Farrell: Plenty of positives, but we have to fix set-piece and be clinical

Andy Farrell is confident Ireland can pick up the pieces from a frustrating opening Test and have a right crack at the All Blacks in Dunedin next week.

He said the manner in which they fought back in the second-half, after coughing up 21 points in 11 minutes before the break, showed their character.

“I’ve seen plenty of teams fold with a scoreline like that at half-time but we showed plenty of resolve,” said head coach Farrell, who is facing a mounting injury crisis, not least in the front row, while skipper Johnny Sexton is unlikely to be available after another concussion.

“We caused them a lot of trouble, especially in that second half. I counted five times we had opportunities to score and didn’t quite convert.

“We’re disappointed to lose. We were playing some good stuff but if you’re not clinical or if there’s turnover ball, an intercept and all of a sudden you’re under your posts. There are things to fix and get answers from as far as our set-piece is concerned. We started well and they hit us on the break.

“We’ve got to make sure we iron those out along with a few other things. There’s plenty of positives to head into next week with.”

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