Ireland lose to Nobody ...because Nobody’s perfect

THEY were committed, they were smart. They played with imagination and were clever.

Yet Ireland lost by 20 points.

The world woke up yesterday to the inescapable truth that the All Blacks are playing rugby on a different planet at the moment. The Hong Kong reverse against the Wallabies can be written off as an anomaly, something that followed six weeks of inactivity, and the completion of a grand slam - the third in Graham Henry’s reign - looks a mere formality against Wales next week.

Ireland's Jamie Heaslip, one of the best on the pitch and the only No 8 to get close to Kieran Read this season, summed up Ireland's frustration in his post-match comments. In a 10 to 15-minute period at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second, Ireland gave the All Blacks three chances to score - they took every opportunity. “We were our own worst enemies,” he said.

He's being a bit hard on Ireland. No team can expect to play the perfect match. After all, the All Blacks were far from perfect themselves.

But that is what separates the All Blacks from the rest at the moment - they almost demand that the opposition play perfectly to beat them. If you turn over the ball, they say, it doesn't matter where you do it as, within a phase or two, Dan Carter will be lining up a conversion attempt. And he doesn't miss many.

The All Black back three is programmed to pounce on poorly-directed kicks, much like the one Eoin Reddan put up from the base of a ruck in the lead-up to Sam Whitelock's try. Cory Jane climbed high to take it under some pressure, while Hosea Gear, Richie McCaw and Read were organising themselves to attack space on the opposite flank. In the space of a few breathtaking seconds Ireland had gone from being in possession to conceding a try to a young replacement lock, who handled his finishing like a wing.

Heaslip and Declan Kidney might rue the fact that possession was not treasured enough in that circumstance, but as the world game stands at the moment, New Zealand are also the only team that are going to hurt you so swiftly from there.

Graham Henry and McCaw were both full of praise for Ireland afterwards. While there is an element of cliché about pouring platitudes on to well-beaten opponents, on this occasion the bouquets appeared genuine.

Ireland rattled the visitors in the first half. Recognising the All Blacks had slipped into their least-effective habit of not committing bodies to the breakdown, the Irish fanned out in defence, knowing they were not going to get hurt around the fringes. This enabled them to deal easily with the All Blacks’ touchline-to-touchline attack.

On attack, Ireland’s commitment to the breakdown saw them get quick ball which they used more than once to isolate New Zealand’s poorest defender, Ma’a Nonu.

It was a passionate, yet clear-headed (it must be said, Ireland don't have a great reputation for combining those two elements when playing New Zealand) rugby and it was rewarded by a four-point lead.

If they had taken that same lead into the break, you might have started to think about smashing down 105 years of futility, but the try conceded to Anthony Boric on the stroke of half-time was simply too soft for international level - sorry Cian Healy, but that's simply not good enough an effort when defending your line.

So where does this leave the two sides?

Ireland have regained some of the respect that was eroded after a poor loss to a weak South African side and a laboured victory over a good Samoan team. Respect is one thing, however, beating a Tri Nations’ teams is another.

They cannot be taken seriously as a World Cup contender until they start beating South Africa, Australia and the All Blacks. They're committed to a good brand of rugby, as has seemed to be the case with all the Six Nations' sides. That's great for the world game and let's hope the sense of adventure continues.

New Zealand? Well, we're in an all-too-familiar place - World Cup favourites in a non-World Cup year.

It’s tempting to say this feels different. To say that with McCaw, Dan Carter and Mils Muliaina still near the peak of their powers, with the emergence of Read as a superstar and with the unique, almost undefendable talents of Sonny Bill Williams to add to the mix, it will still take an epic upset for this team to lose.

New Zealanders take great pride in their winning record and their legacy to the world game, but less pride in the fact it has been 23 years since lifting the Webb Ellis Trophy. Would we swap three relatively poor years for glory come World Cup year? Probably, if only to get the gorilla off the back, but New Zealanders’ patience for that would soon wear thin.

As a public, they demand results and they demand style, no matter what the tournament and no matter what the year.

In 11 months’ time we'll know whether this team deserves to be ranked among the greatest, if not the greatest, of all time, or whether they are just another glorious mirage.

* The author, a former Irish Examiner journalist, is a staff writer with the New Zealand Herald