Ireland's young lock reveals that the players are talking constantly about the worrying decline in discipline but fixing it under pressure is their big issue
Joe McCarthy admits that fixing Ireland's penalty problems is the hard part after returning to winning ways against Argentina.
Ireland skipper Caelan Doris was warned by ref Paul Williams before half-time that his team were heading for a yellow card for persistent infringements and McCarthy was the fall guy for that. The hosts coughed up 13 penalties for the second time in a week - a far cry from the disciplined outfit that previously set a world-class standard under Joe Schmidt and then Farrell.
Ireland only gave away four penalties in the Six Nations clincher against Scotland in March but otherwise the penalty stats this year tell a sorry tale. "We’re forcing it a bit. We’re a bit off on our penalty count. I think that will make our game flow our lot better, because we came out of the blocks firing and then started slipping into some bad habits and giving away penalties, which kind of made the game cagey enough.
Joe Mccarthy New Zealand All Blacks Rugby Union Team Argentina Rugby Union Team Andy Farrell Paul O'connell Paul O'connell Aviva Stadium
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