Andy Farrell said he has “no emotion” over temporarily dropping his Ireland responsibilities to take over the British & Irish Lions for their 2025 summer tour. Ireland signed off their Autumn Nations Series campaign with a narrow 22-19 win over Australia, and when they next take to the field, Simon Easterby will be in the dugout. Ireland won three of their four November fixtures.
Andy Farrell, Ireland’s coach, had no time for sentiment after his team won 22-19 over Australia to conclude their Autumn Nations Series campaign.
The victory marked Farrell’s final game in charge before temporarily stepping down to lead the British & Irish Lions on their summer tour of Australia, putting the Ireland squad in the hands of interim coach Simon Easterby for the 2025 Six Nations and summer tour.
But Farrell refused to be drawn on his feelings following the successful send-off.
“I have no emotion,” he admitted. “The only thing that matters is this autumn and obviously there is a bit of planning that needs to be happening.”But the Lions have been fantastic in letting me get on with my job. We’ll enjoy the autumn, Cian [Healy]’s 134th cap, and the IRFU’s 150th anniversary tonight, and whatever tomorrow brings, it will bring.
Ireland trailed 13-5 at halftime as Australia took an early lead with two Noah Lolesio penalties and a Max Jorgensen try.
Farrell said it was “very pleasing” to watch his side come from behind to upset the Wallabies, but admitted that they made some mistakes.
“You obviously take the positives from being down there in the right parts of the field but some of them were simple ball in hand, ball is there and they’re dropping it,” he told reporters.
“Some of it was line-out-related. We were assuming folks would be present without seeing the pass, which led to time issues.Our statistics over the last few years show that when we are ahead early in the first half, we have a high winning percentage.
“It’s not as great when you’re losing but to be eight points down and find a way is very pleasing for us.”
Australia coach Joe Schmidt will be Farrell’s counterpart in the dugout when the Lions face the Wallabies in a three-game series next summer.
Schmidt’s side finished November with back-to-back losses, and the Wallabies coach claimed his team is not yet ready to play the Lions, despite believing they were an entertaining outfit.
“Maybe not yet,” he replied. “But I think and I hope our supporters and supporters of the Lions can see enough in what we’ve delivered in these last four weeks to think that they’re going to be entertained and that it’s going to be a contest.”So, that’s what I’d like to see, but maybe not soon. We still have a lot of work to do, and I felt like there were instances tonight when we had guys who had only played a couple of Tests and were still learning.
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