Caelan Doris insists Ireland won't panic about penalty count

Last week, the big message coming from the Ireland camp was "intent", following the sluggish nature of their defeat to New Zealand.

This week, the focus is on discipline.

For several years under Andy Farrell, Ireland were squeaky clean. With just three yellow cards over a span of 29 games, they had by far the best disciplinary record, in terms of cards, in Test rugby.

In 2024, that standard has slipped.

Having previously averaged one card for every 9.66 games, they have had nine yellows in their last nine matches. In each of the last two games they have given up 13 penalties apiece, and while their average of 10.6 penalties conceded per game in 2024 isn't remarkable, the nature and cost of those penalties is.

In terms of the cost, no team is conceding a higher portion of their penalties in a kickable range, with more than 46% of Ireland’s penalties conceded this year being between halfway and their own 22. The result is that Ireland’s opponents have scored 54 points just from penalties off the tee across the last three games.

The second issue around Ireland’s discipline is that they’re giving up their penalties in flurries, which is contributing in a major way to the number of yellow cards they’re picking up, with a good example of that being Joe McCarthy’s sin-bin for repeated infringements against Argentina.

After last Friday’s game, head coach Andy Farrell said their discipline was "desperate" against Los Pumas, and captain Caelan Doris says it’s been a big focus this week, ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Fiji.

"The game became a different game in the second half," Doris said.

"Some of that was down to our discipline. I was chatting to the coaches there - from the 37th minute to the 60th we conceded seven [penalties] versus