Ireland v Japan: ‘Players must nail individual drills’ – Ronan Kelleher
Ireland hooker Ronan Kelleher says players must fulfil their individual responsibilities better if the squad is to bounce back in their three home autumn internationals after losing to New Zealand in Chicago.
The All Blacks secured a 26-13 comeback win over Andy Farrell’s side at Soldier Field, with the Irish now set to face Japan on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, then Australia and South Africa at the same venue.
Tadhg Beirne had his initial yellow card after three minutes of the contest with New Zealand upgraded to a 20-minute red and although Ireland led 13-7 early in the second half, a flurry of three tries in the space of 15 minutes in the final quarter of the game saw their opponents avenge their loss at the same venue nine years previously.
Beirne’s sanction was subsequently rescinded on appeal.
“Obviously it wasn’t what we wanted. We went there with a plan, but we obviously didn’t execute it,” said Kelleher.
“It was more us not doing our jobs to the best of our ability really and on the day, we weren’t good enough.
“I think it just came down to our execution on the day. We just got it wrong at times.”
Kelleher, who was called up to the British and Irish Lions squad in July, added that it was “particularly disappointing” to concede those three late tries after he had come on as a replacement for fellow Leinster player Dan Sheehan just after the hour mark.
“I came off the bench but it was difficult out there, we just didn’t get our dead stops. We didn’t manage to do what we said we were going to do, which was get two-man shots, slow up their breakdown with dominant collisions and we didn’t manage to do that.
“Then when they managed to get a bit of momentum on us, they managed to keep the foot on the throat and we couldn’t wrestle that momentum back.
“I think ultimately we have to take the learnings from the game and make sure we improve from here on in. We weren’t good enough for large parts, so I think it’s just back to the drawing board really.
“It’s up to each player individually to make sure that they’re doing the bit of extras, whatever needs to be done.”
