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Andy Farrell backed his team’s decision-making after a disappointing loss to France in Paris that ruined the hopes of Ireland’s Six Nations.
During the week, the head coach had scrapped the idea of playing a “high stakes” game to secure a try-bonus point, which in the end, after England’s eventual 34-5 win over Italy, was not required. .
Conor Murray shot at the goal early and later in the half, captain Johnny Sexton parried a relatively simple 3-pointer.
When asked what the plan was, Farrell told reporters, “The plan is pretty simple, it’s the feel and flow of the game.
“And the guys have that feel and flow.
“Conor imagined himself in the first few gates, even though it was a long-range kick that he had been hitting for fun warm-up and he drew back to do it.
“You’re probably getting to the point just before the break, whether it’s to go to the posts or to the corner.
“I support the players to feel what is right, I feel the flow of the game, and I suppose everyone would judge the decision of what is right and what is wrong.
“But I would go more to try and follow the line once you make a decision, that’s how you execute it.
“And those are the parts that I will be critical of.”
Sexton said he has no regrets about turning down kickable shots: “No, because they had the yellow card, so for 10 minutes we had the extra man.
“We should have scored from a couple of us kicking into the corner, then just before the break we could have taken three points and come in with the advantage.
“But look, we knew we had to win the game by six or four tries, so we were doing our best to push.
“We knew they could score shots out of nowhere, it’s a bit like when you play the All Blacks.
“You have to have the mentality to score attempts, sometimes it comes out, sometimes it doesn’t.
“The decision was brave, but the execution did not support the decision.”
Farrell, whose son, England captain Owen, was one of the main beneficiaries of Ireland’s 35-27 loss, France’s margin of victory was not enough to propel them over the line after finishing tied on points, he added. You will have a busy time spilling over the video and regretting how many opportunities they had.
“Some things [went wrong] actually, “Farrell said of the overall performance, in which Ireland lost three of 17 lineouts and conceded 14 turnovers.
“There were enough chances for us to win two games.
“We certainly weren’t clinical enough with the opportunities we had and if you don’t take your chances in big games like this, eventually you will take off.
“Obviously it’s something to say, but we had enough innings at the 22nd French and we didn’t come out with points.
“It’s as simple as that really.”
Ireland was still in the game at halftime, but an 11-point salvo early in the second half by Fabien Galthie, ending with four attempts to Ireland’s three, proved costly.
He added: “At halftime the talk was about believing, it was a bit off and we sent in a score just after halftime, it wasn’t great.
“Sometimes we kill our own momentum and then that stopped the flow of things, I guess the mistakes we made were general, it wasn’t just one area, but I guess being a clinician in the last third of the field was the Main Point.
“In fact, I thought at halftime we were 80%, not 100% completely and believing.
“That’s what I’m saying about getting opportunities close to the line, and not getting there with our rucking, with our collision work.
“I thought it was okay sometimes, but you have to make your own luck in big games like this against big guys like that.
“We didn’t do it 100% in terms of precision and physicality, we could have come out with more points in that first half.
“At halftime you try to correct some things and give faith, but they marked that attempt.
“There were quite a few important moments in that game, 28-20, we had a lineout on his line and we came out with nothing.
“In the set piece a couple of times, we spilled some balls, we missed the touch twice, there are a number of things that weaken you and fuel the opposition.”
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