All Blacks aura smashed: Irish media react to Farrell's history boys

The Irish media was full of praise for their nation’s first ever win over the All Blacks in New Zealand. Only a week ago criticism was reigning down on Andy Farrell’s men for their display in the series opener, but now the tide has turned following a historic 23-12 win in Dunedin.

The first half proved to be the centrepiece for most of the match action, as ill-discipline forced three New Zealanders to be sinbinned.

The worst of the infringements was committed by replacement prop Angus Ta’avao who was shown red in the 31st minute for clashing heads with Gary Ringrose in a tackle.

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Reduced to 14 men for the remainder of the contest, New Zealand struggled to take charge and were crippled by to two Andrew Porter tries, scored either side of halftime.

They were enough to secure the victory and give Ireland an impressive fourth win over New Zealand in their last seven meetings, which has duly impressed sections of the Irish media.

Gerry Thornley of the Irish Times explained that Ireland’s dominance was unquestionable and did not come as a result of the man advantage they gained in the first half.

“The postscript may focus on the red card, and two yellow cards, which the All Blacks incurred inside a wild and wacky first half-hour in an opening period which lasted almost an hour. But by any yardstick, this was a totally deserved, as well as historic, first win on New Zealand soil.

“Ireland had more possession and more penetration, dominating large tracts of the game from the off.

“Playing positively throughout, some of their animation and work-rate off the ball flummoxed the All Blacks’ defence, with [Johnny] Sexton pulling the strings and engineering three clean line breaks with disguised short passes.”

A similarly positive assessment was delivered by Jonathan Bradley in the Irish Independent.

“Well beaten seven days before, they [Ireland] were decidedly the better team here against ill-disciplined opponents.

“A Sexton penalty left New Zealand needing two converted tries to take the lead and, as the game reached the final quarter, this most un-All Black like of All Blacks performances never looked like producing those scores.”

Bradley also posited that Ireland know the job is not yet finished and will therefore remain level-headed.

“With the events of a week ago proving to be instructive, nobody in a green jersey will have been getting carried away.”

Ruaidhri O’Connor, also writing for the Irish Independent, believes that the win brings Ireland to within 80 minutes of achieving their greatest ever international feat to date.

“Ireland’s to-do list is looking a little thread-bare these days. This morning, they ticked the box marked winning away in New Zealand and now they’re 80 minutes away from arguably the greatest achievement in the team’s history.

“We can argue whether winning a series in New Zealand ranks higher than a Grand Slam all day, but what is beyond debate is the fact that it is an attainable goal for this team who delivered a stunning reminder of their ability in Dunedin.”

In the immediate aftermath, Murray Kinsella of The 42 took to Twitter to heaped praise on player of the match Peter O’Mahony.

Peter O’Mahony to the countless people who still, somehow, think he’s not good and should be dropped most weekends. pic.twitter.com/KsF8PHiihv

— Murray Kinsella (@Murray_Kinsella) July 9, 2022

John Fallon of the Irish Examiner went so far as to look ahead to next year’s World Cup and foresee what Ireland could achieve.

“Ireland have now beaten the All Blacks in Chicago, Dublin and New Zealand. Why not in France? And why should they fear hosts France? Certainly the aura of the All Blacks has been well and truly smashed now by Ireland. Four Irish wins in the last seven games against them can’t be ignored.

“But winning at the bottom of the world in a Dunedin venue where the All Blacks had never lost a test game carries incalculable value.”

Michael McCarthy, the senior producer of Off the Ball Sport, was quick to criticise the officiating in the first half, outlining his perspective on Twitter.

In that half, New Zealand had a clear red called as a yellow, didn’t give away a penalty try because of a phantom covering defender, were apologised to for getting a red card, and tried to play with 15 players after a red card.

Unbelievable

— Michael McCarthy (@McCarthyMick) July 9, 2022

Garry Doyle, writing for The 42, later waxed lyrical about the Irish performance and called upon the almost impossibility of beating New Zealand on home turf.

“The Dunedin Council built the roof and then Ireland’s fans raised it.

“To put this win in context, consider the following facts: just five teams – the British and Irish Lions, Wallabies, Springboks, England and France had beaten the All Blacks in this country prior to tonight.

“Still not impressed? Right, here’s another stat: this was New Zealand’s first defeat in this magnificent indoor stadium, and just their sixth in 47 games here in Dunedin.

“The reason why [the All Blacks lost] is simple. Their big players failed to show up whereas Ireland’s top performers – Peter O’Mahony, Johnny Sexton, Tadhg Beirne, Robbie Henshaw and Bundee Aki – produced world-class performances.”