Player ratings: Tadhg Beirne stood tallest when it mattered most
COLLOSUS: Ireland’s Tadhg Beirne and Johnny Sexton celebrate at the end of the game. ©INPHO/Billy Stickland
Apart from one fumbled garryowen and one missed tackle, didn’t put a foot or a hand wrong. Underpins his all-court game with an almost unshakeable composure which raises a rhetorical question: Is there a better full back in the game right now?
The All Blacks wasted no time trying to put the wind up him in a stadium where it blows like nowhere else. With the ball swirling above him a metre or so from the goal-line, the Connacht wing held his nerve and kept holding it apart from one late jump out of the defensive line.
Now everyone can appreciate what they’ve been saying about sport through the ages, that the genuine greats save their best for great occasions. His dazzling definition of the old adage lasted from start to finish, scything tackles and a try which plunged New Zealand into a state of national shock.
A storybook tour deserved the crowning glory of a part in the collective effort of doing something which no British or Irish team had done since the celebrated Lions of Gareth Edwards and Barry John in 1971. But for Richie Mo’unga’s last-ditch tackle, Connacht’s man for all seasons would have scored a late try.
Much improved on the previous week and the week before that. Used his booming left boot to win precious territory and his attacking nous to engineer the second try, his drawing of Jordie Barrett and timing of the pass sending Keenan over.
There is simply nobody like him on the world stage. While most players reach the age of 37 in retirement, the captain celebrated his by presiding over a win even more historic than the one seven days earlier. On a day when his Test points tally soared into four figures, another stat stood out: more tackles than any other back.
In a team with the technical ability to limit mistakes to the bare minimum, those that are made tend to stand out, like the scrum-half’s early grubber bouncing straight into his opposite number’s hands. Recovered rapidly to resume normal service.
Kiwis the world over howled in disbelief when their try-scoring loosehead tormentor saw yellow instead of the red which did for All Black tighthead Angus Ta’avao in Dunedin. The Leinster prop avoided the same fate because referee Wayne Barnes ruled that he was ‘absorbing the tackle.’Â
The youngest member of the team at 23, he achieves something at the first attempt which has been beyond whole generations of Ireland players. The analysis can wait but he will be concerned about the missed tackle count against his name: five, including the one which allowed Akira Ioane to plough over for his try.
Keeps delivering the perfect riposte to anyone who dares suggest that his form isn’t what it used to be: a win over the All Blacks. He’s done it so often that it’s easy to lose track. At the last count it’s six, more than any other player from this side of the Equator.
The tougher it got, the more he stood up to be counted: a rare feat from a rare player always to be found in the heat of the action turning All Black after All Black over. Impossible to over-estimate his uncanny ability to turn defence into attack whether it was at the break-down or picking off an All Black pass. Monumental.
Sapped New Zealand morale by stealing an early line-out and kept on sapping it until the very end. Rarely failed to make the hard yards and had enough energy to spare for 16 tackles, only two fewer than his Munster partner.
The old warrior finished up as he had never finished up before, on the touchline in tears. His emotional outburst said everything about the immensity of Ireland’s triumph, one for which he had given so much blood and sweat that it was only right and proper that he shed tears of joy as well.
Flier by name, flier by nature. Got Ireland’s night of nights off to the perfect start, scoring a try before he had time to crank his breakdown recovery service into gear. Raised his tackle count for the three matches to a staggering 61, missing just one.
Took all of 40 seconds before he began scattering any All Black blocking his path. Kept on causing all manner of mayhem mixed with a whole range subtle skills. An outstanding series leaves no doubt that that the man from Mayo has everything required to be a huge hit at the World Cup in France next year.
Rob Herring, somehow found a way past at least three opponents to score the second half try that restored Ireland’s command.
Cian Healy, for van der Flier, 54-62 mins, for Porter, 70.
Rob Herring, for Sheehan, 62.
Jack Conan, for O’Mahony, 66.
