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24th September 2023
04:20pm BST

“Andrew was absolutely immense, across the pitch. To do what he did at scrum-time and set-piece is one thing and something he can be very proud of. But to back it up around the field – his defence was excellent, his ability to get off the ground and give people energy. He took a few carries that he needed to make metres in and worked unbelievably hard through those carries. We are very lucky to have him. He is a resilient guy, he has real physicality and a huge engine and appetite for the game. He is working really well with the team at the moment.”Fogarty also praised the general scrum effort, especially the "half-time reset of mentality" after some parts of the scrum came undone before the break.
"I was very proud of the lads. Like the game itself, it was such small margins. There were times when we felt in control and times when we were under pressure. We had a good plan and the height we scrummaged off, we were very connected with dealing with that weight. Just before half-time, I could see some movement left and the scrum creaked a little bit. At half-time there was a reset of mentality, going back and understanding the plan."
“Without a doubt, their plan works well for them and they brought energy onto the field. But I thought our boys were excellent. Iain Henderson showed real composure and shored things up massively across the set-piece and did a great job, and the rest of the boys as well – Finlay [Bealham], ‘Killer’ [Dave Kilcoyne], Dan Sheehan…the lot of then, not just to fit in but add to the energy and composure. We have developed a full squad. There were guys sitting in the crowd that would have been eager to get on and would have done a good job too.”Ireland can now relax ahead of their rest week after an almighty effort on Saturday night. With the celebrations over for now, complete focus will now move to what's ahead of them when they face Scotland on Saturday, October 7.
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