TADHG BEIRNE BELIEVES Ireland can find a way back into their three-test series this Saturday, despite losing out at Eden Park at the weekend.
The Munster lock was playing his first game since the Six Nations – a thigh injury ruling him out of his province’s end of season Champions Cup campaign – and was pleased to get back on the turf.
“It was better to get 60 minutes under my belt so I might feel a bit better but the first 20 minutes of that game, I don’t know what it looked like from the sidelines but it was tough on the lungs,” said Beirne.
“All the lads were saying it was a tough 20 minutes and it will definitely stand to me next week if I’m back out there, for sure.”
Despite losing, Beirne remains upbeat about Ireland’s chances.
“Yeah, I think everyone after the game was weirdly felt positive about it,” said Beirne.
“Obviously we were disappointed with their win and the manner in which we lost, but we felt we had some really good moments and that if we can just get a couple of things right that we certainly have the beating of them. That’s certainly how we feel as a squad.
“We’re very happy that we get to play them again next week and a massive opportunity to get to put a few things right and hopefully get one over on them.
“I think we started really well. We probably had them on the ropes I suppose at the start but we are in Eden Park, they are playing at home and we’ve got to be ready for them to throw it back at you. And I think they had a few moments from our mistakes as well and probably turned the tide a little bit.
“We were battling then to get ourselves back into it and unfortunately for us it was mistakes and it was discipline and it was just easy access for them to get back into our half and to get back on top. That’s probably why we found ourselves down by so many points at half-time.
“I think we came out in the second half and were ready to go again and we scored early and then we exited well. And then we got a penalty and then we lost that lineout and they went up and scored.
“So we kind of found ourselves doubling up on our errors and when we made an error they capitalised on it and that’s probably where we lost the game really.”