It wasn't an outright criticism but it’s as close as you get to Ireland boss Andy Farrell calling out his players in public.
Controlling the match, playing in the right areas and taking the correct options has been a strength of the Six Nations champions for years.
But something went badly wrong on Friday night as they fell to a 23-13 defeat to New Zealand.
Twenty-one handling errors from the men in green littered the 80 minutes, a horrifying stat in conjunction with 30 missed tackles. Too often they got caught behind the gain line, passing under pressure and playing into the hands of their opponents.
The question was put to the head coach following the game, were they slaves to their own game, ignoring the conditions, insisting on dealing with a greasy ball during steady drizzle?
"There was a little bit of overplaying too much," conceded Farrell, whose side lost their winning home run after 20 games.
"In those conditions as well, quality of pass is something that wasn't where it needed to be to be accurate. So some good learnings there."
On the handling errors, he refused to use the fact that it was Ireland’s first game of the series as an excuse.
"It's easy to say it but it's probably just an excuse," he said.
"We've always prided ourselves getting up to speed and being as good as we possibly can be first game up because that's the card we're dealt with in the northern hemisphere.
"I've said to you before that it doesn't matter if you've had three training sessions, 12 minutes of rugby, or seven consecutive games and 50 training sessions, people still expect you to be at your best and unfortunately tonight, we wasn't."
Farrell’s comments about overplaying were put to centre Garry Ringrose (above) and he defended the decisions, while lamenting Ireland’s inability to execute.
"It’s always a tug of war to find the best way to play any game in any moment," said the 29-year-old Leinster back.
"If it’s the right thing to run, you are trying to make it is the right thing to run.
"[It’]s about executing your job, and equally with kicking, it’s about all of us managing the flow of the game, the momentum.
"I guess, maybe we didn’t get it wrong, but hindsight can make it a bit clearer as opposed to in the moment you want to challenge as best you can.
"It’s a tough one and one you learn from reviewing it. Any game, against any opposition, win or lose, you are always wondering for those little moments, was it the right thing to do as a team."
New Zealand held a 9-6 lead at the break and Farrell felt his side were flattered by the margin but they enjoyed their best spell of the game in the opening period of the second half.
They took the lead with Josh van der Flier’s converted try in the 43rd minute and moments later had the All Blacks defence scrambling close to their own line before an illegal clear-out by James Lowe let the visitors off.
"We had a couple of times there where we could have put our foot on the throat and kept it there and we didn't, unfortunately we took it off.
"New Zealand are too good a team as they ended up showing.
"We played well below where we know and where all the fans know we can get to, a little bit of rust to wash off but we've still got an exciting three weeks to come."
