Ireland 13; New Zealand 23
Dublin can be heaven when Ireland are playing well along Lansdowne Road’s Aviva Stadium but on Friday night last, it was more like purgatory as a strangely listless Green crew looked labored and lost against a street-wise, albeit young All Blacks outfit.
The group looked like an Ireland group of old which didn’t believe they could win against their vaunted opponents and played without creativity or energy for most of the 80 minutes.
You could blame Aussie Ref Nic Berry who gave the visitors twice as many penalties and say he only referred one side at the breakdown and scrum time but that would be looking for excuses.
Truth is we were slovenly, lacking in ambition and showed no imagination when we had the ball in hand, other than to drop it as if it was a red-hot coal. When the likes of Bundee Aki, Iain Henderson, Ciaran Frawley (twice) and Jack Crowley all fail to hold onto rudimentary passes, well, we know we are in trouble.
This was just the tip of the iceberg as, post-Johnny Sexton, our three quarter line is functioning but only by going sideways. No sign of the Sexton innovations such as cutbacks, loop ball or dummies being thrown through his body feint or sleight of hand.
Up front we have the excuse that Tadhg Furlong was out and our first choice hooker Dan Sheahan won’t be back until the New Year. For sure, you can’t lose two Lions certainties and expect that it won’t have a knock-on effect.
Likewise Joe McCarthy’s meteor has dimmed since brilliantly flashing across the skyline like a generational player. He may have heft but he is bringing nothing much to our open play and Tadhg Beirne is a loss in the back row where a Baird or an O’Mahony would overall improve our scrum, our lineout options and our ability to break the gainline in broken play.
For a team which went into the home of the World Champions and drew a test series with the Springboks, this first match since those two incredible late, late Frawley drop goals, was a serious let down.
The big crowd were crestfallen on the way home - in fact, also for the second half, when we failed to build on the excellent Josh Van der Flier’s try which should have been the signal for us to kick on with Jordan Barrett in the bin.
We did go in the hunt of a second try with serious intent but once again indiscipline saw us turn over ball and then Damian McKenzie was made feel right at home as we presented him with three second half penalties to change the course of the game.
It was an exercise in psychology to watch the face of our Head Coach Andy Farrell as his green chariot failed to ignite, saving for a few isolated moments in what was supposed to be a grudge match. If it was, then we had a passive way of showing an opponent who called us names in Paris that we were indeed on a revenge mission.
The Head Coach has had so much success that seldom has he had to come out and defend his players.
However, 21 handling errors later, 30 missed tackles and a series of horrendous passing along the line meant we gave New Zealand the high ground from which to end up winning by 10 points.
Asked about all of the above, and some more for good measure, Farrell commented: “There was a little bit of overplaying too much. In those conditions as well, quality of pass is something that wasn't where it needed to be to be accurate. So, some good learnings there."
It was drizzly on the night which made handling that bit more difficult and on that he said: “It's easy to say it but it's probably just an excuse. We've always prided ourselves on getting up to speed and being as good as we possibly can be first game up because that's the card we're dealt with in the northern hemisphere.
“I've said to you before that it doesn't matter if you've had three training sessions, 12 minutes of rugby, or seven consecutive games and 50 training sessions, people still expect you to be at your best and unfortunately tonight, we weren't.”
Star center Garry Ringrose tried to explain the players’ quandary thus: “It’s about executing your job, and equally with kicking, it’s about all of us managing the flow of the game, the momentum. I guess, maybe we didn’t get it wrong, but hindsight can make it a bit clearer as opposed to in the moment you want to challenge as best you can.
“It’s a tough one and one you learn from reviewing it. Any game, against any opposition, win or lose, you are always wondering for those little moments, was it the right thing to do as a team,” he declared.
Ireland looked somewhat off color from the start and were doing well to be just trailing 9-6 at the interval.
With the visitors having two games under their belt, getting to Dublin via Japan and England, when Van der Flier got in for an early second half try, many felt that the rustiness of the first half - as we hadn’t played as a team since the summer tour to South Africa - was behind us.
That seven-pointer looked like being followed up when we went for blood again but James Lowe performed an illegal clearout which let them off the hook.
And that was about it from there until the end from the home point of view.
Wing Mack Hansen, who looked hungry for action on the night, was already looking forward to this Friday game versus Argentina as a way of getting over the disappointment of the New Zealand performance.
“We played well below where we know and where all the fans know we can get to, a little bit of rust to wash off but we've still got an exciting three weeks to come,” he stressed.
Scorers
Ireland: Try - Josh van der Flier Penalties: Jack Crowley (2); Conversion: Jack Crowley
New Zealand: Try - Will Jordan; Penalties: Damian McKenzie (6)
Ireland (Echo Ratings): H Keenan 6; M Hansen 7, G Ringrose 6, B Aki 5, J Lowe 6; J Crowley 5, J Gibson-Park 8; A Porter 8, R Kelleher 6, F Bealham 5; J McCarthy 5, J Ryan 7; T Beirne 5, Josh van der Flier 8, CDoris (capt) 6 Replacements: R Herring 5 (for Kelleher 57), C Healy 5 (for Porter 74), T O'Toole n/a (for Bealham 57-60), I Henderson 5 (for McCarthy 57), P O'Mahony 5 (for Beirne 70), C Murray 6 (for Gibson-Park 74), C Frawley 4(for Crowley 57), J Osborne 5(for Ringrose 70).
