YOU HAVE TO hand it to these plucky underdogs. They play with pride and passion. They never give up.
And if we have learned one thing from across the last six years, it is this. Write them off at your peril because on their day, they are capable of beating anyone. Hell, they’ve even scraped home in three of the last seven meetings between these two.
Ireland’s bogey team, we’ve started to call them.
The rest of the world knows them as the All Blacks.
Has the nature of this Ireland/New Zealand rivalry changed to this extent? No, of course it hasn’t. Ignore our earlier flippancy because an All Blacks scalp remains a prized one and if there is any doubt about this, let’s bore you with a quick history lesson.
Ireland make history as they beat New Zealand in Ireland for the FIRST TIME 😱
— Sky Sports Rugby Union (@SkySportsRugby) July 9, 2022
FT: 12 - 23 🇳🇿🇮🇪#NZvsIRE pic.twitter.com/6urEcqOkWv
Since professional rugby began in 1995, no touring side has ever won a series here but after last night’s thrilling 23-12 victory, Ireland has the chance to rewrite history. That was what they did here in Dunedin, joining the British and Irish Lions, the Springboks, Wallabies, English and French on the short list of teams who have beaten New Zealand in their own country.
Four of those sides have either won or appeared in a World Cup final. The fifth is the best Britain and Ireland has to offer. Yet you have to go all the way back to 1971 for the last time the Lions won a series here, something the Springboks managed to do only once: in 1937.
That’s why this Saturday night on New Zealand’s south island will live long in the memory because it isn’t just Ireland who have struggled to beat the All Blacks on their own soil. Everyone has.
The most remarkable aspect of the victory wasn’t the events that occurred from minutes one to 80 but rather what happened in the seconds after Joey Carbery kicked the ball into the stands around 9.09pm Dunedin time and Jaco Peyper blew his whistle a final time.
Six years ago in Chicago – scene of Ireland’s inaugural win over the All Blacks – there were uninhibited scenes of joy. A couple of years later, when Jacob Stockdale’s try was the difference in Dublin, the roar that greeted that score could be heard in neighbouring postcodes.
Even last November, when another date with New Zealand ended with another Ireland victory, there was a touch of giddiness about the whole event, the team embarking on a lap of honour as the crowd – back in the free world after a couple of years in lockdown – refused to go home.
But this time was different. There was no outpouring of joy. There weren’t even expressions of relief. Instead the team and squad gathered in a large circle underneath the main stand, listened to their captain speak, before heading off to the dressing room.
This wasn’t like being an eyewitness to history; no, it was like watching a group of accountants assembling around the water cooler at 5pm before wandering down the street to catch the bus home. That’s what beating New Zealand has turned into for this Ireland side: just another day at the office.
Peter O'Mahony with the 50:22 off the outside of the foot! pic.twitter.com/5oqqVuwbNG
— Murray Kinsella (@Murray_Kinsella) July 9, 2022
We’ll remember it as Andrew Porter’s redemption night – the two tries the prop scored, the character he showed in the scrum, after a hard night at Eden Park a week earlier.
Actions speak louder than words, of course they do. This game was decided by All Black indiscipline, their naïve selection policy, their inadequate tactical strategy and by the fact that Ireland ticked almost every box: their defence had bite, their set-piece functioned, their key players showed a high rugby IQ.
But words count too.
Andy Farrell and Johnny Sexton’s post-match press conference set an impressive tone. The Ireland coach and captain rejected the offer of a lap of honour as that represented the completion of a job. And that’s not what Saturday was. It was a starting point, not an ending.
The message has seeped down into the squad. After the dismay of the first test in Auckland when they had stumbled to defeat, they needed a fuse to be lit beneath them, some shock therapy. They got that from both Farrell and Sexton midweek, Farrell with his vote of loyalty in team selection, Sexton with his sage advice.
“We just need to stay calm,” he said.
That’s what they did last night. The captain excelled, as Ireland showed the All Blacks absolutely no respect in that first half, casually diverting the play from one wing to the other, all the while wondering when an opening would come.
They hadn’t long to wait, a try coming on two minutes, when Tadhg Beirne broke free at half-way, before he – and his fellow pack members – recycled the ball with ruthless intent, an area that should be a specialist subject of an All Black side, but that is now on their lengthening list of weak points.
Big play from Caelan Doris! pic.twitter.com/YZkBxmaXdf
— Murray Kinsella (@Murray_Kinsella) July 9, 2022
Leaving themselves dangerously exposed to the running power of Ireland’s backs, New Zealand failed to notice the skilful prop Porter run a sneaky line on Sexton’s outside from where he powered across from five yards. Two minutes played, one statement made.
The Irish onslaught continued, Sexton getting a penalty just 10 minutes later. Then came the cards, a couple of yellows, a red, all for All Blacks. Somehow they got to half-time just 10-7 down and you wondered then if the tourists would panic.
But no.
“The messages at half-time were simple,” said Dan Sheehan, the young Ireland hooker. “In the first half we had a lot of time to regroup and everyone was trying to chirp in their opinion when it just needed one voice, one word and sometimes even nothing at all. We just needed to settle our heads. It was getting a bit frantic; everyone wanted to do their own thing. We just got a bit giddy towards the end of the first half.”
They got a bit brilliant in the third quarter. The set-piece was strong; the decisions to go for the posts, when the points were on offer, was correct and the decision of Porter to back himself when he had a second opportunity to cross the tryline was indicative of his self-belief.
Tale of the tape 🧮
— Rúaidhrí O'Connor (@RuaidhriOC) July 9, 2022
Score: ⚫️12 🟢 23
Possession: ⚫️53%,🟢47%
Territory: ⚫️37%, 🟢63%
Pens conceded: ⚫️14 (🟡🟡🔴), 🟢14(🟡)
Tackle %: ⚫️82%, 🟢91%
Kick/Pass/Run: ⚫️7%/66%/27%, 🟢9%/68%/23%
Clean breaks: ⚫️2, 🟢3
Lineout %: ⚫️88%, 🟢82%
That second try came on 48 minutes and Peyper may as well have blown the full-time whistle then because there was no way Ireland were going to lose from there, with a numerical advantage as well as a scoreboard one.
If the way they closed the deal was impressive then the manner of their post-match discussions was even more so.
Here’s Sheehan, the youngster in the starting XV: “We can’t get ahead of ourselves now,” he said afterwards. “We definitely have the game to beat them next week and if we get our stuff right – we’ll win.”
Confident words but that’s where Irish rugby is right now. Once they came here in hope, now it’s in expectation. Having waited 111 years for a breakthrough win over the All Blacks, they are on the brink of getting two in the space of a week.
The rugby landscape is changing.