New Zealand wrapped up a 2-0 Test series win as they recovered from a slow start to run in five tries, including a brace for Crusaders' fullback Leon MacDonald, to cruise to a 40-8 win over Ireland in the Second Test at Eden Park in Auckland.
The All Blacks won by a surprisingly large margin as their forwards took over in the second half. They were getting the upper hand before replacement Irish flank Alan Quinlan was sent to the sin-bin. After that it was the Black eight which ruled the game, despite bursts of Irish enthusiasm.
The first half ended with New Zealand ahead 13-3 -- surprisingly ahead in an unimpressive display in which they carried their woes from Carisbrook to Eden Park. The home team kicked a lot, they had kicks charged down and they mishandled a lot. The crowd were teetering on the brink of mocking laughter at one stage as their team fumbled and bumbled.
Ireland handled better and sought to keep the ball in hand more but their goal-kicking woes persisted.
In the first half, Ireland were penalised nine times, New Zealand three times. Ronan O'Gara, the Irish flyhalf, had chances to goal all three of the penalties, none of them difficult. He missed all three.
After Gary Longwell's second half try, the All Blacks led 21-8. But O'Gara had then lost his side eleven points from missed kicks. 21-19 would have been a happier situation for the visitors, who were then well and truly shunted out of the game.
Ireland's three points in the half came from a dropped goal by Brian O'Driscoll after a sustained Irish Attack. The attack came after a Leon MacDonald chip had been charged down. Only smart covering by Andrew Mehrtens saved the All Black line as he slid out five metres from the corner flag.
In the first half Mehrtens had two penalty kicks at goal and goaled them both, as he did MacDonald's try, which came from a genius break by Aaron Mauger who sliced inside Brian O'Driscoll and past O'Gara to send the New Zealand fullback racing over not long before half-time.
It was the second break by the All Blacks. The first had been by Mehrtens who fed Mark Robinson going right, but there was no right-wing. The player playing on the right wing with No.11 on his back was Jonah Lomu, but he had been playing around with the forwards when Mehrtens broke.
Both New Zealand wings had handling problems, none more so than the error-ridden Caleb Ralph who knocked on, even when not under pressure, and again ran ahead of a passer.
Ralph had a better second half before being replaced by Doug Howlett. He scored the All Blacks' second try
From a line-out Lomu came into the line in the centre, ran diagonally and passed to Leon MacDonald. Macdonald straightened looked for an in-out and passed to Ralph who was over in the corner. Mehrtens hit the upright with his conversion attempt in a moderate half's kicking by the All Black ace. He even missed a simple conversion later, from just right of the uprights.
In the first half the All Blacks lost successive line-outs on their own ball. In the second half Ireland did it three times in a row.
From one of them Mehrtens kicked downfield with Girvan Dempsey, not for the only time, well out of position and the Irish were forced to battle on defence at their right corner flag. The conceded penalties and were forced to defend. A penalty after a drive by Chris Jack took the score to 21-3 to New Zealand.
Then Ireland attacked. Geordan Murphy on the right wing stood still, stepped inside Ralph and beat Richard McCaw. O'Driscoll carried on with a dance and eventually Gary Longwell crashed over to narrow the score to 21-8.
The All Blacks made changes. One had immediate effect. Byron Kelleher came on for Justin Marshall. From a scrum Greg Somerville drove at the line. Kelleher picked up and powered over. Mehrtens converted, it was 28-8.
New Zealand made other changes as Howlett, Daryl Gibson and Marty Holah came on. David Humphreys replaced O'Gara but did not have a single kick at goal from then on.
Quinlan came on and soon departed, stung by a yellow card -- and it was all over for Ireland.
The All Blacks soon came close when Somerville was driven over, but the television match official, Greg Hinton of Australia, could see no grounding and a scrum ensued.
From the scrum the All Blacks wove promising patterns but it was the forwards who scored next when Holah broke from a maul with the simplest of runs to the posts -- the kick which Mehrtens missed. Astonishing. Still the All Blacks led 33-8.
The next try was a long-range affair as Howlett got away on the right-wing and fed MacDonald for the fullback to go galloping off into the distance for a try at the posts.
The Irish, with O'Driscoll and Keith Wood in the van, attacked the All Black line and when the final whistle went Justin Bishop had lost the ball centimetres from the All Black line.
There were no boos at the final whistle this time, as there had been at Carisbrook -- thanks largely to the All Blacks forwards' efforts.
Man of the match: It had to be a forward. Chris Jack was certainly a candidate for his work in all things a lock should do, but the man who did it even better was Greg Somerville, scrumming, supporting and leading the charge. Two drives led to tries -- by MacDonald in the first half and by Kelleher in the second.
Moment of the match: No, not Mehrtens's left footed drop which was almost a perfect cross kick, and not the run that led to MacDonald's second try, but the scything break by Aaron Mauger that sent MacDonald over for his first.
Villain of the match: There was much combative activity that was well within law. The villain was the only recipient of a yellow card -- Alan Quinlan. He came on as a replacement for Keith Gleeson. The first time he saw action he was sent off, abandoning his struggling forward mates to an unequal battle against the strengthening All Blacks. There was a ruck-thing. Quinlan arrived went out of his way to stick the boot into the lower side of an All Black who was nowhere near the ball and so went to sit on the side till the last few minutes of the match. During the ten minutes of his absence New Zealand scored 12 points.
The Teams:
Ireland: 1 John Hayes, 2 Keith Wood (c), 3 Reg Corrigan, 4 Gary Longwell, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 6 Simon Easterby, 7 Keith Gleeson, 8 Anthony Foley, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 11 Justin Bishop, 12 Brian O'Driscoll, 13 John Kelly, 14 Geordan Murphy, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves: Shane Byrne, David Humphreys, Paul Wallace, Leo Cullen, Alan Quinlan
Unused: Guy Easterby, Mel Deane
New Zealand: 1 David Hewett, 2 Mark Hammett, 3 Greg Somerville, 4 Chris Jack, 5 Norm Maxwell, 6 Richard McCaw, 7 Reuben Thorne (c), 8 Scott Robertson, 9 Justin Marshall, 10 Andrew Mehrtens, 11 Jonah Lomu, 12 Aaron Mauger, 13 Mark Robinson, 14 Caleb Ralph, 15 Leon MacDonald
Reserves: Doug Howlett, Marty Holah, Simon Maling, Joe McDonnell, Daryl Gibson, Byron Kelleher
Unused: Tom Willis
Referee: Henning t.
Points Scorers:
Ireland
Tries: Longwell G.W. 1
Drop G.: O'Driscoll B.G. 1
New Zealand
Tries: Holah M.R. 1, MacDonald L.R. 2, Kelleher B.T. 1, Ralph C.S. 1
Conv: Mehrtens A.P. 3
Pen K.: Mehrtens A.P. 3
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