"That hurts, we don’t like losing” – Ireland fly half Jack Crowley reacts to defeat to Springboks in Dublin

The fly half spoke after the match, as Ireland battled to the bitter end that saw a 24-13 Springboks victory overshadowed by controversy. “Yeah, jeez. I think the word that we'd use to describe it is chaotic, unbelievably chaotic. I'm sure you haven't seen a game like that in a long time.

“So yeah, look, it was unbelievably up and down, but I must say a lot of people probably thought it was over and out, and credit to the character of the lads to stick in the fight and to stay in it until the end.”

There is no denying how Ireland have had a mixed bag of an Autumn Nations Series. Kicking off their campaign out in Chicago with a deflated defeat to the All Blacks, Ireland then triumphed over Japan albeit with the asterisk of an underwhelming first half. The solid shut-out of Australia was the peak of the series, with the final defeat to the Springboks putting the men from the Emerald Isle in a unique learning position just 10 weeks from the start of the 2026 Guinness Men’s Six Nations.

“Yeah, look, it's a journey. You don't get the immediate result, which is always what you're after. You want to win, particularly at home. You don't get that, and that's immediately very disappointing, and that hurts, and we don't like losing, this group doesn't, but we know that it's part of a journey, and in the long-term view, it'll strengthen us and we'll take massive learnings from it.”

“I think we've got unbelievable other leaders in the team that didn't back down, showed the fight, and I hope that you could see that, that it matters to us how we turn up for one another, how we turn up for this group, how we represent the people in Ireland and all around the world, that they see that fight. It's everything when you're out there, and to stay in it until the end is something this group is proud of, and it'll go a long way in the future.”

“You know, you're always trying to better yourself. You're always trying to find areas in your game that you can continue to get better at, and that's what this group never settles for. It never settles for comfort and contentment and taking the lessons from the last five weeks, you know, two losses against teams that we want to be beating, and we're going to take the learnings into the next block and take a step forward.”

There was no denying the fight of the Irish team, as they fought right to the very end despite a constant numerical disadvantage against the world’s number one ranked side. Crowley pulled this into focus, with the likes of Ryan Baird playing on with a reported leg fracture.

“Yeah, I hope you saw the 23 and plus that, like it matters. Matters is a poor word. It's so important for us to go out there and represent each other, the lads not playing as well, and I thought the fight was incredible.”

“Well, I'll give something that was unbelievable, was the defence, you know, down to 12, like I think you're against a world-class back line, and I thought the fight of the lads in that period, where we were down to 12.

“We won the second half and I think that's something that we can't overlook."

Reflecting upon the Autumn Series from a wider perspective and looking beyond the defeat to South Africa, Crowley added;

“With the broader lens, I think tonight was one that showed the true fight of this group. Immediate results are what we want, we want to win. There's no question about that, and I'm not going past that, but to be part of a group that is down to 12 men and stands tall, and you see when your back's against the wall what this group has, and they didn't budge. They did not budge, and that's something to be unbelievably proud of, to be a part of the fight.

“I know it's talked about, but it feels like we should have [won] at the end, we could have, and that's what we'll take from it. In the long term, right now it hurts, and it hurts the group. The lads are unbelievably now, the lads are beaten, but in the longer term we're going in the right direction. There's going to be learnings from this, and we'll take them, and we'll be better.”