Murray Kinsella Reports from Eden Park

IT WAS A very tough night for Ireland. Picking out positives is difficult to do when you’ve lost by 19 points, conceding six tries along the way.

And yet, there’s no doubt that Joe McCarthy was one of the best players on the pitch for either side in Ireland’s 41-20 Nations Championship loss against New Zealand at Eden Park.

The 25-year-old lock was omnipresent for Ireland, making a game-leading 23 tackles and bringing some fire in some of them. 

McCarthy was also the joint-top ball-carrier in the game with 16, beating three defenders and coming up with a linebreak for Ireland. Not only did he carry hard, but McCarthy also made seven passes.

And despite all the action on the ball, McCarthy somehow hit more Irish rucks than any team-mate, as well as getting consistently stuck in at the defensive breakdown.

He was part of a good Irish lineout effort as they won 12 of their 13 lineouts. McCarthy’s one penalty concession for being offside was a rare blip in a top-class performance from the Irish second row.

McCarthy has had an excellent campaign, despite only making his seasonal bow in December after recovering from a foot injury. He has racked up lots of minutes for Leinster and Ireland since, playing some of the best rugby of his career.

Once again, he was among the leading performers at Eden Park on Saturday. Not that it was any major consolation for a man whose only focus was trying to help Ireland to win.

“It was quite tough,” said McCarthy after Ireland’s loss.

“You knew you weren’t going to get an easy Test match at Eden Park. It was tough, especially the way they played wide-to-wide, and you know they’re going to attack from everywhere.

“I thought our scrums were actually pretty good today, but then you have to track back and get off the line again with good ball-carriers coming at you.

“Our attack probably didn’t fire as well as we wanted it to and a little bit soft defensively so, yeah, a tough game.” 

Rob Baloucoune and Joe McCarthy. Billy Stickland / INPHO Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO

McCarthy was happy with the Irish lineout and scrum. It was the bits in between the set-pieces where Ireland came up short.

The number of handling and passing errors was a deeply damaging part of their performance, and McCarthy was disappointed that Ireland didn’t go at the relatively passive Kiwi defence more often.

“Their D wasn’t that aggressive,” said McCarthy. “We could have played at them a bit more. They sat off more than they’ve done in the past.

“Maybe just playing a bit more through them, playing a little bit smarter.”

McCarthy said he and Ireland felt good coming into the game. There were the usual nerves, which he felt only sharpened his mind as Saturday rolled around.

But he said Ireland will regret “a few scenarios where we were a bit off, not getting set in attack and maybe being a little bit off in our comms.”

Ultimately, McCarthy said it’s important that Ireland take this beating at the hands of the All Blacks as a lesson about what is required against the leading teams in the world.

And the disappointment hasn’t diminished his excitement for what lies ahead with the World Cup in 2027.

“I’m so, so excited. We’re building towards the World Cup. It’s 15 months away,” said McCarthy.

“We’ll be all in for that, and I’m seriously looking forward to that. There’s so much more in this group, so much quality. We’ll be all-in, building towards that.”