All Blacks’ special reserves tip balance

With five minutes to play in Dublin, I was blaming last week’s loss to Australia for what seemed certain to be an historic Irish victory.

But call it self-belief or call it luck, an amazing finish resulted in a last-gasp win for the All Blacks.

Watching the first-half reminded me of the England game in 1993, Ireland was totally dominating and it was a question of whether or not they could sustain the pressure. That day there was no miracle comeback by England, Ireland won 17-3, but the All Blacks of 2013 are a different proposition to anything in modern rugby.