All Blacks vs Ireland
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I normally try to restrict my comments on refs to a single sentence or so, but Berry was not up to standard in this game. The penalty on Jordie with the high kick - he really could have called the same on almost every high kick all game if he is going to set the line there. It would be a good change for us and a bad one for SA in theory (because they've been much better than us at protecting their players) - but fuck it's hard to see how you can ref that consistently without every high kick being a penalty to the kicking team. Jordie didn't even look back, he just ran towards the ball, and if he goes sideways and hits someone then he'll get done for changing his line. So what's he meant to do, run backwards so he can see them, and actively dodge the chasers? Weird shit.
Berry let the Irish slow our ruck ball down and interfere with the halfback all first half - and even though he missed a heap he still penalised them enough that they should have been on a YC. The one where the ref said "he's trying" (to roll away) really irritated me. So what if he's fucking trying, every time there's a knock-on the guy "was trying" to catch it but you don't ignore the rules because of that do you? That's where a lot of the trouble for Ratima was coming from. The charge-down was bad, and a couple of other little errors - but where was the protection from our forwards? Credit where it is due though, we seemed to fix that in the second half.
The ruck turnover reffing was a lottery. McKenzie got hit late with no arms by JGP and nothing happened.
The Aumua not straight with no Irish competing and then what followed, jesus christ. The Irish scrum from that where the ball spat out the side - if not a penalty to us, did not come back out the channel, should have been play on. Then he free kicks them on the reset scrum, but misses that they don't get back 10 - fortunately Savea gets tackled around the neck and he gets that one - but then ignores the offside play at the next ruck - and every one he misses is a miss in the consistent offending yellow card stakes.
I thought the Jordie yellow card was wrong too - he's slightly wrong-footed and initial contact is shoulder. Penalty yes, foul play no.
Anyway, enough whinging about the ref. He was shit, got a heap of stuff wrong both ways, but I get ranty when fluffybunnies are allowed to slow down ruck ball, because fast ruck ball is what makes for good attacking rugby. On to the game:
Very glad to see McKenzie with some long clearances as per his Chiefs play. High kicks all on the money too. Mistakes, yep, but he's still the guy creating the tries and kicking the points. Someone quicker than Tupou Vaai needs to be chasing those goal kicks too, when they do hit the posts.
For all the premature hero-worship, Roigard's passing was a little less accurate than Ratima's when he came on. Rucks were a lot cleaner. His kicking game is really helpful in the latter stages and he's calm - he may well be the better player in either position, but I think I'd leave him on the bench for now, and sub early - mostly due to our previous weakness late in games.
Sititi pretty good. Savea one good turnover and solid I suppose. Cane continues to be what he is: the slow warrior.
Aumua: love to say i told you so, needed minutes. I'd keep him starting and with Taylor back with his wide running, reliable throwing and experienced head our bench gets stronger again.
Props were all good. I do wonder if De Groot might have moved us from a slightly dominant scrum up to a dominant penalty-winning scrum out there though.
All three locks good too.
Midfield defence was really good. Helped by a thousand Irish knock-ons of course, but I was impressed, and also Jordie's kick-off reception work and Rieko's hands deserve a mention.
Telea was very elusive again, a few turnovers though. Clarke solid.
Jordan the odd dumb thing but he is much more involved from fullback and at the rate he scores tries that's got to be a good thing.
Overall I thought we were the better side by more than ten points, with what wasn't a great Irish performance at all - but the constant infringing prevented us from scoring tries and no YC forthcoming for it kept the score down, along with our YC. I think turning down 3 points to keep the pressure on when the other side is on a YC warning is worth considering. -
@darylmitchell said in All Blacks vs Ireland:
The fact is Ireland have long been put on a completely undeserved pedestal by NZ's rugby media (and many people on here) simply because they beat Foster's shambles of a team (pre-Ryan/Schmidt) in 2021 and 2022 home series.
In reality, they're not a hugely talented side, they are full of plodders that wouldn't get anywhere near an All Black 15.
They have relied on the existing cohesion of Leinster and their streamlined and well structured high performance pathways and streamlined coaching at all levels to get to where they have - not x factor players.
France, South Africa, and even England have much more talented squads on paper. and their team composition & style of game in my opinion pose a greater threat to us than Ireland (even though they're ranked No1.)
In Summary, NZ rugby fans/media gave Ireland far too much respect in recent years and Foster is much to blame.
I'm glad we can finally bring this chapter to a close - they are overrated & always have been, especially on here.
Yeah that 17 test winning streak was just luck 🙄
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@Canerbry said in All Blacks vs Ireland:
DmAc's best game in black, which is great because he has had some absolute fucking shockers. RmO will be a great improvement.
I thought Fatima was OK under a shitload of pressure early, zero front-foot ball and had some good touches, but yes Roigard should be starting until Hotham gets a good run at some point soon.
We absorbed a whole lot of pressure for 65 mins then were in complete control, great game to watch and a great result.
Normally you get in two ridiculous pro-Canterbury trolls but this time you got in two.
Well done!
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@Jet said in All Blacks vs Ireland:
Giving it the big one , because you've executed a 50/22 while 10 points down tells you all you need to know about that mob.
