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Ireland player ratings vs All Blacks | 3rd Test July 2022

Robbie Henshaw of Ireland scores his side's third try during the Steinlager Series match between the New Zealand and Ireland at Sky Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo By Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Ireland made history once again as they toppled the All Blacks in Wellington to claim a series victory in New Zealand for the first time ever.

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A stunning first half showing from the tourists laid the foundations for Andy Farrell’s side, as they went in 19 points up at the break.

There might have been panic when the All Blacks came back after the interval, but unlike Dublin in 2013, they weren’t able to nudge in front.

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Beirne, Henshaw and Josh van der Flier were totemic for the visitors, while the hosts had given themselves far too much to do. A try from replacement Rob Herring sealed a famous win. On another historic night for Irish rugby, here’s how the men in green stacked up.

15. Hugo Keenan – 8
Finished his seventh international try brilliantly, and kicked well to put the hosts under pressure. Couldn’t do anything to stop Akira Ioane but otherwise defensively sound.

14. Mack Hansen – 7.5
Put consistent pressure on the hosts in the air. Limited opportunities to attack, but some nice touches when he did get on the ball.

13. Robbie Henshaw – 9
Some outstanding defensive contributions and thoroughly deserved his try.

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12. Bundee Aki – 8
Just the man for this type of contest. Direct with ball in hand, defensively solid and calm under pressure to put his old Connacht midfield mate over for his try. Nearly put Lowe away on the hour after cutting a lovely line.

11. James Lowe – 7.5
Answered some of his critics with an excellent first half. Did superbly to put Keenan away for his try. Also made a wonderful clearance kick relieved pressure on the tourists.

10. Johnny Sexton – 8.5
Kicked superbly and drove Ireland’s attack so well in an outstanding first half. Passed 1,000 international points.

9. Jamison Gibson-Park – 8
With Sexton, controls the team so well. Did well when Ireland were on the back foot early in the second half to get front-foot ball that allowed Sexton to stem the flow of All Blacks points.

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1. Andrew Porter – 7.5
Got through plenty of work, but not the impact of last weekend. Gave away a couple of penalties, and was perhaps fortunate his card was yellow.

2. Dan Sheehan – 8
Some lovely footwork and an outstanding pull-back pass at the line as Henshaw scored. But a bad missed tackle on Akira Ioane as he scored.

3. Tadhg Furlong – 7.5
Not his flashiest performance but always gets through so much work. Made a big hit on Akira Ioane in the first half, but couldn’t stop Ardie Savea in the second.

4. Tadhg Beirne – 9.5
Supreme. The Munster man was everywhere. A constant threat at the breakdown, won a couple of lineouts on the home throw and showed his reading of the game with interception as All Blacks grew into second half.

5. James Ryan – 8
His best game of the series. Played his part in a maul turnover and stole a couple of the hosts’ lineouts. Powerful late carries late on took Ireland home.

6. Peter O’Mahony – 8
Didn’t quite hit the heights of last weekend, but still a menace when the hosts attacked and some lovely touches in the wide channel on attack. Forced a turnover when the All Blacks looked to maul. His tears at full-time said it all.

7. Josh van der Flier – 9
Some really vital contributions again from the Leinster man, including the vital early try. Won a huge turnover penalty as the home side attacked the 22 that ultimately led to Equally vital turnover penalty that led to Keenan’s try.

8. Caelan Doris – 7.5
Didn’t quite have the same impact as opposite number Savea. Went more route one with ball in hand and put his tackles in.

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Replacements

16. Rob Herring – 7
A magnificent finish to turn the game in Ireland’s favour shortly after he came on.

17. Cian Healy – 6.5
A brief cameo for the veteran during Porter’s stint in the sin-bin, before he returned late on.

18. Finlay Bealham – 6.5
Outstanding scrum on his own 5m just after coming on with 10 minutes to go.

19. Kieran Treadwell – 6
On for the outstanding Beirne late in the piece.

20. Jack Conan – 6
On for the final 15 minutes to replace O’Mahony.

21. Conor Murray – 6
Came on to see out the historic win.

22. Joey Carberry – 6
On for the final four minutes to replace the skipper.

23. Keith Earls – 6
On late in the midfield and made his tackles, but no time with ball in hand.

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Comments

1 Comment
R
Roy 843 days ago

I'm English so not often quick to heap praise on an Irish player but Tadhg Beirne delivered one of the best ever 2nd row performances. Ever.

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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N
Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

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Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

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