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Ireland may have fired their best shot already in this series
I’m not sure I’d want Dane Coles as my doctor.
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Coles definitely didn’t break the news gently to viewers on Saturday night. No, the All Blacks’ third-string hooker basically pronounced the team dead at Eden Park.
Such was Ireland’s apparent dominance, and Coles’ gloomy prognosis when Sky crossed to him on the sideline, that the final outcome came as some surprise.
Ultimately, I was disappointed by Ireland.
Their scrum was lamentable and I thought they played too laterally. The All Blacks can be beaten up the middle and Ireland didn’t do enough to exploit that.
Would the final 42-19 scoreline have been different if Johnny Sexton stayed on the field? Maybe.
But he didn’t and the All Blacks won at a canter.
I’m being slightly facetious about Coles, but there’s no doubt his first-half television interview was sobering.
Coles basically said the All Blacks were being beaten in all the effort areas and you could sense his frustration at being lumbered with a waterboy’s bib and microphone. The team was getting done and he wanted to be out there doing something about it.
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That, allied to my disappointment with Ireland, means I’m hesitant to lavish too much praise upon the All Blacks and curious to see how things go with Ian Foster back in camp.
There’s no doubt the events of last week were good for the team.
Players are a bit spoon-fed at times, but the Covid-enforced absences of coaches Foster, John Plumtree, Scott McLeod and Greg Feek meant some self-sufficiency was required.
Blokes had to take ownership for the preparation, which clearly had some positives.
Ally that to the appearances in camp of Joe Schmidt and Mike Cron and you had quite a cohesive and confident All Blacks team at Eden Park.
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My fear now is that Ireland have fired their best shot and that we might not have the contest on our hands that we imagined.
I’d go dull if I were Ireland. I’d pick Conor Murray at halfback, for instance, and kick the bladder out of the ball.
I’d play tight, I’d maul and I’d pray the set pieces hold up a bit better.
I mentioned Coles at the top because it’s easy to be seduced by the final score. To proclaim that all’s right with the All Blacks again and that one of these mythical corners has been turned.
It might have, but one fairly dominant half of football is too small a sample size.
That wasn’t the tune Coles was singing. He saw the first half an hour of footy and thought here we go again.
The team couldn’t control the collision, Ireland was rolling forward and he believed things looked pretty grim.
I think it will be good for rugby and good for the All Blacks if Ireland win this week.
Just because Ireland weren’t able to adequately exploit the All Blacks’ weaknesses doesn’t mean there aren’t any. The more those are exposed now, the better the All Blacks can be at next year’s world cup.
Complacency kills Rugby World Cup campaigns and I’d say the prevailing view in New Zealand since Saturday night is that Ireland aren’t much good. They’re competitive, sure, but the All Blacks are still 15 to 20 points better.
I hope Ireland prove that wrong. I hope they compete for 80 actual minutes and make things a darn sight closer than 42-19.
We’ll thank them for it in the long run.
Only very casual viewers would think there is daylight between the ABs and Ireland. Ireland did what they do best very effectively for 60 of the 80 minutes. ABs don't have much to counter Ireland's attack when they get moving, and likewise have to rely on the games structure completely breaking down to score tries. They have yet to develop an attacking pattern that allows them to move up the field while retaining possession. Ireland's game is actually far superior to NZs. If they stick with the same plan this week they will eventually wear in NZ down. Ireland by 8 this week.
Yes it was close for the first 20mins and I thought the Irish would run away with it! The forwards need to step up another gear in Dunedin and you have the feeling Brodie is just about to unleash his power game, maybe not this week but building towards the World Cup. Don’t get me wrong Ireland are on fire but the ABS are simmering at that moment. Building towards next year & will be a far different side than we are seeing this year
Ireland actually played really well. They were just unlucky for about 10 minutes with Sexton going off and us pouncing on that with 3 quick tries. But surely credit to the All Blacks for getting way more aggressive in defence after the first 25 minutes and throwing Ireland off their game and causing those mistakes? The thing is the AB's always possess the ability to quickly blow the game out if a team is not 100%, and that should be a credit to them, instead of a knock on Ireland. Even though Carberry played well there decision making without Sexton for 10 mins cost them (quick tap on halfway at 14-5, JGP running from maul in own 22). They had over 10 minutes in our 22 and if Ireland play like they did in the 2nd half again the AB's won't be so lucky to hold up or save 5 tries. I wonder how you felt seeing your favourite son Rieko Ioane saving 2 tries in a minute AT CENTRE. Brilliant defence from him.
Your idea to start Conor Murray and kick the ball every time is frankly idiotic, even though JGP didn't have his best game. Ireland's gameplan under Schmidt, which is even more pronounced under Farrell, is to dominate possession and starve the AB's of turnover ball and counter attacking opportunities. JGP gets the ball out of the ruck within a second and there organised ball runners looked to be troubling us the whole game. They had 65% possession in the second half and won it 14-12, with an additional 5 tries saved or held up. The ABs would be stoked to see an old Murray start with his slow pass, and thankful for receiving the ball back.
If they don't knock the ball on (2nd test will suit Ireland in Dunedin) we show no way of getting it back without infringing. Why change a tactic that was working because they got unlucky with Sexton and some brilliant AB tries? Our maul defence clearly completely stopped there Maul multiple times (even with 7 forwards) yet thats your idea to win.
Why would they all of a sudden revert back to there tactic from 5 years ago when they have had so much success in recent years (winning 13 from 15, demoliting the ABs last year) doing the opposite of what you've said. They have a far more drilled squad with a clear gameplan that you want to scrap because they lost to the AB's at Eden Park lol.