That kick though was a thing of beauty. Jordan did nothing wrong, the idea was good but bugger me, what a response!
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@Old-Samurai-Jack said in All Blacks vs Ireland:
@Jet said in All Blacks vs Ireland:
Giving it the big one , because you've executed a 50/22 while 10 points down tells you all you need to know about that mob.
That kick though was a thing of beauty. Jordan did nothing wrong, the idea was good but bugger me, what a response!
I don't think the idea/execution was good from Jordan at all - it handed the ball back to Ireland under no real pressure.
Normally that wouldn't have result in a 50:22, of course, that was especially unlucky. But still think it was the wrong move from Jordan.
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This game felt like the ABs of old. Not necessarily a truckload of snippets into the highlight reel but everyone on the same page working together.
Paris is going to be fun and they need to get themselves up for more of the same.
The curtain is coming down on Sam Cane's career so plenty of motivation to send him off in style. He deserves it. -
@Nepia said in All Blacks vs Ireland:
Why do the NH have fresh out of film school directors for their footage? I don't want to see a behind tracking shot of the kick off. Also, the Irish coverage is as bad as Sky when it comes to replay. A call is made, then a break for the scrum, rather than show us the actual replay so we can see why the scrum was ordered they go around all the players for a minute or so.
Yes this really annoyed me too. The Aumua lineout called not straight on their 5m line didn't get a single replay despite it being an important call and there was also quite a long stoppage straight after. I ended up rewinding to check it and confirm the Irish didn't compete at all.
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@Old-Samurai-Jack said in All Blacks vs Ireland:
@Jet said in All Blacks vs Ireland:
Giving it the big one , because you've executed a 50/22 while 10 points down tells you all you need to know about that mob.
That kick though was a thing of beauty. Jordan did nothing wrong, the idea was good but bugger me, what a response!
Oh come on, how many meek turnovers does this guy get away with under the guise of doing nothing wrong? It was a shit kick when we were hot on attack. Selfish play.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks vs Ireland:
We lost to them in 2016 & 2018 under Hansen and only a last minute try by arguably the greatest AB team of the modern error prevented a loss in '14.
GOM.
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@junior said in All Blacks vs Ireland:
@akan004 said in All Blacks vs Ireland:
@BerniesCorner said in All Blacks vs Ireland:
That Lowe 50-22 had me bricking. At that point I got out of the chair. Watched the remainder standing.
Lowe was celebrating that 50-22 as if they had just won a RWC QF.
Aki was worse for the in-goal tackle on Cane - think that was what Rieko was talking to him about at full-time.
I thought Cane was really smart with that play, he got back in the field of play and as soon as he got hit he got his knee to the ground, meaning the Irish had to release him. But the ref wasn't good enough to see it and allowed the Irish to lift him up again and push him in goal.
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Can you imagine how much flapping Flapanara would have done with the way the Irish were constantly flopping on our side of the ruck. He would have gotten airborne.
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@Bones said in All Blacks vs Ireland:
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks vs Ireland:
We lost to them in 2016 & 2018 under Hansen and only a last minute try by arguably the greatest AB team of the modern error prevented a loss in '14.
GOM.
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@Dan54 said in All Blacks vs Ireland:
Well watched that in a bar in Wales( apparentlyJerry Collins old regular)
In honour of Jerry you should tackle someone on the way out...
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@Canerbry said in All Blacks vs Ireland:
@Frank Just imagine the score if Mehrts was playing.
That Cantab turnstile who bottled important kicks? That one?
Andrew Mehrtens on tackling | Former All Black Andrew Mehrtens joined...
Former All Black Andrew Mehrtens joined The Sporting Rumble last week to give some advice on tackling... and how to avoid doing it 😂 Listen to the...
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@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks vs Ireland:
@BerniesCorner said in All Blacks vs Ireland:
That Jordan try in the corner DMac threw the cut out pass to Sititi and the ball landed on the ground in front of him. A great piece of skill to gather it and shift it on under pressure.
Likewise Aumua to take the ball off the bounce and shift to Jordan
That was better skill
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@voodoo said in All Blacks vs Ireland:
I can’t be bothered scrolling up the thread, but can anyone confirm if @Jet is now 9 months away from being dad to a future Ireland prop?
You dont get pregnant the way I do it.
I actually did mange to get some lip action from a local lass and I will not deign to make contact with her henceforth as advertised.
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@Daffy-Jaffy said in All Blacks vs Ireland:
Some interesting little stats from Rugby Pass -
13 months ago when the teams last clashed the Irish ‘won’ 14-3 in the 20-minute period in which the All Blacks were down two players to yellow cards in Paris but they were decisively ‘beaten’ 10-25 in the hour when the contest was 15 versus 15.
Friday night was another occasion when the Irish simply couldn’t handle New Zealand when the numbers in personnel were the same. Ireland ‘won’ 10-3 the 10 minutes that Jordie Barrett spent in the sin bin following his foul play ‘hello’ to Garry Ringrose, his soon-to-be teammate at Leinster.
However, the 15 versus 15 part of the match convincingly went the way of the All Blacks on a 20-3 scoreline. That’s quite the jarring margin and a proper reflection of the gap that existed between the teams in terms of performance.
Excellent analysis
