Caelan Doris wants Ireland to have an ‘edge’ as he reveals how Andy Farrell held players to account after Springboks defeat

Ireland fell to a 27-20 defeat at Loftus Versfeld last Saturday and their coach was critical of their performance, saying they were “passive”, lacked intent and were well below the standards they’d set previously.

And the players are clear that he wants a better performance as they look to sign off their season with a win to level the two Test series.

“We had a good meeting on Wednesday in particular where we saw some clips that we felt wasn’t us,” he said.

“It wasn’t what we’ve shown over the last number of years in terms of some of the smaller things, our work rate for each other, standing up for each other a little bit, our response to a couple of positives from them and not responding how we would have in the past.

“It brought up a little bit of hurt and it was frustrating seeing those images back and it makes you want to fly into the match as soon as possible.

“We had a good training session off the back of that and I feel lads have a bit of an edge off the back of that.

“We also spoke about our calm, doing things our way, which we can’t go away from either. It’s trying to strike that balance between being calm, doing things how we do them, but having a bit of an edge and aggression and edge to us as well.”

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Doris was asked whether the lack of a response when RG Snyman flung Craig Casey to the floor was an example of Ireland showing a lack of fight.

It was noticeable that none of the Irish forwards reacted to the incident.

“Not necessarily piling in on top, but through how we play the game,” he said.

“I think it was a scrum after and they dominated that scrum and it goes from there. So it’s not necessarily the pushing and shoving, it’s more so how we can implement and show a reaction in the actual game.”

Ireland have not lost twice in succession since the 2021 Six Nations and have shown a capacity to bounce back after their rare defeats in recent years.

“We’ve touched on some of those, that New Zealand (first Test) one in particular where we feel we didn’t get things right, and bounced back and showed a bit of resilience in the second Test, so we have shown that this week,” he said.

“There’s a load of belief in how we do things here, the quality of players and the quality of coaches. I think we’ll lean on that belief and we want to finish with a good performance and a good result at the end of a long season.”

Doris is captaining Ireland for the second time, having previously held the role for the Six Nations win over Italy, and he’s excited to get another chance.

“‘Lead with actions’ is the key message in how I played and he felt I did that quite well last week through the performance and want the same thing this week. But of course you’ve got to take into account the sort of vibe amongst the players through the week and little extra responsibilities through the week but the main thing is the 80 minutes and how you show up then.”

“I’m delighted to be in the role,” he added.

“I think the first time, the Italy week, there was more nerves and pressure and more self-doubt. This week I’m feeling more of the privilege and the honour and it’s been helped massively by Pete (O’Mahony) who is the tour captain. We’ve had good chats along the way, and the leadership group have stepped in massively and taken weight off me at times.

“Pete in particular, it’s tough on him going from a starting position last week to a bench position this week, but he’s led unbelievably well this week and has been a massive helping hand for me, and when he comes on I’m sure he’ll do the same.

“There’s been a fair few texts which has been nice.

“I do feel more comfortable. With any new job or responsibility, there’s probably a bit of self-doubt and what not.

“Having that week against Italy, the swap-over at the end of games when Pete was coming off, then with Leinster getting to do it four or five times, it’s a little bit more comfortable at this stage. I’m still not fully used to the role, I’m still early days but I’m enjoying it.”