Ireland 9 New Zealand 21
When the final whistle went, the All Blacks had completed their revenge mission over the course of a brutally tough test match. Yet so exhausting was it to play in, and even watch, that even they scarcely had the energy to lift their arms in celebration. Players embraced in mutual respect, knowing they’d all been to the well and beyond like in no other match they’ll experience in this or many other Test windows.
In the face of the All Blacks' physical intimidation, which – as in Paris last February when the French buffeted Johnny Sexton and others – ought to have been punished more severely by the utterly unconvincing Jaco Peyper and his officials, Ireland gave it the good fight and how.
Amid the carnage which saw them lose three of their most important players barely a quarter of the way into the match, and trailing from the fifth minute, every time they were knocked back (which was plenty) they simply got up again. Sheer desire and inexhaustible work-rate, as much as anything, and the willingness to carry hard and clear out, kept them in the game.
Yet, in the heel of the hunt, Ireland went through multiple numbers of multiple phases. But while much of it was sideways to sideways as Joe Schmidt admitted afterwards, they lost their attacking shape, either becoming narrow or lateral, as did the All Blacks themselves.
In mitigation, they had lost their chief playmaker, Johnny Sexton, and his midfield sidekick Robbie Henshaw within the first quarter of the game. Henshaw, immense in Chicago, is almost as important as Sexton, and would have been tailor-made for this brutish encounter.
Reshuffle
With no natural inside centre, Jared Payne suffered more for the ensuing reshuffle than Garry Ringrose, who made 18 carries and was Ireland's leading tackler with 10, closely followed by Devin Toner, whose level of performance as a ball-winning, Trojan workhorse ensures his late blooming into an exceptional international lock continues apace.
CJ Stander would soon follow Sexton and Henshaw, and it says everything about the comparative riches in the backrow – particularly after another extended stint off the bench from Josh van der Flier – that they made light of losing Stander’s huge carrying game.
Stander had been held up over the line and later bounced Malakai Fekitoa in the tackle, whereupon he was caught in the head by Israel Dagg's unsanctioned, no-arms shoulder into his head and joined Henshaw on the sidelines. Rob Kearney would finish the game as Ireland's third head injury of the match.
Yet between them, the phenomenal Seán O'Brien, more than vindicating his selection with 20 carries, Jamie Heaslip (14) and van der Flier (12) remorselessly took the fight to the All Blacks (Stander's four carries taking their combined backrow tally to 50). Ringrose and Tadhg Furlong, each announcing their arrival on the world stage, chipped in with another 18 and 10 carries apiece. And, hence, Ireland made 170 carries to 104 by the All Blacks.
Even so, given 66 per cent possession and 70 per cent territory, regrets, they’ll have a few. O’Brien was within inches of scoring off Heaslip’s break and offload when brilliantly tackled by Beauden Barrett, and Stander was also held up over the line in the first half.
Dummy maul
In the second half, the charging O’Brien knocked on from a well set-up dummy maul and deft transfer from Toner when it looked like he had the momentum to reach the line. Had Rob Kearney been able to offload to the supporting Donnacha Ryan when Dagg failed to gather Simon Zebo’s delicate chip in behind, Ryan would surely have scored, and there was no one on the shoulders of van der Flier or Ringrose when they made searing breaks.
They will have more reason to rue Peyper's poor display. From the 24th minute five-metre scrum when Aaron Smith was in the bin, Ireland would have rumbled over the line when Liam Squire broke his bind, came round the side and dived on the ball, right under the nose of Peyper, and Squire was followed by Kieran Read.
It was the clearest case of a penalty try and yellow card you’ll ever see, but instead was merely punished with Paddy Jackson’s three-pointer.
Although the All Blacks conceded 14 penalties to four, and two yellow cards, Peyper and co let them off lightly. Literally from the kick-off, O’Brien was taken out in the air by Kieran Read, setting in train the build-up to Fekitoa’s opening try.
Sam Cane might have seen yellow for his high hit which put Henshaw out of the game. Fekitoa might have seen red rather than yellow for his nasty, high swinging arm into Zebo, and even Hansen accepted this was a bit naughty.
Rory Best could be overheard informing Peyper of "high cheap shots" as early as the 15th minute, but in addition to their sometimes illegal physicality, the All Blacks had learned from Chicago and unsurprisingly targeted Conor Murray, coming through on him at the base and counter-rucking ferociously to make him scavenge for the ball.
He was also roughed up, particularly by Dane Coles, and was clearly incensed by the All Blacks hooker’s slap to his head in the 47th minute. As an aside, the officials pretty much ignored the offside line, allowing the All Blacks all manner of largesse there too.
Clinching score
However, ultimately the All Blacks scored three tries to nil. For this they can almost exclusively thank Barrett. Fekitoa’s try came from his crosskick, more a kicked pass really, before Barrett himself burned Conor Murray for his own try; he was then involved twice in taking a return pass from Anton Lienert-Brown before offloads by Dagg and TJ Perenara put Fekitoa over for the clinching score.
For once, Barrett even landed all his kicks. Amid the madness and mayhem, the gliding Barrett bestrode the game as its most creative spark and cutting edge. It was as if the world player of the year was playing a different sport.
Scoring sequence: 4 mins Fekitoa try, Barrett con 0-7; 10 mins Sexton pen 3-7; 14 mins Barrett try and con 3-14; 25 mins Jackson pen 6-14; (6-14); 58 mins Jackson pen 9-14; 66 mins Fekitoa try, Barrett con 9-21.
IRELAND: R Kearney (Leinster); A Trimble (Ulster), J Payne (Ulster), R Henshaw (Leinster), S Zebo (Munster); J Sexton (Leinster), C Murray (Munster); J McGrath (Leinster), R Best (Ulster, capt), T Furlong (Leinster), D Ryan (Munster), D Toner (Leinster), CJ Stander (Munster), S O'Brien (Leinster), J Heaslip (Leinster). Replacements: G Ringrose (Leinster) for Henshaw (11 mins), P Jackson (Ulster) for Sexton (17 mins), J Van der Flier (Leinster) for Stander (22 mins), C Healy (Leinster) for McGrath, I Henderson (Ulster) for Ryan (both 58 mins), S Cronin (Leinster) for Best, F Bealham (Connacht) for Furlong (both 68 mins), K Marmion (Connacht) for Zebo (76 mins).
NEW ZEALAND: B Smith (Highlanders); I Dagg (Crusaders), M Fekitoa (Highlanders), A Lienert-Brown (Chiefs), J Savea (Hurricanes); B Barrett (Hurricanes), A Smith (Highlanders); J Moody (Crusaders), D Coles (Hurricanes), O Franks (Crusaders), B Retallick (Chiefs), S Whitelock (Blues), L Squire (Highlanders), S Cane (Chiefs), K Read (Crusaders, capt). Replacements: A Savea (Hurricanes) for Cane (18 mins), W Crockett (Crusaders) for Moody (49 mins), C Faumuina (Blues) for Franks (52 mins), TJ Perenara (Hurricanes) for A Smith, A Cruden (Chiefs) for J Savea (both 58 mins), S Barrett (Crusaders) for Squire (68 mins), W Naholo (Highlanders) for B Smith (73 mins), C Taylor (Crusaders) for Coles (76 mins). Sin binned: A Smith (17-27 mins), Fekitoa (49-59 mins).
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa).
