Owens call hard to swallow
After a pretty miserable week for Irish sport, at last a performance to savour.
With just 30 seconds remaining on the clock Dan Carter, with the poxiest drop goal of his illustrious career, denied Ireland the draw which was the least they deserved from this immense display. It would also have extended the three test Steinlager series to the final game in Hamilton next Saturday.
The fact that New Zealand closed out the game despite playing with 14 men for the final eight minutes with Israel Dagg in the sin bin, summed up that southern hemisphere resilience and ability to push on until the final whistle. To accentuate the point, Australia repeated the dose two hours later against a gallant Welsh side in Melbourne with a winning penalty in the last play of the game. South Africa completed a hat-trick of series wins for the southern hemisphere’s big three against England despite significant improvements in performance from all three Six Nations challengers over the weekend.
Ireland were so superior in so many facets of play compared to their opening effort in Auckland that it was a travesty to lose the second test. At this level it is all about taking opportunities. Jonny Sexton, who had a magnificent game, had a chance with seven minutes left to put Ireland ahead by three but his difficult penalty kick fell short. When New Zealand are offered a similar window of opportunity they usually take it. In this instance however you wouldn’t have put money on it. This New Zealand side was clearly rattled, no one more so than their inspirational captain Richie McCaw. I have never seen him make so many handling errors in a test match. The fact that he was the one making them fuelled the adrenalin levels of the Irish players who were clearly up for this game.
Evidently the players felt it was time to stand up and be counted. It is a pity this squad have to be backed into a corner before they produce their best. Their performance in Eden Park in the first test lacked urgency and intensity in so many areas that it handed an emphatic win to New Zealand on a plate. It was reminiscent of their opening Six Nations defeat against Wales at the Aviva Stadium when again they were mentally off the pace at a time when everyone expected them to explode out of the blocks after that harrowing defeat against the same opposition in the World Cup quarter-final in Wellington. That occasional lack of mental focus at crucial times is something Declan Kidney must hone in on.
To Kidney’s immense credit, he did focus on all the areas that required improvement from the opening test and the result was spectacular. Where they were passive in the tackle in Auckland, their line speed in defence in Christchurch was lightning and offered the impressive New Zealand three quarters absolutely no space. It says something about the performance of the midfield combination of Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy, playing a world record 48th test together as a midfield combination, that Sonny Bill Williams and Conrad Smith made absolutely no impression.
A big factor here was the influence of the Irish pack, with Donnacha Ryan, Sean O’Brien and Cian Healy superb. The scrum, with Mike Ross back in harness, had the upper hand throughout, which made a massive penalty decision by referee Nigel Owens for a deliberate wheel against Ireland with just three minutes left hard to swallow. At that stage Healy had a distinct advantage over replacement tight head Ben Franks and, in effect, was penalised for getting the shove on him. There is no way it was a deliberate wheel from Ireland and Owens made a poor judgment call.
Outside the scrum, Ireland also strangled their opponents at the breakdown. New Zealand have made an art form of producing quick ball from that vital sector but were smothered time and again by the voracious Irish eight. It frustrated New Zealand to such a degree they were paralysed for long stretches of this absorbing contest. O’Brien broke New Zealand hearts and the number of turnovers he generated alone was inspirational. While the loss of their outstanding No 8 Kieran Reid at half-time was asevere blow to the hosts, Ireland availed his second half absence to create havoc in the contact area.
The other transformation from Auckland was the accuracy of the Irish kicking game. Where there were aimless kicks down field last week offering a clear invitation to counter-attack and use the skills of Dagg and Julian Savea to best effect, they now received the ball with manic Irish chasers smashing them every time they succeeded in fielding possession. The caveat leading up to Savea’s debut last week was that he was vulnerable under the high ball. Ireland’s kicking was so poor in that game that he was never tested. This time around that vulnerability was exposed. With every All Black mistake, the Irish players grew in stature.
Arguably the biggest area of improvement was in Ireland’s ability to retain possession through multiple phases and in their use of that possession. The cheap turnovers that were so severely punished in the opening encounter were eradicated and for once it was the All Blacks who were forced into error. It will crush Ireland that they failed to make maximum return from New Zealand’s uncharacteristic error count as they have done so often to teams in similar situations.
If there was one aspect of the performance that let Ireland down it was their restarts where they gave the ball away far too cheaply. When the roles were reversed, New Zealand were clinical. Small margins but on such things are test games won and lost.
The series may be gone but so much was salvaged in Christchurch. Ireland must somehow summon one more superhuman effort with Hamilton looming and if they can play with the same efficiency and intensity that they managed for the entire 80 minutes on Saturday then there is no reason why they cannot push New Zealand to the wire once again. From here the challenge, once again, becomes a mental one.
