All Blacks cut down by Irish brilliance
IRELAND finally broke their duck with a Test win in New Zealand and before all the inquests start on an incident-packed contest let it be stated loud and clear that they were immeasurably the better side and should have won by an even more commanding scoreline.
Yes, New Zealand rightly copped a sending off and two yellow cards but prop Andrew Porter, who will surely never have to buy a drink again in his lifetime – scored both his tries when the teams had the same number of players on the pitch. New Zealand, save for the final minutes of both halves, had almost no presence in the Ireland 22.
The All Blacks were as comprehensively outplayed as at any time in the professional era and all this came after what appeared to be a thumping 42-19 win at Eden Park last week, but perversely that was a performance that gave Ireland hope. Andy Farrell’s side scored three tries in Auckland and butchered another three or four while New Zealand enjoyed a couple of timely breaks. There was never that much between the two sides and the task last week was for Farrell to keep his head while others wrote Ireland off.
Pre-match there was some controversy over Johnny Sexton’s inclusion as he went off last week with an HIA but the Ireland medical staff insisted that he had passed all the post concussion protocols and that everything was within guidelines.
That’s a debate for another day but what is beyond dispute is that Sexton has the bit between his teeth and fancied his team’s chances.
From the off you could feel something remarkable building even before the match became very disrupted and fractious.
Following that opening try Sexton stroked over a 40m penalty to make it 10-0 when it all started to get a bit surreal. Firstly Leicester Fainga’anuku wiped out Mach Hansen when, belatedly and recklessly, attempting a charge down and unbelievably got away with a yellow. As he rose and smashed into Hansen his elbow may
have made contact with Hansen’s torso fractionally ahead of his shoulder, crunching the winger’s head but how that offers up any mitigation is not clear.
Next up a brilliant Sexton break down the left touchline was poised to send the speedy Garry Ringrose sprinting in for a second try when he was tackled early by Ofa Tu’ungafasi. There was just eight yards between Ringrose and the tryline and clear space, no Kiwi defender in front of him. Jordie Barrett, covering on the angle, was the nearest defender between two or three yards back.
In years to come the footage will probably be used at coaching seminars as to what constitutes a penalty try but somehow referee Jaco Peyper and TMO Tom Foley managed to persuade themselves otherwise. Absolutely mystifying.
There is more. On the half hour Angus Ta’avao, who had come on after the binning of Tu’ungafasi, was sent off for a high tackle on Ringrose as he cut back against the grain. Correct call and New Zealand were down to 13 at which point life really started to get weird.
Firstly applying the newish man off rule when two tight-head props have been binned or sent off, New Zealand should for a while have been reduced to 12 players. Then as Tu’ungfasi returned Ardie Savea
tried to also return to bring New Zealand up to 15 men, not seeming to quite realise what red cards entail.
Peyper was onto this one and New Zealand’s best forward, who should never have gone off in the first place as they rejigged things after the cards and sending off, ended up on the sidelines for the remainder of the game although New Zealand still insist it should have been Dalton Papalii. It was chaos and most unlike New Zealand. Something was afoot.
Ireland, objectively, made a mess of their numerical superiority before the break and then on halftime the Kiwis cashed in on a rare visit up field for Beauden Barrett to pounce for an opportunist try under the posts. Could the ABs rescue this after the break? They’ve done it before but this time Ireland, despite being down to 14 for ten minutes after James Ryan was binned, had a few shots to fire and produced an almost perfect third quarter to pin the Kiwis back in their half. During that time they scored another try from Porter and a brace of penalties from Sexton.
Ireland were properly in control, New Zealand were going nowhere and how often can you say that? If you were being hypercritical Ireland should perhaps have added to the score but they looked rock solid and even a late try from replacement Will Jordan couldn’t shake them. Victory was theirs and now we have all week to savour what could be a mighty series decider.