Andy Farrell has praised the resilience of his Ireland players after they managed to hold out against South Africa in an 8-13 win in Paris on Saturday night.
Ireland and the Boks couldn't be separated for large parts of the game, and it was faulty kicking from the Boks and Ireland's grit to stay in the game that made the difference between the sides at the Stade de France.
A truly brilliant game for the neutral that will go down in Rugby World Cup history.
Farrell, who has transformed this Ireland side, was asked what impressed him most about Ireland's statement win against the world champions.
"Our resilience, which has been really good of late anyway, as you can imagine," said Farrell.
"That was a proper game, a traditional game that had everything; there were ebbs and flows, ups and downs, and how we managed to stay on point mentally was fantastic.
"The game was never going to be perfect. In the first half, I thought we had the rub of the green.
"As far as field position, we probably didn't capitalise on that a little bit. But it was certainly roles reversed in the second half.
"But how we kept our heads, getting a couple of penalties at the end when it really mattered, is the big plus side of our performance."
What a night #RWC2023 | #RSAvIRE pic.twitter.com/XsKQXWlGep
— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) September 23, 2023
Huge Irish support came over in numbers to support the Irish team in Paris last night. Sexton, who was once again instrumental in the win, praised the Irish fans that came to support the Irish team.
"I've said that we've had some big days before in terms of results in the pool, but I've never, ever seen a crowd like that,” Sexton added.
"Someone said there were 30,000 fans there, but there was no way it was 30,000. It wouldn’t surprise me if it was 60, and they were insane throughout, giving us the lift that we needed."
The Ireland captain also admitted that said fans gave the team the edge in the gritty win in Paris.
"Honestly, it's not lost on us. We talk about it a lot, about inspiring those people that put their hand in their pocket week after week.
"They probably saved for four years to come here, and it is something we refer to all the time, and I mean that. We play for them, and they gave us the edge tonight, so fair play to them.”
Sexton and company will hope that they get the same support for their final pool game against Scotland in two weeks. Ireland's next game will be against Scotland in the same venue. That game will take place on October 7.
