Ireland 13 New Zealand 26
History repeated itself all right, only not of the kind made nine years ago. Instead this was a near replica of the scoreline from a year ago when the All Blacks becalmed Ireland in a subdued Aviva with a 23-13 win, although this time they had to dig deeper and pull clear with three unanswered tries in the final quarter.
Ireland took the game to the All Blacks, but ultimately ran out of punching power and energy, letting their opponents off the hook in the second and especially third quarters with too many simple ‘outs’. Like Ireland, Jack Crowley did many things well, not least in his passing game, but in his game management he forced his hand a little.
It didn’t help that the lineout malfunctioned from the off, albeit some of Ireland’s defensive lineout was excellent, with Ryan Baird supplementing perhaps his best international performance with his work rate and carrying.
Stuart McCloskey also justified his selection and there were other big games from Josh van der Flier, Jamison Gibson-Park and James Lowe, although by is own high standards Garry Ringrose’s timing and levels were a little off at times.
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This result makes the rest of the month more challenging, and Ireland have to beat Japan and Australia before having a crack off South Africa, but there is much that is fixable.
In a decidedly scrappy, stop-start 52-minute first half, neither side could establish much rhythm, in large part through malfunctioning lineouts, and though they each offered sporadic threats, they both took to the air quite frequently.
With more pace in their backline, the All Blacks carried the greater threat from long distance, especially whenever Will Jordan came on to the ball. But Ireland defended with plenty of aggression and shut down attacks from the outside in, with Ringrose and Tommy O’Brien putting in monster hits.
Ahead of the kick-off, the spirit of Anthony Foley, who passed away 20 days before Ireland’s 40-29 win here in 2016, was reinvoked. Barry Murphy, the former Munster centre who sang Ireland’s Call, wore the same Irish number eight jersey worn by Axel to the day 22 years ago against Australia in the 2003 World Cup.
For all the commercial revenue streams being exploited this week and the sense of occasion for a game billed as The Rematch, the Soldier Field pitch was not fit for purpose. As the Bears NFL team are merely tenants and are set to move to a newer home, workers were filling in gaps in the grass with sand after the warm-ups, with another spraying some of the fillers with green spray.
Tickets for this game had apparently been purchased in every USA state but little about the opening quarter would have endeared the sport to a newish audience. In the first 20 minutes following the opening whistle, there was less than 12 minutes of actual rugby.
The most prolonged delay was for the review by the hapless Pierre Brousset, as unconvincing as ever, and his officials into Tadhg Beirne’s high collision with Beauden Barrett, when the latter took a flat pass that was forward from Cam Roigard.
The Irish lock was upright it’s true, and tucked his arm across his chest to lessen the impact. Technically there was also modest contact from his right shoulder into Barrett’s head but Beirne was soaking or blocking the impact rather than putting in a hit. For the yellow card to be upgraded to a 20-mintue red card looked a ridiculous decision.
Even so, Ireland outscored the All Blacks by 10-7 in that 20-minute period when a player down. After Crowley landed a 45-metre penalty, a deft pair of offloads by Crowley and Sheehan led to a penalty against Codie Taylor for playing Gibson-Park and Ireland’s decision to go to the corner without Beirne was commendable, and was vindicated.
The lineout wasn’t the tidiest, but Gibson-Park had the ball on a string as Lowe, Ringrose, Sheehan, McCloskey and Jack Conan carried hard, before Tadhg Furlong came on to the ball at speed to beat Simon Parker’s inside shoulder to make it 10-0.
But within two minutes the All Blacks’ threat from distance and the edges combined for a typical coast-to-coast try as first Jordan danced infield and seemed set to maintain his try-a-game record against Ireland.
Van der Flier made a magnificent tackle, but Ireland were scrambling and four passes later Ardie Savea took Lowe’s tackle to score in the corner. Beauden Barrett, having already seen both his brothers depart injured, converted from the touchline.
Ireland had more sustained attacks in the All Blacks’ 22 and twice McCloskey almost put runners into the clear, namely Jamie Osborne and Ringrose, but Savea did well to slap the ball from the centre’s arm to prevent the first.
Caelan Doris, with his first carry in his first outing for six months, thundered a good five metres beyond contact but the score remained unchanged until the interval.
A Leicester Fainga’anuku knock-on early in the second half saw Ireland resume on the attack and Crowley landed the second of two penalty attempts in quick succession for a 13-7 lead. The Fields rang around Soldier Field before the introduction of Bundee Aki drew a huge roar most in the capacity crowd of 62,000.
But, after Osborne Osborne took a lovely line only to spill Crowley’s pass, Ireland would not score again as the All Blacks went up a couple of gears to storm to the winning line.
First, Quinn Tupaea won a second penalty in the jackal after Van der Flier couldn’t effect the clearout when Crowley was cornered inside his own 22. The All Blacks went to the corner and then, with another penalty, launched Wallace Sititi off Taylor’s tap penalty before Tamaiti Williams burrowed over.
The killer try came when Barrett spotted Ringrose shooting up out of the defensive line and calmly stopped and stepped inside before a long skip pass put Damian McKenzie away and he had Sititi in support to score.
The final nail came near the end from a five-metre scrum when Cam Roigard danced past Craig Casey, Van der Flier and Doris to complete what, ultimately, was a far more comfortable win than looked on in the first hour.
SCORING SEQUENCE – 7 mins: Crowley pen, 3-0; 17: Furlong try, Crowley con, 10-0; 20: Savea try, B Barrett con, 10-7. Half-time 10-7; 57: Crowley pen, 13-7; 62: Williams try, B Barrett con, 13-14; 67: Sititi try, B Barrett con, 13-21; 77: Roigard try, 13-26.
IRELAND: Jamie Osborne; Tommy O’Brien, Garry Ringrose, Stuart McCloskey, James Lowe; Jack Crowley, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan (capt), Tadhg Furlong; James Ryan, Tadhg Beirne; Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan.
Replacements: Iain Henderson for Beirne (23 mins); Caelan Doris for Ryan (33-40) and for Conan (52); Bundee Aki for McCloskey (57); Rónan Kelleher for Sheehan, Finlay Bealham for Furlong (both 61); Craig Casey for Gibson-Park; Paddy McCarthy for Porter, Sam Prendergast for Crowley (all 68).
Red card: Beirne (3 minutes).
NEW ZEALAND: Will Jordan; Leroy Carter, Quinn Tupaea, Jordie Barrett, Caleb Clarke; Beauden Barrett, Cam Roigard; Ethan De Groot, Codie Taylor, Fletcher Newell; Scott Barrett, Fabian Holland; Simon Parker, Ardie Savea, Peter Lakai.
Replacements: Josh Lord for S Barrett (3 mins); Leicester Fainga’anuku for J Barrett (17); Wallace Sititi for Parker (30-40 & 60); Tamaiti Williams for De Groot (48); Samisoni Taukei’aho for Taylor, Pasilio Tosi for Newell (both 65); Damian McKenzie for Carter (67); Cortez Ratima for Roigard (78).
Referee: Pierre Brousset (Fra).
Attendance: 62,000.
