[November Tests 2016 EOYT] Ireland vs. New Zealand (05/11/2016)

[TRF Mr Fish]

Unfortunately didn't get to watch the game live and had the result spoiled for me... but what a result!

Congratulations to Ireland, if I had to pick any team to lose to it would be them! In some ways this gets a bit of a monkey off our back too, we're no longer protecting history.

I don't know if the All Blacks need to do too much to fix anything, I think they had an off day and it didn't help having two new locks and various injuries throughout the match.

I still haven't seen anything from Savea this year to make me think he deserves his spot on the wing. Even ignoring his mistakes against Ireland I think he's been average. I don't think Naholo is necessarily fully fit yet but I'd probably have him starting on the left wing with Dagg on the right. I wouldn't mind having Lowe in the squad either.

ALB was rested due to his heavy workload, but he'll now form a partnership with Fekitoa for a couple of matches before Crotty returns to face France. This gives Fekitoa the chance to restore some faith, as otherwise he might only be featuring in one other game this tour. Tamanivalu has been called into the squad but he's unlikely to feature in any major way (and I'm still bitter that he's abandoning the Chiefs).

Well done to Ireland, blew the All Blacks away.

 

[Makos]

A little bit tired with the gracious winning repetitive reverberating. Hopefully come the next time in Dublin our ruthless streak will have returned. I hate losing and so do the All Blacks, so congrats to Ireland, but lets move on and back to top form please.

 

[die_mole]

Yes and I am saying that this one loss is not going to make diddly squat difference to what Americans think about the ABs.

And you say registered players - how many? They may play, but doesn't mean they are interested in the ABs. American fans are interested in their own National team, not another country's national team, no matter how successful.

Population - 330 million. But again how many sports are competing in this sports market? Not even including their own major sports. As I said if anything it'll carve out a niche, if that. If RU is falling to about 4th or 5th in a country that has a rugby union tradition like Australia, what are the chances of it growing that big in a country like the US.

Americans are really beginning to enjoy rugby - means nothing. It's just your perception or opinion; doesn't mean that they would prioritise watching or playing rugby over their own sports.

The reputation ABs generated - this is marketing talk because ABs are sponsored by AIG, which is the main reason why ABs are playing tests in the US.

saying that more americans know who the all blacks are than the eagles is just as likely to be true than the other way around

the only people who know about the U.S. rugby team are rugby players and they all know who the all blacks are

people in the sports world assume that the U.S. has a national team but they know who the all blacks are just cause new zealand is only known for rugby in the sports world (if you say US national team, it means soccer... if you say New Zealand national team, it's rugby)

even the sorority girl from last night knows who the all blacks are cause "they do that dance thing before the game"

Americans like winners and brands, especially the ones who watch international sports... Americans are probably more likely tow watch Brazil and Argentina play in soccer than the U.S. vs. any country not named Mexico, Brazil, or Argentina
which is one of the reasons that the U.S. and Maori played at Toyota Park and All Blacks Ireland was played at Soldier Field

 

[Groundhog]

Shoutout to Finlay Bealham for being the only Aussie to beat the All Blacks this year.

 

[nickdnz]

Shoutout to Finlay Bealham for being the only Aussie to beat the All Blacks this year.

Shout out to Jared Payne, the greatest "Irish" center and first to ever beat the All Blacks, in way less than 140 caps.

 

[Groundhog]

Yeah well you'd all better hope America don't take an interest in rugby. We'd only take all their good players with the granny rule anyway. Our people have shagged across the world with the aim of creating a rugby team of Space Jam like superhuman qualities.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Shout out to Jared Payne, the greatest "Irish" center and first to ever beat the All Blacks, in way less than 140 caps.

Too soon...

Shoutout to CJ Stander, the only South African to score a five pointer against NZ this year!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

a rugby team of Space Jam like superhuman qualities.

I knew I recognised Toner from somewhere:

 

[Groundhog]

Looks like they have one in Savea though

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Dunno, from that picture he's running forwards - if it was Savea he'd be running the wrong way/over his own touchline.

 

[Groundhog]

Maybe a bulky Aaron Smith?
Simon Zebo: Air Force won

 

[Superalexmarket]

Wow amazing win!! Ireland always effective in "play for nothing" matches! Congratulations...

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Maybe a bulky Aaron Smith?
Simon Zebo: Air Force won

Is it just me or does he look like he has a ridiculously long finger?

 

[Larksea]

amazing game, I'm happy it was Ireland & Schmidt to break the run and make history. They played very well, had a great gameplan and it was thoroughly deserved.

cant take anything away from the Irish win but this was one of those nightmare games for the AB's.

Hansen & Co have an untouchable aura and its often frowned on to question their decisions but I think they made a lot of tactical and selection mistakes in this game.

Retalick & Whitelock out plus Romano. The Kaino at lock experiment simply didn't work and was clearly targeted. I guess you never know how a player will go on short notice debut but Barrett seemed to handle it well when he went on and helped sure the line outs. I think this situation was even deeper because Dominic Bird is injured as well. I think in future the coaches will be a bit smarter here, we have the best locks in the world and you cant just take them out and get a flanker to play lock.

