Ireland 40 All Blacks 29







Talking points:



Well, there we have it, this All Blacks team is human after all. Ireland came to play with a perfect blend of passionate aggression and strategy. The All Blacks couldn’t rise to meet the challenge, and the better team won on the day. Huge congrats to the clovers for getting that 111 year monkey off the back, one can only assume it would take the blood from a unicorn to cure the hangovers they’ll be feeling back in Dublin from the deserved celebrations.

The AB’s may not have played particularly well, but take nothing away from the Irish. Their defense was huge throughout the match, but you need to score tries to beat the AB’s so they went ahead and got 5 of them. They had a smart game plan & stuck to it, but plain & simply they just wanted it more. A synthesis of passion, belief, pride and ticker - personified in the second half by Zebo’s high flying effort to snare a high ball above Smiths grasp. Zebo had little regard for his body - at full noise with only eyes for the ball, hurling himself over the top of Smith to snatch the pill and landing in a heap when he came crashing to the deck. Possession secured - job done. They played with about one thousand percent more passion for their jersey than anyone we’ve come up against this season, and have set the tone for what appears to be a mouth watering rematch of biblical proportions in Dublin.

The I.R.F.U seem to have cracked the code to playing against the recently dominant NZ style of rugby. The Ireland Under 20 lads pipped the senior team to be the first national mens squad to celebrate victory over the black jersey earlier this year at the junior world cup(winning 33-24 in pool play). This win away in Chicago, albeit at a neutral venue, will surely give the Irish the confidence to do it all over again at home in a fortnight. It’s no secret that Ireland love playing in front of their passionate fans and feed off the electric atmosphere to lift their gameplay. It’s a rematch that all of world rugby will be watching very closely.

At 30-8 with 48mins gone it seemed like it was already over, yet the All Black machine finally cranked into a gear of some sort and managed to get within 4 points. But the damage was done in the first half & this time the mountain proved too high for the lads to scramble over. That wealth of lost experience was finally evident in the post McCaw era, with several woeful passes flung about in the latter stages when the game was still up for grabs. A stark difference to the skill execution of the final minutes the last time these two teams met. It can be said that “You only truly lose if you lose the lesson”, and this squads first experience of defeat in 18 tests will leave a foul flavor they won’t want to taste ever again I’m sure.

Can everyone now please recognise just how influential our locking combo of Retallick and Whitelock are? Boy oh boy did we miss those powerful clean outs at the ruck, the type that create little scarring memories in the minds of opposition forwards who dare to try and pilfer our ball. Not to mention the lineout that had been so solid all season until now. Tuipulotu has potential, but is still a long ways off being a recognised lock in test footy. The Kaino locking experiment can be marked as a fail, but there was a glimmer of hope in debutant Scott Barrett. Romano may have added a little something, but doubtful it would have altered the end result.

Between the Barretts, the Saveas, and the emerging Ioane brothers, NZ rugby is getting some real sibling rivalries. Hopefully we get a look at Reiko Ioane in the black jersey next week vs Italy. The youngest Barrett, Jordie, is already on tour as an apprentice, but with Crotty out for the foreseeable future maybe he’ll get a crack if another midfielder goes down. Akira Ioane had a fairly dominant display playing for the NZ Maori on Friday night vs USA, another solid Super Rugby season could see him included in the squad for next years Lions tour. World Cup 2019 final the first to be played with not just 2, but 3 sets of brothers perhaps?

What a class act Joe Schmidt is. I hope Cheika was taking notes from Schmidts after match media engagements because that is how it is done. A humble and thoroughly decent fella, NZ rugby have lost out letting him go and may have to work extra hard to get him back after 2019. He seems to have built a strong culture in that Ireland squad too. If they can put consistent performances like this one in against the other top nations, mixed in with the fresh talent from their silver medal winning u20 team from earlier this year, I think they’ll be the main northern hemisphere threat when the 2019 World Cup rolls around. They’ve never made it past the quarter finals at the big show, but then again they hadn’t beaten the ABs until now either.

Kieran Read’s first loss as skipper. Read’s leadership will grow from here. He’ll sleep uncomfortably for the next week while sitting out the Italian test (making sure he’s fresh for the Ireland rematch), so the tackle bags will bear the brunt of his frustrations. But no doubt he’ll be plotting revenge in a big way. Losing doesn’t sit easy with the big guy and he’ll do everything within his powers to ensure it plays out differently next time around. A hurt All Blacks team is a dangerous All Blacks team.

