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'You can't say it was a fair fight': All Black's qualifed praise for Ireland
By Ian Cameron
All Blacks legend Jeff Wilson was tempered in his praise for Ireland after their historic first win over the men in black on New Zealand soil.
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Ireland made history with a rousing 12-23 defeat of Ian Foster’s side in Dunedin, setting up a mouth-watering decider in Wellington this week. It’s the fourth time the Irish have beaten the All Blacks in their last seven meetings.
Speaking on Sky Sports NZ’s The Breakdown Wilson – who admitted Andy Farrell’s team were “clearly an outstanding side” – did however heavily caveat the historic win under the roof at the Forsyth Barr Stadium.
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“Bottom line, in the first 40 minutes when they [Ireland] had the advantage, they should have put the game away. They didn’t.
“They let the All Blacks get themselves back into the game just before halftime. They could have come back and hurt them.
“They proved that they are a quality side. They did it in the second half. You felt in the first 10 minutes they took the game away from the All Blacks. But they needed to do that, because the All Blacks got a lift.
“They showed some character, but they [the All Blacks] put themselves in a difficult position.
“And Ireland did what England couldn’t do to Australia. And came back and proved they are an outstanding team.”
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The former Test winger turned broadcaster admits he’s concerned about the All Blacks’ form heading into a Rugby World Cup year but doesn’t think a loss by a 14-man New Zealand is as big a deal as ’15-on-15′.
“You have to be concerned. The context of the match changed the moment when Angus Ta’avao was red-carded. So when you start thinking about what the All Blacks were having to face through the course of the remainder of that 80 minutes, it’s going to be difficult for them to get over the top of a team that is clearly world-class, that’s what this side [Ireland] are. Disciplined on defence, incredibly accurate.
“But when you’re a man down, it takes its toll.
“We’ve seen this happen before. It happened on a Lions series when we lost Sonny Bill Williams in the second Test match.
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“You can’t say it was a fair fight, because they weren’t playing 15 on 15, but Ireland have shown that they are a very good side. They showed quality and good enough to score points against the All Blacks and it puts you under pressure.”
Wilson conceded there were several areas of the game where Foster and co will be concerned.
“There are other areas where the All Blacks will be concerned. The scrum didn’t deliver like it delivered the week before.
“It got hurt, remembering though that we’ve not got a reserve tighthead prop to go to, he was off the field. Ofa Tu’ungafasi got through a big shift.
“The other thing is we didn’t cherish possession. We made far too many errors.
“Our ability to look after and hold on to the high kicks… everyone that went up, Ireland either got it back or the All Blacks made an error. You make those mistakes against a good side, they will hurt you.”
Wilson did credit the Irish performance, especially in defence.
“The two tries the All Blacks did score, it was hard work. They just don’t miss defensively either and we didn’t stress them defensively. I’m still disappointed that at no point in either Test that we showed an inkling to go through the middle collectively.
“If you go the edges and try to play with width, the Irish defence is just too accurate. It’s too well disciplined. They just don’t miss.
“The first line break that lead to a try was off a missed tackle. The All Blacks missed some critical tackles. Discipline let the All Blacks down and it presented Ireland with plenty of opportunities.
“The interesting part now is that the All Blacks will have some critical player available for the next weekend. David Havilli will be back on deck. Sam Whitelock, it looks like, is going to be back on deck. It makes a difference in what we’ll have in our forward pack.
“We need some answers for the front row and for the scrum.”
Not Ireland's fault the all blacks cracked under pressure lost their heads and resorted to cynical cheap shots and got themselves binned and sent off
Typical AB. List of excuses, instead of showing some humility and applauding the better team on the day.
I thought in test 1 the AB's were really struggling but good opportunistic play saw them turn it around. Second test the AB 's again struggled initially but this time there were no mistakes from Ireland. Watching the AB's try to puncture the Irish defence looked a bit like U20's trying to play against the men in first grade. They're a better team, period. They are coached better, they've got a solid game plan and they have great leadership. To hear Foster saying he wants more intensity tells me he's missing the point. Stand by for another loss, 14 or 15 men I don't think will make a difference
Awesome, I'm trying to get my head around what Geoff is saying. Of course it was 15 vs 14 but we all know why that is. So, as a ALL black (Geoff Wilson/an I an all black fan) maybe we just have to suck it up, be humble and let Ireland 🇮🇪 enjoy their win. 😊 Now the rugby ruling on why Ardie wasn't allowed on probably is a different matter!
They were down 0 - 10 before the cards. The cards papered over the issues the AB's had with containing the Irish game plan, which was very slick and well controlled by Sexton, with Gibson-Park showing up Aaron Smith for the 2nd week in a row, due to the dominance of the Irish forwards. The All Blacks were not in the game when the red card came and the man down actually helped to slow the game down and get some desperation into the All Blacks defense which was missing up until that point. To say "it wasn't a fair fight" is a bit misleading because the AB's had done exceptionally well to fight back, and score an opportunistic try, but the Irish had let the foot off, due to the amount of stoppages caused by the cards, it worked in the AB's favor. had it remained 15 v 15, I have no doubt the Irish would have won by 20-30. The Irish forwards are a better unit than the AB's and their power runners are making easy inroads into the AB's territory. Listening to Goldie say, "they will respond" is more hopeful, there is way too much to turn around in a week, the AB's only hope is the Irish have injuries from the Maori game tonight. They have dominated the series in possession and territory, time in the AB red zone and carry meters by forwards. I cannot see how the AB's can reverse those stats, when it's been the same for all their past 7 encounters with Ireland. TAB paying $12 for 13+, looks pretty good to me. My heart is saying the AB's will come back and the Wellington weather will play it's part, but the stats say the Irish will wrap this up in the capital, and it will be comfortable.