Crotty getting injured early really upset the balance of the backline, its pretty clear that Fekitoa would have replaced Moala if not for the injury. Generally I thought Moala played ok but he got injured at the worst time just as we were looking like we could get ahead.

Julian Savea back to his worst, I think I said earlier in this thread I dont like the Naholo & Savea wing combo. Have one or the other but not both, and on form Naholo should be selected first, I think hes still not quite 100 after his injury issues. With all the other disruption and changes in the side this was not the game to rest Dagg. I think we would have been safer with ALB involved as well.

Aaron Smith was off his game still. I'd think that unless Smith can turn things around against Italy then Perenara should start in the rematch. Italy may not be enough of a test to really see where Smith is at. I Think TKB or Weber would have done better.

I think overall the selection was such that if something did go wrong it was going to really going to put us under pressure. Maybe I get the feeling the coaches took the Irish a bit lightly. We had the locking injury issues to cover, Aaron Smith to slot back into the side somehow after his issues and the coaches still found room for rotation and experimentation as well? The side was just a bit agricultural.

As it happened we finished the game with Read at lock, Squire at 8, Taylor playing flanker, Ardie Savea out in the back line somewhere and both Cruden & Barrett on. Its been a long time since we had a mishmash like that.

As it happened, with ~10min to go at ~33-29 I thought at that stage we were almost sure to win, I was very confident, Bauden started really attacking the line and subsequent phases were making a lot of ground and we found the tryline.. At that stage we seemed to make ground at will and be well on top of the Irish defense, some of which looked out on their feet. It was that point Moala got injured and we lost that momentum. After that we lacked patients, forced things a bit and started to make mistakes to the point where the last min or so was an absolute mess.

Joe Moody's Card obviously had a massive impact on the game as well, let two trys in and really helped Ireland pile on the early pressure.

It sucks that we lost, but the worst thing about winning all the time is that it gets a bit boring with results being the same. This is going to really spice up the rematch in Dublin. We will get to see how this All Black side reacts to a loss.

We should learn 10 times more from a loss than a win. But we do still have injury issues with the locks and now we have Crotty & Moala injured. Perenara should start and we need to be smarter selecting our back 3.

 

[Peat]

Joe Moody's Card obviously had a massive impact on the game as well, let two trys in and really helped Ireland pile on the early pressure.

They scored 12 points in that period and won by 11. Doesn't get more massive than that and I was shocked at how many cheap penalties New Zealand gave away in general.

I doubt I'm the only person who went away from that game thinking that while this generation of ABs might be as talented as McCaw, Carter & Co, some of them have a way to go before they're as smart and tough.

 

[nzlizard]

They scored 12 points in that period and won by 11. Doesn't get more massive than that and I was shocked at how many cheap penalties New Zealand gave away in general.

I doubt I'm the only person who went away from that game thinking that while this generation of ABs might be as talented as McCaw, Carter & Co, some of them have a way to go before they're as smart and tough.

This was my biggest grizzle, the stupid penalties, it was 6-1 to Ireland after 20 odd minutes and the ref gave us a general warning again, we need to do better.

 

[Larksea]

cant really look at scores that way its all relative. But I think if moody had not been carded and we only let in 1 try during that time we would have eventually won, the game was closer than 11 points suggests.

We dont lose very often but a lot, maybe even all of our losses in recent years have silly careless cards like that. Its important for Moody to continue to develop his game, Hes a very good player. Our Scrum is very good, hes great around the field hes odds on to be our starting loosehead through the next WC so hopefully he will learn from this experience.

 

[JH1315]

Always remember Lancaster beat NZ.....

Wasn't there like some virus or food poisoning going through the NZ camp that week?

- - - Updated - - -

Too soon...

Shoutout to CJ Stander, the only South African to score a five pointer against NZ this year!

Bryan Habana?
Sorry to spoil your joke.

 

[The Jones Boy]

It's finally sunk in... we didn't lose so much as we were beaten.
The young fellas were finally tested to the breaking point.
Moody... what was he thinking?
The locking situation.... well players are going to get injured and you have to move on.
Tactically maybe not the greatest selections but when are you going to change it up if not on an end of the year jaunt when trophies are not up for grabs?
This is the perfect time to blood new players and try out selections to see who stands up.
Tuipolutu was ordinary. He's a talent for the future but the Irish locks made him look like a schoolboy.
Nobody anywhere has mentioned Cane.... is there a reason for that?
Fekitoa is the best defensive midfielder we have, perhaps him alongside ALB will be a tonic for the troops.
I remember watching Tana in his later AB career, he was an awesome defensive centre, if Fekitoa can give us some of that then we will not be shipping as many points in the return match.
My biggest gripe about our performance was the lack of fire in our bellies.
I still believe the older boys in particular are suffering from the hellishly long season and fatigue is still an issue just as it was in the last Bledisloe test.
The Irish lads were amping for 80 minutes and specifically in the last ten when we should have been lifting another gear. The Irish boys looked fresh and ready to do battle, us not quite so much.

Amazing historic performance by Ireland.

 

[Sailor Pete]

Awesome game to watch. Both teams put on a show second to none. The crowd must have been very impressed with the speed of the game. Soldier Stadium almost sold out... World rugby couldn't really have asked for more!

These two teams meet again on 19 November in Dublin - the big question is; can Ireland do it again?