four-game autumnal schedule and Ireland still haven\u2019t found what they are looking for. Andy Farrell\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[70904,75579,18,19,17,34132,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-172854","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-andy-farrell","9":"tag-autumn-nations-series","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-ireland-rugby","14":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115524635713663296","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}