Ireland making no excuses for All Blacks defeat but will assess 'energy levels' before Argentina

Ireland making no excuses for All Blacks defeat but will assess 'energy levels' before Argentina

Ireland coach Andy Farrell intends to assess the "energy levels" of his players before picking a team to play Argentina as he seeks to ensure his side can have no excuses in a busy November.

New Zealand won 23-13 in Dublin on Friday, Ireland's first home defeat in more than three years, and Farrell's side will play three more matches before the end of the month.

Next up are Argentina next Friday, after which Ireland face Fiji and Australia.

There may be the temptation to make sweeping changes given the result against the All Blacks and a performance that Ireland captain Caelan Doris acknowledged was "not good enough".

But Farrell is not rushing into any snap decisions, determined to pick a team that will allow Ireland to compete throughout the coming weeks.


"It's a tough month, four back-to-back games on the trot, so we will see what the energy levels are like," Farrell said.

"A lot of guys put a good shift in considering their training time, never mind game time, so we'll see how bodies are when we're back in and see what the feeling is like."

Regardless, Farrell will not allow the schedule to be used as mitigation this month, adding: "We've always prided ourselves on getting up to speed and being as good as we possibly can be first game up, because that is the cards we are dealt with.

"It doesn't matter if you have had three training sessions and 12 minutes of games or seven consecutive games and 50 training sessions. You try to be your best, and we weren't [against New Zealand]."

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