A frustrated Andy Farrell delivered an honest assessment of the British and Irish Lions’ shock opening defeat by Argentina, describing his side’s error-strewn performance as “unacceptable”.
The Lions lost their first match of the summer for the first time since 1971 as they fell to a surprise 28-24 loss at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium on Friday night, tries from Ireland duo Bundee Aki and Tadhg Beirne plus a penalty score and seven points from the boot of Fin Smith proving in vain as the Pumas registered tries from Ignacio Mendy, Tomas Albornoz and Santiago Cordero.
Man-of-the-match Albornoz also kicked 13 points to deliver Argentina a first-ever win over the Lions in eight attempts, banishing memories of their last-gasp 25-all draw in Cardiff in 2005 as they made the perfect preparations for a two-Test series against weakened England to come on home soil next month.
The Lions have plenty of time to put things right as they now head Down Under for a nine-match trip that includes three Tests against Joe Schmidt’s improved Wallabies, starting on July 19, with a warm-up schedule featuring fixtures against Super Rugby and invitational opposition beginning against the Western Force in Perth next weekend.
Farrell admitted there was plenty to work on before that game as he lamented his team’s mistakes in Dublin.
“They capitalised on all the errors that we made, congratulations to Argentina,” the head coach told Sky Sports.
“As far as we are concerned, there is obviously a lot to do. You can’t win any Test match with that type of error rate.
“We lost enough ball there for a full tour, never mind a Test match against a good side like Argentina. Throwing passes that were never on.
“But it wasn’t just that, it was the aerial battle and the scraps on the floor. They were hungrier than us and that’s just not acceptable.
“A few lineouts and breakdown work was off a little bit at times. Disappointed, we need to be honest with ourselves and take the learnings from that and improve.
“There was good and bad throughout, I wouldn’t single out individuals or combinations. I thought we were just a little bit tentative, just a little bit off.
“I take responsibility for that. When we came out with a bit of fight at the start of that second half it was more like it, but we just suppressed ourselves with the error count and that carried on late. Again, you don’t win a Test match when that type of thing happens.”
Asked if he believed such a tough opening test stood his team in good stead for the challenges to come in Australia, Farrell said: “I sure hope so, because we get to find out where we’re at and where we’re at will certainly concentrate the mind.
“We will be honest with ourselves. We get on the plane tomorrow and we’ll keep building up to the Test matches.”
Farrell was coy on if he will make any late additions to his squad ahead of the first game in Australia, with son Owen refusing to be drawn on his chances of being called up as he performed punditry duties for Sky in Dublin.
“It looks like we’ve got a full healthy injury list so we’ll dust ourselves down and see how people wake up tomorrow,” said Farrell Sr, who was without all but one of the 15 Lions players that competed in domestic league finals last weekend.
“There’s always things that are going to happen along the way on a Lions tour.”
