2GS The Sunday Times November 14, 2021 7a joie de vivre to a team that only
spoke English. They have learnt this
new language and how the faithful
loved it. Ireland dared to play the
All Blacks at their game and nailed
it. Tadhg Furlong and those no-look
passes. Passes no self-respecting
prop would have attempted in the
last century. And what of the two
long passes, by Bundee Aki and
Keenan, that gave Lowe the half-
second he needed? That was
Ireland’s only first-half try when
they should have had three or four.
The All Blacks defended
magnificently yet Ireland still had
chances to have been clear at the
interval. Instead they trailed 10-5.
Such had been their superiority, it
seemed they had blown it again.
Brian Clough, the football
manager, used to say that to be sure
of beating a team you had to be two
goals better than them. Ireland, it
seemed, had to be three scores
better than the All Blacks.
All through a pulsating Test the
home team never stopped trying to
play. But here’s the other side of this
coin. Though they were on top,
Ireland did their share of defending.
They tackled with aggression and
courage. Next summer they have
three Tests in New Zealand. They
will be worth watching.
Chicago was good, the Aviva in
2018 was even better but, this one,
Aviva 2021, was the best of all.
And, finally, consider this: 50
years from now, Johnny Sexton’s
great-grandson will ask if he ever
played the All Blacks. Three times,
Sexton will say, we beat them. By
then, it may be four or even five.Ireland scored two of their three tries,
regained the lead and took control of
the game. The All Blacks made a
surprising number of errors and
looked spooked by Ireland’s renewed
energy. Clearly, the Ireland coaching
team had won their corn at half-time.
But the visitors’ refusal to lie down
was classic All Blacks. We lost count of
the number of try-scoring opportuni-
ties Ireland created. New Zealand had
four. They nailed two and had a third
disallowed for a marginally forward
pass to Akira Ioane. Had that call gone
against Ireland, it might have been
one sucker punch too many for them.
They took a few. By half-time the
stats showed Ireland’s dominance of
possession and territory: they were
well ahead on roughly 70 per cent for
both. Yet New Zealand led 10-5.
The other key stat was that Ireland,
despite all that ball and all that field
position, had conceded seven penal-
ties to New Zealand’s four. This,
despite the fact New Zealand had
tested the limits of legality at the
offside line. As they do.
New Zealand’s defensive resilience
was the story of the half. They were
camped on their own tryline five or six
times, but held Ireland out.
They had only two opportunities to
score and took one of them. That
Ireland managed to stop the first of
those, on ten minutes, typified their
desire. Beauden Barrett’s beautifully
weighted cross-kick allowed Will
Jordan to gather almost at full pelt
with the tryline in sight. Andrew Con-
way, Lowe and Garry Ringrose some-
how got back to stop him, and then
halt Jordie Barrett. A key moment.
Ireland built on it. Soon Taylor was
off to the sin-bin after his shoulder
made contact with Sexton’s head, and
almost immediately Ireland worked
Lowe over in the left corner, with pin-
point passes by Aki and Hugo Keenan.
Tadhg Furlong was denied a try
when Kelleher was pinged for a dou-
ble movement one phase earlier. Then
Taylor sickened them with a try in the
32nd minute when Dalton Papali’i
scorched through a gaping hole at the
tail of Ireland’s lineout. Jordie
Barrett’s conversion put the visitors
10-5 ahead at the break.
Ireland’s key period was the next
ten minutes. Kelleher powered over
after Conway and Ringrose had made
key incisions, then Doris’s angled run
took him past Taylor and on a run to
the posts. Sublime. Sexton converted
and added a penalty to make it 20-10.
Were New Zealand buckling? No.
Jordan conjured a try from nothing,
with help from Rieko Ioane. Jordie
Barrett converted, then traded penal-
ties with Carbery: 23-20 to Ireland.
This is where Ireland’s bench deliv-
ered. New Zealand tried to run from
deep but they were scythed down,
forced things, gave up penalties. Car-
bery’s majestic strike from 50 metres
kept the fire alight but it was only after
his last kick, in the final minute, that
the party could really start.Star man Caelan Doris (Ireland)
Ireland: Tries Lowe 14, Kelleher 45, Doris 50; Con
Sexton: Pens Sexton, Carbery 3
New Zealand: Tries Taylor 32, Jordan 62; Cons J
Barrett 2; Pens J Barrett 2
Ireland Keenan; Conway, Ringrose, Aki (Earls 72),
Lowe; Sexton (capt) (Carbery 65), Gibson-Park
(Murray 72); Porter (Healy 76), Kelleher (Herring
59), Furlong (Bealham 66), Henderson (Beirne 48),
Ryan, Doris, Van der Flier (O’Mahony 59), Conan.
New Zealand J Barrett; Jordan, R Ioane, Lienert-
Brown (Havili 38), Reece; B Barrett (Mo’unga 22),
Perenara; Moody (Tu’inukuafe 52), Taylor (Coles
52), Laulala (Lomax 52), Retallick, Whitelock
(capt), Blackadder (Coles 23-30), Papali’i, Savea.
Yellow card Taylor 13.
Referee L Pearce (Eng).This was what you would call a Test
match, a proper Test match. Ireland
may well have delivered their best-
ever performance. Consider this:
they beat the All Blacks by only nine
points on the scoreboard. On the
pitch, they smashed them. They
might have won by 20 or 25. So
many opportunities not taken,
when it seemed they would pay a
price for what they squandered.
But this Ireland team, unlike so
many of the past, were unrelenting.
