The Ref made some enormous defining calls in this game had a huge influence on how it was played. In the end though i think he evened it out both ways as we lost some dodgy calls the irish deff lost some aswell.
I dont think the Irish will get a better chance to beat us than this game. Unless hansen has a brain explosion and starts williams, weepu, savea, dagg, thompson, SBW and mccaw. SBW in particular has been very ineffective against these guys.... time to start nonu.
Heart in mouth stuff and I'm not Irish or Kiwi. Ireland blew my expectations of them out of the water (considering the first test performance) and their scrum in particular seems to have come on leaps and bounds since the 6 Nations.
That being said New Zealand held their nerve right at the death which, considering the way Ireland were dominating the game I doubt many other teams would have managed.
Also, Nigel Owens is a pretty good ref isn't he?
Didn't see the match, who stood out for Ireland, how did the locks go?
I thought Trimble was shite today. Healy and O'Brien were class.
But I love how we get like 5 minutes of analysis but England get like 30 minutes, typical.
I have to say I was very impressed by O'Brien again. I was under the impression that ball-running was his major strength, but I've been largely underwhelmed by his ball running ability (it has been solid, but not spectacular). However he looked like a genuine "7" to me, as he completely dominating the AB's at the breakdown (even more so than last week).
Fantastic game from the Irish - I don't actually think NZ played that bad at all, but Ireland were great. If they defended like that in all their games they'd have won a few more in the 6 Nations.
On the yellow card call, I thought it was probably fair, but Dagg had seen he'd kicked the ball already, what was he supposed to do? He'd either have to go face first and get himself owned, or turn his shoulder. In the end, I wouldn't necessarily argue the call either way.
I thought the Irish were a bit sneaky at the rucks around the end, when Williams lost his cool like an idiot. An Irish player at each ruck blatantly went through onto the NZ side and blocked players.
Sam Cane was awesome when he came on. Aaron Smith was solid. Read was absolutely superb in the first half, especially at kick offs. Both the locks for NZ did a lot of good grunt work around the field.
If you didn't think Savea had a great game last week you must have been watching a different game than me! It was not just his three tries - it was his brilliant defense (won a penalty after a massive hit on Kearney), and he even made an outstanding individual break from inside his own 22. He was very quiet this week - he didn't get any chances (though no-one in the NZ backline really did), and he made a few basic errors, but that doesn't take away the fact he had an outstanding game last weekend....
Both were solid at lineout, but I can't remember either making many yards with ball in hand. From my (New Zealand) perspective I thought it was really a team performance from Ireland - there weren't that many standouts (O'Brien was very good though), but I can't recall many who had poor games....
EDIT: Mike Ross had a pretty impressive game in the scrum too....
Last edited by TRF_Darwin; 16-06-12 at 09:53 AM.
DK came close to beating the best team in the world. New contract coming his way till after the RWC?.
I would still start gear next week. Savea is young and needs to learn that if you dont front or go looking for work when the teams in trouble you wont be playing next week.
Will be interesting to see what happens in the final game.
Ireland will have their backs up knowing how close they came to winning, but ABs will want to atone for their performance.
Beware the All Blacks next week Ireland - the media and public will congratulate the Irish and castigate the All Blacks for not only almost losing, but doing so at home. Whoever plays the All Blacks after a performance like that is normally on the receiving end of a dominant, atonement seeking performance.
All Blacks 2010 season highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSiDp-xMvV4
I reckon last week was a France at the WC tactic by Ireland. Put out an experimental team, let the All Blacks put over a big score and then try to shock them while their complacent the following week. It'll be normal service resumed next week for the All Blacks, I reckon they'll put 20 over Ireland.