Ragged All Blacks stay strong to gain revenge over Irish
If the election of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States was termed the “whitelash” then this will be seen as the “blacklash”. Two weeks after their 18-game winning run was ended by a 40-29 defeat to Ireland in Chicago, New Zealand reasserted their hegemony with a victory that was a lot less convincing than the score may have suggested.
Rattled at Soldier Field, the double world champions were ragged in Dublin, conceding 14 penalties and 14 turnovers mainly because of the pressure from Ireland’s exceptional back row led by Sean O’Brien and Jamie Heaslip. Ireland dominated territory (69 per cent) and possession (66 per cent). Yet defensively the black barricades proved impenetrable and there were enough moments of class, mainly from the majestic Beauden Barrett, to ensure that lightning would not strike twice after that first defeat in 111 years a fortnight ago.
Normal service resumed the moment Malakai Fekitoa scored inside three minutes. Barrett then struck from a first-phase scrum move and Fekitoa’s second try on 66 minutes killed off Irish resistance. Ireland simply had no luck. Inside the first quarter they lost Jonathan Sexton, Robbie Henshaw and CJ Stander, three pillars of their victory at Soldier Field.
Even if referee Jaco Peyper sent two All Blacks, Fekitoa and Aaron Smith, to the sin bin – both of which were disputed by New Zealand head coach Steve Hansen – the majority inside a raucous Aviva Stadium felt most 50-50 and even a few 40-60 decisions went against Ireland, most notably in the adjudication of television match official, Jon Mason, that Barrett had grounded the ball for his try. Other forward passes and a plethora of high tackles were missed, although Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt bit his tongue in the press conference. “I don’t assess the referees, they have an assessor,” Schmidt said. “We will feed our feedback through the appropriate channels.”
Yet Schmidt will realise that there were faults in Ireland’s performance. Their 20-minute period against 14 men yielded just six points. Nor were they able to employ the driving line-out, their key weapon in America, to any great effect, no doubt due to the return of the All Blacks’ first-choice lock pairing of Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick, who both had monstrous games.
The chance for another historic victory was there, even accounting for a few unfavourable circumstances. “We are frustrated but I am really proud of the effort the players put in,” Schmidt said. “When you get injuries to the hub, at 10 and 12, we lost a bit of shape and got quite static on attack.
“We are frustrated when you pour so much into a game and you don’t get the result. At 14-9, I thought we had a chance I really did. We put them under immense pressure. I think they were pretty relieved to get off the pitch.”
The match started at a furious, frenetic pace, which hardly abated. Kieran Read, the New Zealand captain, surged into the 22 and was then held up over the line. After keeping it tight, it was time to go wide. Barrett’s horizontal crossfield kick found Fekitoa who stepped inside Conor Murray. Three minutes gone: Ireland 0 New Zealand 7. Just like that. Back came Ireland with a close-range line-out. Whitelock knocked it back it but Ireland regained possession. Heaslip burst through the middle and offloaded to O’Brien who was only denied a score by a heroic tackle by Barrett. Sexton did get Ireland on the scoreboard with a penalty.
Still the pace would not let up. Henshaw left on a medical buggy after spinning into the shoulder of flanker Sam Cane. In slow motion, it looked horrific but even as the crowd howled for a card, Peyper was probably correct in just administering a penalty.
Then came an emphatic demonstration of why Barrett was voted World Player of the Year as he chipped over the top of the onrushing Irish defence and regathered. His intended pass for Israel Dagg was knocked on by Andrew Trimble at the expense of the scrum.
What happened next would have caused some grievous harm to anything within a fist’s reach of Andy Farrell, the Ireland defence coach. From the scrum, Smith found Barrett who ran a straight line through the Irish midfield. Yet as he slowed down past the try line he was scragged by Sexton and was incredibly fortunate to have been adjudged by the TMO to have grounded the ball. Game over? Not quite. Smith was sin-binned for a piece of rank stupidity by taking out Murray at a ruck. He departed the field and was soon joined by a string of casualties: Sexton, with a hamstring, and the concussed Stander for Ireland, Cane for New Zealand. Such was the unrelenting physicality of the match, you almost felt the type of guilt you would associate with viewing a blood sport.
Paddy Jackson, Sexton’s replacement, kicked a penalty after Liam Squire broke early from a retreating New Zealand scrum. As it was Ireland were relieved to have got to half-time eight points adrift after Barrett nearly pickpocketed Jackson for a third try.
Ireland, knowing the next score would be decisive, started the second half ferociously. Yet wave after wave of green shirts crashed upon a black wall. New Zealand’s defence was desperate. At times too desperate as Fekiota’s swinging arm caught Simon Zebo around the neck and for the second time the All Blacks were down to 14.
Again, however, Ireland were unable to press home that advantage. They came close as Jared Payne failed to spot Devin Toner on his outside while O’Brien knocked on in a good position. Their sole return was a Jackson penalty to make it a five-point game.
New Zealand, inevitably, made them pay. In pretty much their first foray to the Irish 22, wonderful hands from Anton Lienert-Brown, Barrett and Aaron Cruden put Fekitoa over. The last of those passes looked suspiciously forward but despite Rory Best’s protests, Peyper was unmoved. Barrett converted to shut the door on Irish hopes.
“I am pretty happy,” Hansen said. “Two weeks ago, this team suffered their first loss and created a bit of adversity. Today was all about seeing how they would stand up to that. So to come out on top 21-9, three tries to none and defend for long periods of the game I think they answered some questions about their character.”