Ireland slump to defeat against All Blacks after disappointing final 20 minutes in Chicago
Leroy Carter of New Zealand in action against James Lowe of Ireland during the Gallagher Cup match between Ireland and New Zealand at Soldier Field in Chicago, USA. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
The Battle of Chicago Round 2 shall not go down in the same pages of history as the first act. Andy Farrell and Ireland trudged off Soldier Field having seen a dreadful final 20 minutes deprive them of a victory which looked all-too unlikely when Tadhg Beirne was lost to a red card after just three minutes.
Yet, amid a spectacle that was as chaotically scrappy and disjointed on the pitch as the production off it, Ireland may well have had a chance to repeat the heroics of 2016. The All Blacks, having lost two of their three Barrett brothers to early injuries, were about as error-strewn as one could have imagined.
Yet from the 62nd minute onwards tries from Tamaiti Williams, Wallace Sititi and a miserable late fourth from Cam Roigard left Ireland staring at a very underwhelming start to their autumn. They led for 55 minutes but rarely looked comfortable or fluid, a chaotic lineout and some defensive switch-offs leaving Farrell and his coaching staff with plenty to ponder. Jack Crowley’s return was as up and down as his side’s.
Farrell had stridently challenged his Ireland players during their extended build-up in Chicago. The head coach returned from Lions duty to take charge of the national team with plenty of points here to be proven. The argument that Ireland were just too undercooked brought a passionate response.
“What do you want us to do? Do you want us to just accept that and go, ‘it's not going to happen’? We've got to embrace this.”
There was also hardware to embrace come the final whistle: the Gallagher Cup, named after the insurance giants who are one of many All Blacks sponsorship partners. Scott Robertson’s men had commercial obligations aplenty across the city all week. Nine years ago, having come out on the losing side for the first time in a century, some beaten Kiwis had blamed their sponsor obligations as having contributed to them taking their eyes off the task at hand. Marrying the financials with focus was one of many things they hoped would be different second time around.
Former Ireland and Munster centre Barry Murphy was on hand to sing Ireland’s Call. He did so in a match-worn shirt that 20 years to the day belonged to Anthony Foley in a 2003 World Cup clash with Australia. It meant that just as in 2016, the poignancy of Foley’s passing would feature in the pre-match rituals. While Ireland met the haka by forming a figure 8 in tribute to Foley back then, this time they took just a small step forward and watched on. At the very end it was Ryan Baird who took Ireland’s first step towards the opposition. A statement of intent?
He duly delivered the first tackle of the game a few seconds in but having argued during Friday’s Captain’s Run that Ireland needed both a steady set-piece and a solid start overall, Dan Sheehan saw the first line-out go horribly wrong. To say it set the tone for what was to come would be an Stateside-supersized understatement.
Fully 21 minutes after we began we’d had a grand total of 12 minutes of actual rugby. The sold-out 61,841 crowd which had found great energy at kickoff felt disengaged and who could blame them? A farcically prolonged TMO check wasn’t pretty for organizers as referee Pierre Brousset and his assistants had no joy getting the replay of Tadhg Beirne’s high shoulder on Beauden Barrett on the third minute.
In the same phase of play the All Blacks lost Scott Barrett to injury as the patchy Soldier Field surface joined the broken audio-visual communications in the list of issues.
The crowd were as bemused as some Ireland players when Beirne was shown a yellow and that wonder surely grew when it was upgraded seven minutes later to red. In between times we’d had plenty more thud and blunder. It was beyond scrappy and disjointed. Yet Ireland were handed the first opportunity to make an imprint on the scoreboard when Quinn Tupaea was pinged for a block on Stuart McCloskey and Jack Crowley parked any nerves to slot it over.
The All Blacks were supposed to be the team who’d arrived here with rhythm and a fluidity from a hectic summer of Rugby Championship duty. Yet it took them almost 15 minutes before they got the ball through the hands. McCloskey and Garry Ringrose, who got through a power of ugly but effective work in the first half, snuffed out danger.
Then Ireland finally settled. They burst down the narrow side and found a delightful flow of offloading as Sheehan, Crowley, Conan and Ringrose all ate up yards in opposition territory, Ireland’s rucking and attack lines so effective. Codie Taylor strayed offside and things got briefly spicy. But Farrell will have loved how Ireland kept and used their heads. Their confidence too as they eschew the three points and opted to kick for the corner, despite being down to 14 and having lost Beirne.
The set-piece was scrappy but wasn’t lost and Gibson-Park immediately raised the tempo again. Again Ringrose and Conan carried well, Baird bringing himself to bare too. The try line was begging Ireland to advance and Tadhg Furlong answered the call, marking his 80th cap with a sixth international try. Crowley added the extras and Ireland were 10-0 to the good. The overall quality may not have been there but it was damn gutsy stuff.
