Ciarán Frawley admits Ireland not up to standard

Ciarán Frawley admitted that Ireland weren't up the required standard as they fell to a chastening 32-17 loss to the Maori All Blacks on the opening match of their tour of New Zealand.

Clayton McMillan's side scored four first-half tries to end the game as a contest with the Ireland XV conceding nine penalties, 18 turnovers and missing 22% of their tackles over the course of the tie.

Leinster utility back Frawley was making his first appearance in green in the uncapped match.

"It was more our defence that let us down through our discipline, so we'll go back and look at it, but it's not good enough for this standard," the 24-year-old told RTÉ Sport.

"We spoke about it at half-time, that the first score was really important, and unfortunately it came too late.

"We still had belief in ourselves we could win the game but towards the end we just felt it slowly slip away.

"I thought the boys showed great character to fight to the 81st minute, to come away and win that second half was a positive reflection for the lads."

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He added: "It was disappointing, it was a game of two halves.

"We probably didn't show the best of ourselves in the first half, the positive, I suppose, is we bounced back in the second half but we can't give a team like the Maoris that many penalties.

"It was our discipline that let us down at the end of the day, a bit of defensive issues but we'll go back to the drawing board and look at it again.

"We went through it at half-time, probably got a little bit better in the second half and had more of the ball in our hands."

Mostly used as a centre for Leinster this season, Frawley revealed the moment he was told he would be starting his first international game for his country.

"I got the nod, and it