Andy Farrell didn't hold back in his criticism of his side’s performance, as the British and Irish Lions prepared for their tour of Australia with a 28-24 defeat to Argentina at a sold-out Aviva Stadium.
Despite dominating possession and territory against Los Pumas, the Lions were left to rue a litany of handling errors and careless offloads, as Argentina twice hit them with stunning counter-attack tries, to claim a famous win.
"We made it a tough game, didn't we?" was Farrell’s opening remark after full-time. Those in attendance at his press conference were left in no doubt about his thoughts on the performance.
"You can try and throw it all around and say we had plenty of opportunities, and we should have done better to convert that, but the whole story of the game is that we compounded too many errors.
"In the end, we weren't able to put the pace on the game because of that.
"You can single out one thing, but it’s not just one thing, it’s a compounding of quite a few bits.
"The amount of balls that we threw blindly, either to the opposition or the floor, is probably a stand-out.
"If you combine that with the kicking game and the aerial battle, and what is disappointing is scraps on the floor from that type of battle, it always seemed to go to Argentina, so there’s a bit of fight and hunger from them that we can’t accept.
"Then you combine stuff at the breakdown, the lineout or whatever, and it’s too much. It’s too much when it all comes together, it’s just compounded, and there’s a reason why people do get cramp or look a bit tired or are not able to capitalise on opportunities you have created, because probably subconsciously you’re suppressing yourself with the compounding of errors. It obviously needs to be addressed."
Argentina held a 21-10 lead at half time, but that was in large part down to errors from the Lions.
Luke Cowan-Dickie had a try disallowed for an offload early in the game, while Sione Tuipulotu was guilty of poor handling in a promising position.
Defensively, they were opened up far too easily for Ignacio Mendy’s opening try (below), while they were caught napping at the breakdown right on half time, as the Pumas sprinted clear for Tomas Albornoz to score after a ball popped free at the ruck.
While it could be easy to use a lack of familiarity or teething problems to write off an opening defeat, Farrell refused to take that line.
"I wouldn't give that excuse. We need to do better than that. It is what it is.
"They capitalised very well on the back of quite a few errors from us. Congratulations to them. I'm sure that's a big moment in Argentinean history.
"I think some players will have done themselves proud and they will be hurting for the team because they're all team players. Some people will be happy and some people won't and will be dying to get another chance out there.
"We know where we're at, we're underway, so we're going to have to learn a lot of lessons from that.
"We’re not sugar-coating anything because we need to be honest. If we’re not honest how do we gain trust with each other? We have to say it as it is. There are certain things we said we were going to do and we need to own that and review that properly," he added.
Normally one to keep an even keel when speaking to the media, Farrell made no attempt to hide his dissatisfaction with both the result and performance.
There were positives though. Fin Smith looked sharp at out-half, and had little to do with the sloppiness of those around him, while the scrum dominated throughout, with Finlay Bealham and Ellis Genge in particular making a strong statement in the front row.
Bealham was also busy around the pitch, leading his team with 12 tackles, although even in praise of his tighthead prop, Farrell’s frustrations with the overall performance couldn’t be hidden.
"That’s what happens when you make so many errors," he said of the amount of tackles the Connacht prop had to put in.
"But yeah, I thought himself and Ellis were really good today.
"It [the scrum] was aggressive, the lads who started the game especially, they were aggressive and good and had Argentina under the pump a few times. So yeah, very pleased with that."
And Farrell even saved the final criticism for himself.
"Obviously not good enough," was how he assessed his own coaching.
"I always take full responsibility, that’s my role. It doesn’t matter what department or whatever, I’m in charge of the job lot so it obviously wasn’t good enough and I need to be better."