Key Match stats:

Metres run: IRE 194 ABs 514

Possession: IRE 51% ABs 49%

Mauls won: IRE 7/7 ABs 3/5

Tackles Made: IRE 135 ABs 97

Tackles Missed: IRE 16 ABs 11

Turnovers Won: IRE 9 ABs 4

Penalties Conceded: IRE 4 ABs 12

Player Ratings:

Ben Smith - Pretty non-existent in the first half with little possession going his way. Another classy finish in the corner for his second half meat pie that gave serious hope of a comeback. One of the few who can hold their heads high effort wise. 7.5/10

Waisake Naholo - Nice charge with his opening touch to contribute to the first try, but mostly contained by the fast approaching Irish defensive line. Uncomfortable at times in defense. Dragged after 55 min, might have to rely on injuries for another chance in the black jersey. 5/10

George Moala - Tour ending injury in the 70th min. Tried hard with a couple of touches in the midfield but got stood up in defense several times. Distribution needs to improve if he wants to push for another test cap. 5.5/10

Ryan Crotty - Only got through 25 mins before succumbing to a potentially tour ending hamstring injury. Was a solid 25 mins though, we missed his organisation of the defensive pattern in the midfield after his departure. 7/10

Julian Savea - Real feast or famine kind of season for the Bus. Sparse chances for either wing, and the few that did come Savea’s way (while they weren’t flash) he didn’t exactly make the most of. Appeared sluggish out there, could have been due to the sharp Irish cover, but just didn’t seem like the threatening beast of recent times. 4.5/10

Beauden Barrett - Outplayed by his opposite in most facets of the game. Wasn’t given much front foot ball to work with, but showed good strength and offload for B.Smiths corner meat pie. Got caught out with his cheeky attempt to crab a few meters in from touch for the conversion, but worth a nudge given his recent kicking woes. 5/10

Aaron Smith - Pulled after only 45mins. Some crisp passing aside, this was one of his worst efforts. Caught out terribly by Conor Murrays dummy for 3rd Irish try. Lacked his usual vim and vigor, perhaps tried too hard out there to perform hoping we’d forget his indiscretions of late. Now his first game back in the public eye is out of the way lets hope we can get the old A.Smith back. 3.5/10

Kieran Read - Went missing a bit in the first half, but read the riot act to his troops to try and turn the Irish tide. Needed to be a bit selfish and demand more ball in his mitts, from both lineouts and open play. First loss as captain, tough gig against a fired up Irish team & will be frothing to get another shot at them in couple of weeks. 6.5/10

Sam Cane - Another who can hold his head up after the match. Tackled away and toiled hard in the breakdowns but needed more support from his fellow forwards to really compete. A few strong carries on his return from injury, will be better going forward having gone the full 80 this week. 7/10

Liam Squire - Some moments of poor execution let him down. Started to get his game together in the second half when some space began to open up but just wasn’t the presence needed to negate the fired up clover forwards. Top pop pass for Barrett’s try being the saving grace. 6/10

Patrick Tuipulotu - Didn’t take this rare starting opportunity with both hands. Some poor lineout work in the first half, and didn’t impose himself on the rucks like someone with his frame should. Subbed after an hour in the contest, better used as an impact player for now. 5/10

Jerome Kaino - Will hope thats the last time he has to play in the number 4 jersey. The unusual visual of Kaino getting outmuscled in the contact didn’t sit well with me. Struggled at lineout time as well. Some classic Kaino big, hurting hits the only real positive from this match for the veteran. 4.5/10

Owen Franks - Commendable effort on defense but lost out in the scrum battle. Not his day by any means. 4/10

Dane Coles - Rough lineouts in the first half, it was an unfamiliar combination but that’s no excuse for what was produced. Got milked for a cheeky offside penalty when he couldn’t avoid Conor Murrays pass. His free running was mostly contained, except for a lovely offload for T.J’s try, but then gave away the silly penalty straight from the kickoff that ruined the momentum they’d worked so hard to achieve. 4.5/10

Joe Moody - Mad Eye Moody had another spell on the naughty stool for some silly behavior really. Nearly turned it into a red in the second half. Ireland scored twice in his yellow card spell, and he didn’t do enough to make up it. Needs to learn from this and turn it around for rest of the tour. 3/10

Reserves:

Codie Taylor - On for final 10 mins, didn’t add much on the side of an already wounded scrum. 4/10

Ofa Tu’ungafasi - Made a little impact when he came on, most notably in the breakdown. 5.5/10

Charlie Faumuina - Dropped the pill early on in his stint, never really kicked on to take advantage of the tiring defense as he was expected to. 4.5/10

Scott Barrett - Great running line and determination to score, a real beauty on debut. Had a solid impact on the lineout in his 35mins as well. Proved he has the mental aptitude for test match rugby, may have earned a starting cap against Italy next week. 7.5/10

Ardie Savea - Immediate impact with great turnover, but was forced to finish the test on the wing due to injuries. His sevens background didn’t help out there when Henshaw cut past him for the final nail in the coffin. 6.5/10

T.J. Perenara - Immediate impact, superb support running for his try. Provided the spark that was needed for a revival attempt. Has done all he can to put his name on the starting number 9 jersey in the rematch 8/10

Aaron Cruden - Was as ineffective as Barrett against the rushing Irish defensive line. Had one cameo down the left wing with a deft grubber which may have created a lead-changing score if not for the swooping hands of Kearney. 5/10

Malakai Fekitoa - Made an earlier appearance than expected at second-five due to Crotty’s injury. Carried strongly but still work to be done on his distribution. A couple of nice straightening runs was his lot. 4.5/10