NEW ZEALAND SNATCHED a 22-19 victory over Ireland with a desperate 79th minute goal by Dan Carter as a bruising rugby Test reached a nail-biting finish in Christchurch this morning.
The All Blacks were reduced to 14 men in the closing 10 minutes and were playing a lock at flanker, but the result gave them a 2-0 lead in the three-match series and preserved a 107-year unbeaten record against Ireland.
Six minutes from time, Ireland fly-half Jonathan Sexton had a chance to create history with the scores locked at 19-all but his optimistic 50-metre penalty from time fell short. That gave the All Blacks a chance to sweep back downfield, where Carter had one drop goal attempt deflected in flight by Ireland before he snapped over the winner.
A sell-out 21,000 crowd gathered for the match, the first Test in Christchurch since a series of devastating earthquakes laid waste to much of the inner city in 2010 and last year. The chilly conditions were not going to deter a city desperate for quality rugby, and the revved-up Irish forwards rocked the All Blacks, the two sides sharing a try apiece with the boots of Carter and Sexton adding all the other points.
It was a vastly improved Ireland side from that beaten 42-10 in the first Test a week ago and the All Blacks were rarely able to unleash wings Julian Savea and Zac Guildford, who had created havoc in that encounter.
Instead with Mike Ross restored to the front row, Ireland came out on top in the scrum, soon gaining the ascendancy after conceding the first set piece and pushing the All Black pack around from then on. Following a period of sustained pressure which tested the All Blacks’ defence, Ireland used their lineout as a platform to drive at the line before freeing the ball for scrum-half Conor Murray to dart over for a 10th-minute try.
Sexton added the conversion and a penalty to have Ireland 10-0 ahead before the All Blacks were able to put their first points on the board through a Carter penalty. As in the first Test, Ireland went off the boil after the opening 20 minutes and as the All Blacks’ intensity grew the home side forced errors at the breakdown, closing the gap through penalties.
Ireland went in 10-9 ahead at half time, but the All Blacks eventually unlocked the Irish defence when play resumed. Sonny Bill Williams crashed into the Ireland pack and as the All Blacks piled in scrum-half Aaron Smith was driven over the line for the try.
Behind on the scoreboard for the first time, Ireland rallied with Sexton adding his second penalty in another strong attacking period that had the All Blacks scrambling to make try saving tackles.
But with that storm weathered, the momentum again swung the other way and Carter’s fourth penalty extended the All Blacks’ lead to 19-13. Then Ireland came back with two more Sexton penalties levelling the scores.
Pressure mounted on New Zealand as Adam Thomson joined Kieran Read on the injured list, leaving them only two specialist loose forwards, and Israel Dagg was yellow-carded for a late charge on Rob Kearney. But at 19-all and a man down, the All Blacks rallied one last time and Carter was there to seal the outcome.
Scorers for New Zealand - Tries: Aaron Smith. Conversion: Dan Carter. Penalties: Carter (4). Drop goal: Carter
Ireland – Try: Conor Murray. Conversion: Jonathan Sexton. Penalties: Sexton (4)
New Zealand: Israel Dagg; Zac Guildford, Conrad Smith, Sonny Bill Williams, Julian Savea; Daniel Carter; Aaron Smith; Kieran Read, Richie McCaw (captain), Adam Thomson; Samuel Whitelock, Brodie Retallick; Owen Franks, Andrew Hore, Tony Woodcock.
Reserves: Hikawera Elliot, Ben Franks, Ali Williams, Sam Cane, Piri Weepu, Aaron Cruden, Ben Smith.
Ireland: Rob Kearney; Fergus McFadden, Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy, Andrew Trimble; Jonathan Sexton, Conor Murray; Jamie Heaslip, Sean O’Brien, Kevin McLaughlin; Donnacha Ryan, Dan Tuohy; Mike Ross, Rory Best, Cian Healy.
Replacements: Sean Cronin, Declan Fitzpatrick, Donncha O’Callaghan, Peter O’Mahony, Eoin Reddan, Ronan O’Gara, Simon Zebo.
Referee: Nigel Owen (WAL)
Great performance by the team. A few close calls at the end cost us the match. Deserved a draw at the least. We can do it next week. Very proud of the team.
no mention of how great the fans where either. well done lads.
At this rate you will walk the Eurovision next year with all this singing
That’s a good reason to quit it!
Excellent display.Ireland were unlucky at the end.Very proud of the heart shown.Would love to see Ireland perform like that consistently.The next test is theirs for the taking!!!!
Yes Tommy: Barnhall, Tallaght, Arklow, Gorey, Carlow, Portlaoise, Tullow, just some of the very many rugby playing, Celtic Tiger like, elitist corners of Ireland! Shows what you know. Have you ever even been to a Leinster or Munster match and spoken to any of the fans? Please get sone perspective and even get your facts straight before you next comment!!