Within two minutes the All Blacks would respond. Leicester Fainga’anuku – on for Jordie Barrett - cut things open and Will Jordan was into all too familiar territory, haring into Ireland’s open heart. Josh van der Flier heroically got back to tackle the fullback but it was in vain as the ball was cycled out wide and Ireland were stretched, Ardie Savea touching down.
Amid the catalogue of errors, there were compelling bursts. Ireland’s offensive lineouts were diabolical but they disrupted the All Blacks’ set-piece very well, Baird making a couple of brilliant steals, one rewarded by a brilliantly brave carry from Tommy O’Brien showing little inexperience in his third cap. Crowley was swinging up and down with the contest. After an 11-phase move on the half-hour he attempted a grubber but, ironically after a week of undercooked chatter, overdid it.
Still the disruptions came. Ireland lost James Ryan to a HIA on 34 minutes and in came Caelen Doris. The captain’s first act on a rugby pitch for six months was a monstrous carry up the heart of the field. McCloskey justified his selection with some great carries that eked out extra yards, one attempted offload soon after would surely have released Jamie Osborne to score but it just missed.
A high tackle by Clarke on O’Brien shortly before the break sparked a few Irish questions as to why the All Blacks winger wasn’t further penalized when Beirne had been treated harshly. Fully 52 minutes after we’d started, halftime arrived. Could Farrell and Robertson find a way to calm the chaos a little?
The answer looked a firm no as All Black errors and indecision piled up after the restart. Fainga’anuku had an inexplicable drop in midfield and Barrett was making a hash of plenty too. Ireland weren’t taking enough of an advantage though, Crowley slid one penalty badly wide on 48 minutes but did make some amends three minutes later to stretch Ireland’s lead to six, 13-7.
As the All Blacks looked to respond, James Lowe’s booming boot and shrew covering senses helped Ireland out of jail.
The Fields of Athenry got it first true airing as the crowd lifted itself at the sight of Bundee Aki preparing to enter. It felt as though the contest may ultimately belong to the team that could find a way to put together just 10 solid, stitched-together minutes of rugby. Another Baird line out steal and a scrum penalty signalled it may be Farrell’s men who’d pull it together. Instead it fell apart.
Just after the hour mark, New Zealand tapped and went with a penalty and Ireland’s defence wasn’t up to it. A big carries from Taylor opened the gates and Tamaiti Williams barrelled over despite Iain Henderson’s claims that he’d got under it. Having been so fitful Barrett added the extras and New Zealand led for the first time with 18 minutes to go.
The cliche begging to be inserted was ‘classic All Blacks’. Instead that moment arrived five minutes later. First, Ireland had tried to reply but Crowley’s dink escaped the reach of O’Brien. In a flash the ball was up the other end and what threatened to be the dagger arrived. Barrett led the charge and Ringrose was much too careless as he shot out. Wallace Sititi was left with a clear run under the posts.
Farrell threw the rest of his replacements at it, Craig Casey and Sam Prendergast asked to find a spark which never came. In its place was a string of errors, Aki firing one astray when looking for Osborne.
The final say arrived off the resulting scrum and it was damn ugly stuff for Farrell to watch. Off the base of it, Cam Roigard picked and all three of Casey, Van der Flier and Doris were bamboozled as the scrum half scored all too easily. There could even have been another blow as a highlight-reel fifth try arrived at the death but mercifully a forward pass was called.
Unlike 2016, the stands of Soldier Field were mostly emptied by the time the Gallagher Cup was raised. Farrell and Ireland have a long way to lift themselves as they cross the Atlantic.
Tries: Furlong, Pens: Crowley (1), Cons: Crowley (2).
Tries: Savea, Williams, Sititi, Roigard. Cons: Barrett (3)
J Osborne; T O'Brien, G Ringrose, S McCloskey, J Lowe; J Crowley, J Gibson-Park; A Porter, D Sheehan, T Furlong; J Ryan, T Beirne; R Baird, J van der Flier, J Conan.
R Kelleher for Sheehan (60), P McCarthy for Porter (68), F Bealham for Furlong (61), I Henderson for Beirne (23), C Doris for Ryan (HIA, 33-40); for Conan (52), C Casey for Gibson-Park (67), S Prendergast for Crowley (67), B Aki for McCloskey (57).
Beirne (3)
W Jordan; L Carter, Q Tupaea, J Barrett, C Clarke; B Barrett, C Roigard; E de Groot, C Taylor, F Newell; S Barrett (capt), F Holland; S Parker, A Savea, P Lakai.
S Taukei’aho for Taylor (63), T Williams for De Groot (49), P Tosi for Newell (63), J Lord for S Barrett (2), W Sititi for Parker (HIA, 30-40; 60), C Ratima for Regard (77), L Fainga’anuku for J Barrett (18), D McKenzie for Carter (63).
Pierre Brousset (FFR).
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