They flat-out decided they were not
losing. Their will to win defined the
performance. Eight minutes from
the end, Peter O’Mahony missed a
tackle on Ardie Savea and from
their 22, the All Blacks were away.
It seemed another of those
moments that the former world
champions turn into a game-
deciding try. They were screaming
down the right with the Ireland left
wing, James Lowe, outnumbered.
Lowe anticipated the pass to
Rieko Ioane and made a smashing
tackle that put the centre on the turf.
And who should turn up to snaffle
the ball at the ruck? O’Mahony.
Redemption does not come sweeter.
The All Blacks believed. In tight
games they invariably win but then
Keith Earls made a tackle on Sevu
Reece and, off balance, the man in
black passed the ball into touch.
For Ireland, the last great act of
defiance came as the full back Hugo
Keenan anticipated Richie
Mo’unga’s cross-kick to Will Jordan.
Keenan got there before Jordan
and suddenly the All Blacks had to
sprint back. Minutes after a terrific
Test had ended, the players were
shaking hands and embracing.
Mostly everyone in the stadium
stayed standing, belting out The
Fields of Athenry and expressing joy
and appreciation in song.
And consider this: Ireland have
won three of their past five matches
against the All Blacks. Some will say
they lost the one that mattered in the
2019 World Cup. Every Test matters
against New Zealand. This is the
ultimate reflection of how far the
Ireland rugby team have come in theFarrell ensures his side save
their best for big occasion
21st century. They now compete.
For the first 111 years of their
rugby association, Ireland could
not beat the All Blacks. Irish fans
dolefully referred to it as more than
a century’s hurt, but as there was
little expectation, there was little
hurt. Then, five years ago in
Chicago, the All Blacks turned up
for what they thought was a junket
and they got smashed.
In 2018, Joe Schmidt’s team
showed Chicago was not a fluke by
scoring one excellent set-piece try
and killing the All Blacks with Kiwi-
inspired efficiency. Ireland enjoyed
success under Schmidt’s pragmatic
approach. He moved on in 2019 and
Andy Farrell was effectively picking
up the reins after the Alex Ferguson
of Irish rugby had departed.
Farrell intimated he would like
his team to play with a little daring,
a splash of dash. People wondered
at that — Ireland offloading? But
that is what the new coach brought,Garry Ringrose battles on in painDavid Walsh
Chief Sports Writer, Aviva StadiumDraws1
New Zealand
wins29
Ireland
wins3
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Biggest Ireland win
40-29, Chicago, November 2016
Biggest New Zealand win
60-0, Hamilton, June 2012This is the ultimate
reflection of how far
the Ireland rugby
team have come.
They now compete
HOW IT FEELS
TO BEAT THE
ALL BLACKS
A delighted captain Jonny Sexton
was replaced by Joey Carbery in
the second half, while, below, Jack
Conan joyfully embraces his team-
mates.
Argentina ran in five
tries to end their
seven-match losing
streak with a 37-
victory over an Italy
side who have now
been defeated in 16
straight Tests dating
back to 2019.
Marcos Kremer and
Juan Martín González
crossed the line to
give Argentina a
commanding 17-
lead at half-time
before Matías Moronitouched down
straight after the
break to extend the
Pumas’ advantage.
Italy briefly had
hope thanks to a
Stephen Varney try,
converted by Paolo
Garbisi, who then
scored the last of his
three penalties to peg
the deficit back to
eight points.
However, Santiago
Cordero ran in a try
soon after to add fivepoints and from there
Argentina cruised to
victory, with Facundo
Bosch adding the fifth
five minutes from the
end from a ruck.
Emiliano Boffelli
kicked nine points
while replacement
Nicolás González
added a penalty.
Italy’s bad day was
compounded by a
serious knee injury
for the Saracens prop
Marco Riccioni.ARGENTINA CONDEMN ITALY TO 16TH STRAIGHT LOSS
himself and was not speaking in his
professional capacity. But he
conducted himself dressed in the
finest Bok leisurewear as he spoke.
And if he thought that 62 minutes
of rambling angrily in the hour of
defeat was going to be kept secret,
then he must be the biggest IT
numpty in the history of civilisation.
The Erasmus tape contributed to one
of the most embittered of the ten
Lions tours I have followed, and
there is no doubt in my mind that he
affected play in both subsequent
matches, won by South Africa.
On the tape, Erasmus listed 26
calls that he claimed were errors.
Incidentally, none was among the
errors Berry may have made that
hurt the Lions cause. I ran through
the “errors” with an internationalIf he thought 62
minutes of rambling
angrily was going
to be kept secret,
then he must be
the biggest IT
numpty in history
rugby official. His opinion is that six
of the calls may have been wrong,
more were 50-50, and in others,
Erasmus did not appear to know the
laws. The majority were correct.
It would be staggering if the panel
does not take action. But there is
another tragedy. Erasmus, for me, is
one of the greatest rugby men. To
take the Springboks to the world title
was a magnificent achievement, but
he also did it while juggling the
demands of the quota system that
required him to select a minimum
number of non-white players.
In that sense, Erasmus could
appeal on the grounds that the rest
of his record is outstanding. On the
other hand, to poison a whole series
could also be described as the most
heinous of crimes.because Berry is an Australian, all
those nations were ruled out — so the
rest of the panel comprises a New
Zealand judge and a New Zealand QC.
Some of us wonder what evidence
you would need if you already have
the tape. Erasmus claimed that he did
not put the tape out on social media