Keith Earls, for Aki, 68 Finlay Bealhan, for Furlong, 70.
Conor Murray, for Gibson-Park, 71.
Kieran Treadwell, for Beirne, 76.
Joey Carbery, for Sexton, 76.
Sounded the first alarm bell with a bad early miss off the tee and before he could do anything about it, more were sounding all around him. No lack of effort but long before the end Ireland had hounded him into the grim conclusion that he had nowhere to go.
The only threequarter to cause Ireland trouble with his blinding pace and uncanny ability to sniff a try out of nowhere, like the one which slashed the Irish lead to three points with 20 minutes left. That, for the All Blacks, turned out to be as good as it got.
Rarely, if ever, can a pair of All Black centres have suffered as much from comparison to their opposite numbers. Once a wing who seemed to score tries for fun, the series finished with Ioane spared the misery of the last ten minutes when all hope of another miraculous recovery had gone.
Recalled in place of Quinn Tupaea, he failed to give the All Black midfield even a semblance of the vision and power of Conrad Smith and Ma’a Nonu in days long gone. Too often all at sea defensively, never more tellingly than when watching Robbie Henshaw cross over unopposed.
For all his bobbing and weaving, managed to get out of his corner just once only to be promptly put back there. Was still trying to get into the game when the All Blacks hauled him off.
Posed more of an aerial threat than with ball in hand. Tried everything he knew to find a chink in the green armour and when he came closest to finding one, who should shut it down with a shuddering tackle but Tadhg Beirne.
For so long master of all he surveyed, even the most admired scrum-halves ound up being rattled by Ireland’s intensity. Within a matter of minutes, he gave away the cheapest of off-side penalties, then followed it with a pass which fell into the telescopic clutches of who else, but Beirne.
Reduced to a pale shadow of his former self in the two previous Tests. Even he found himself unwittingly contributing to the general shambles fore and aft of a team reduced to despair.
Freed himself in the early exchanges to offer nervous home fans fleeting hope, spinning out of tackles the way he used to do. Unable to find the room to do it more than once, he made way for the veteran Dane Coles to inject sorely needed energy in the last quarter.
The third tighthead summoned by New Zealand, he duly went the way of his immediate predecessors, Ofa Tuungafasi and Andrew Ta’avao, in a state of suspension over his red card. Not the first to find Porter a handful, he won’t be the last.
Good work at the re-starts, his series came to a sickeningly early end in the form of Porter’s unintentional head blow, not that the law makes any distinction between the accidental and the deliberate. Stayed off after failing the HIA, leaving the listing All Black ship with another gaping hole.
Wasted no time showing how much he had been missed after sitting out the 2nd Test because of concussion. Did his formidable best to make a game of it but without having a realistic of saving New Zealand losing to Ireland for the fifth time in eight matches. Shan’t need anyone to tell him that his team finished a poor second, again.
Summoned off the bench pre-match for Scott Barrett, a change which reduced All Black line-out options, not that it mattered in the greater scheme of things. Did his level best to counter Irish dominance capped with a smashing second half try.
New Zealand does not take kindly to captains who lose any match, let alone who loses a home three-Test series for the first time since the Wallabies at Eden Park in 1986. Unable to change the course of the game, his inevitable substitution leaves his future as captain in some doubt.
A constant source of danger, he roused his team from the rubble of the first-half with the first try which inspired another shortly afterwards. That Ireland conceded three in fewer than 20 second half minutes and still won going away says everything about their superiority.
Dane Coles, at 35 showing he could make yet another World Cup.
Ofa Tuunga’fasi, for Laulala, 41-45 mins.
Tupou Vaa’i, for Retallick, 51.Â
Dane Coles, for Taylor, 62.
Folau Fakatava, for Smith, 62.
Richie Mounga, for Reece, 62.
Dalton Paplii, for Cane, 64.
Karl Tu’inukuafe, for Bower, 72.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, for Rieko Ioane, 70.
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