Portarlington , unidare ( ballymun) my own team swords . There are plenty of rugby clubs that are not d 4. Tommy is just a bitter individual who likes to stick the boot in.
Let us hope that after this effort we do not capitulate next week
Ah but Roman is reffing next week and he hates us
Here’s hoping for a strong performance…
National pride restored. Pure guts. Hope not too many are injured…
But they lost? what pride is restored? Rugby a bandwagon sport, played by the private school elites of Ireland. A sport synonymous with the Celtic tiger and all the greed and snobbish elements of it.
Yeah, that Sean O’Brien is like soooooo posh, roight?
Tommy..dry up would ya!
@Tommy we were playing against the world champs in their own backyard and nearly beat them considering that last week they hammered us, I would call that pride restored.
Tommy can u name or count how many players went to private schools ala block rock clongoes and what pride they turned around a 32point difference against the best team in the world why can’t we realise that the footballers we have and rugby players are being picked from a very small pool of players and give them a bit of credit instead of sticking the knife in any time there is a chance
stupid stupid comment, tommy. if you buy into that clichéd claptrap you clearly know nothing about rugby. several of my friends play fro skerries and balbriggan rugby clubs and i can tell you they’re the most working class guys you could meet. still, you just verified what ive always known. begrudgery is Ireland’s national sport.
desperately unlucky. nigel owens never gives the Irish any 50/50 decisions, but brilliant gutsy performance from Ireland, and brilliant performance from the fans too. wonder will keane whinge about them too?
Good man, Tommy. Nice to see we Irish are more interested in petty begrudgery against our own than celebrating a fantastic performance. The chavball supporters and players alike might take note of how the rest of the Irish sports stars and supporters do things.
Unfortunately we gave lost again . Our country is in recession and all we can do is to pay for Irish soccer and rugby
teams to go overseas at great expense and continually get beaten. They are a disgrace.
Simon, you should watch the hurling championship games this summer.
Players do not get paid and do it for the love of the game.
Michael how exactly are we paying for these teams to travel abroad, they aren’t been paid by the state, irfu and fai are private organisations who generate money from sponsorship, advertisements etc. and their players and staff pay tax on their earnings.
Murdoch pays for the privilege of broadcasting the match and that money eventually finds its way to the Department of Finance, same as everyone’s wages.
PS just a pity that finds a way to German banks after that, and the rest gets wasted.
The atmosphere there was unbelievable! I’m absolutely gutted and very very hoarse! What a performance by the Irish!
They did good- very good in fact. The fans showed out, there was no trouble and they gave the all blacks a run or their money. No need for the bitterness, Ireland should be proud of them.
There is no bitterness just some realism. The country needs a lift and all we can do is go overseas at great expense and get beaten again ! The
Teams and management appear to be happy with constantly letting down our country down.
@Michael Fehilly
Parsnip munching begorrah sift day sure tis a fine day for stick football begrudgery. We’re a minority amateur game ergo we are better. Eh no.
@ Michael,
NZ RFU pay for Irish squad flights, expenses and hotel. Get the facts before you post BS!
Super performance.with no shortage of brains either. A team worth singing for this week.just a pathetic hometown referee away from a great resault.does anyone know if that little idiot is reffing again next week?
Poitre next week. No chance for us
thats right tommy..moss keane,paddy johns,mick galway,ciaran fitzgerald..all by products of celtic tiger ireland!a little bit resentful perhaps that you have never had the chance to play? dont remember the celtic tiger being in thomond park in ’78 either.a shame that you resent people supporing their naional rugby team.i think you should direct your animosity towards the elitist groups that you clearly despise and not rugby the sport.
Explain how it is posh so? Just cause the fans don’t tear up the seats and fight with them does not make it elitist, if rugby annoys you why waste your time reading the report? Gombean
Does anyone agree with me that the addition of reddan made a difference in the second half…(ihope he is given a proper chance next week) we were quicker more direct …we saw odriscoll at his direct best..pity we didn’t have quality support runners of him as he wa playin around to quality tens.
Excellent performance from both the team and fans this morning, hope we can put in a similar performance next week.
As I am also a tommy Burke I completely distance myself from the above disgraceful comments of my name sake..
What a game, that is the team to win the six nations next year
not sure how to feel about the game. yes it was a big improvement but when the AB’s play so poorly and make twice as many errors as us and we still lose.. bit depressing
Shane IRL were a diff team this game which had the abs totally rattled forcing errors and giving them no room to manoeuvre an awesome display
Well hopefully they can follow it up with a similar display next week!!
we didn’t loose today, we just ran out of time.
Vince Lombardi, nice… True too, well said.
Nice back….!:)
Michael, NZ pay for us to go over there, hotel, flights expenses etc… Picked by the NZ RFU. Get the facts before you muck! PS GAA players should get something for what they do.
Dave you called it right regarding the rugger, but about that fast train to central Europe I wonder, the battles are about votes but the war is about money, both must win, if we only had a vision of the latter