Autumn Nations Series | Farrell: Victory over All Blacks a fantastic day for Irish rugby

by Andy Baber

Andy Farrell hailed a “fantastic day” for Irish rugby and praised his players for their bravery after Ireland defeated New Zealand 29-20 in front of a raucous Dublin crowd.

Three years after beating the All Blacks for the first time on home soil, Ireland found themselves trailing 10-5 at half-time, as Codie Taylor cancelled out James Lowe’s early try.

Second-half tries from Ronan Kelleher and Player of the Match Caelan Doris turned the game in Ireland’s favour before the visitors cut the gap with a Will Jordan score.

Ireland make history again with victory over All Blacks in Dublin

But Joey Carbery’s boot ensured the hosts completed back-to-back wins over New Zealand and Farrell was delighted with the way his men held their nerve against the world No.1 side.

“It was a fantastic day for Irish rugby, so proud of the lads,” he said.

“We wanted to be brave enough to stick to the process, to what we’re trying to achieve, be nice and calm in how we’re trying to execute our plays and make sure we stay disciplined.

Jack Conan and James Ryan celebrate as Ronan Kelleher scores a try

“I thought just before half-time we lost a little bit of that. We were going off our feet a little bit and we had a few penalties taken away because of it but we re-focused at half-time.

“We stayed nice and calm and therefore the plan was executed nicely. It was brave to back it up as well and we asked the boys to bring enough moments to the crowd.

“We wanted to get them on song and that was right the way through the game.

“It certainly helped us in the last ten minutes.”

Ireland now head into their final Autumn Nations Series match against Argentina on the back of wins against Japan and New Zealand, extending their winning streak to seven overall.

But while Farrell admitted his players will be allowed to celebrate their third win over the All Blacks in five Tests, he insisted they will not be taking Los Pumas for granted.

James Lowe scores the opening try despite Jordie Barrett

“The hardest thing about top level sport is being consistent and we’ve had a couple of good performances now and obviously it was a tough ask,” he said.

“We wanted to back ourselves and see where we were at. It was a nice performance and a victory to go with it. It’s special for the players, they believe in what they’re doing.

“It’s nice to get the rewards and we’re on to the next one already. We’ll soak this one up tonight and enjoy it, the main thing is to be consistent again next week against Argentina.

“Argentina are a good side you know, they are nice and physical. So we’ll dust ourselves off and enjoy this one first and then get back to work next week.”