The result was pretty much assured when, with three minutes left, Cam Roigard danced past some tired fringe defence to score New Zealand’s fourth try. The All Blacks could rest easy. Despite a horribly uneven performance, they’d won their third straight game against these opponents. Their grand slam was still on.
How predictable for an undercooked Ireland that three of those Kiwi tries should come in the final quarter, undoing so much of the excellent work of players like Stu McCloskey, James Lowe, Ryan Baird and Josh van der Flier, despite the communal effort in the face of losing the enormously influential Tadhg Beirne for a high shot on Beauden Barrett as early as the third minute.
The branding all over Soldier Field and all over Chicago had this as “The Rematch” — an obvious reference to Ireland’s historic victory here nine years ago. Ireland returned here with their own revenge theme, however — 12 months ago, the All Blacks ended Ireland’s proud run of victories at the Aviva Stadium. We expected the memory of that desperately flat performance to inform the way they started here.
But both sides struggled to gain any rhythm in an opening that would have done little to attract new American fans to the sport. Scott Barrett was gone with a knee injury inside three minutes and in the 12th minute his brother Jordie was down seeking treatment with a similar issue, and though he tried to play on, eventually he, too, had to depart — two more knee injuries on a Soldier Field surface that has a history of them.
But it was the incident involving the third Barrett, Beauden, that was central to proceedings. It was typical of the All Blacks’ general lack of timing that the fly half should have run so flat on to Cam Roigard’s pass — indeed, the Ireland skipper Dan Sheehan suggested Roigard’s forward pass as mitigation for Beirne, as the defender was denied time to react.
But the optics were not good — Beirne’s arm was tucked — probably as an instinctive act of self-defence, and there was no dip at the hips. His shoulder connected to Barrett’s jaw, making it harder for the TMO to stay at yellow — though that was probably the fairer call.
As it transpired, Ireland outscored their opponents 10-7 for the 20 minutes that they were down a man. The All Blacks wanted to move the ball at every opportunity but they weren’t properly in sync and when Quinn Tupaea got in front of the ball-carrier, Crowley had a shot at goal that put Ireland in front.
Beirne cut a forlorn figure on the sidelines after receiving his red
ERIN HOOLEY/AP
When it came to kicks from the hand, the Ireland fly half was struggling to adapt to the tiny dimensions of the pitch but when Ireland kept the ball to hand, they showed that they could cause damage, and their ambition soon led to the game’s first try, finished by Tadhg Furlong.
The opportunity came courtesy of some slick attacking from inside their own half, with Crowley off-loading sweetly to Sheehan down the left touchline. Sheehan then cleaned up a sloppy enough corner lineout to maintain pressure.
They maintained the rhythm as the attack swept right, with James Lowe popping up for work and McCloskey running hard onto Gibson-Park’s zippy passes. Furlong was next, taking a sharp angle against the grain and with enough power to get over.
The stadium celebrated furiously but the All Blacks responded smartly.
Ardie Savea holds off James Lowe to get New Zealand on the board after Ireland had led 10-0
INPHO
Again they attacked from deep and this time it was the recently arrived Leicester Fainga’anuku who made inroads, bouncing off an attempted tackle by Garry Ringrose — an uncharacteristic miss by a player who had been flattening foes up to that point.
Van der Flier covered well enough to bring Will Jordan to ground but Ireland were backpedalling furiously and when the ball was transferred right, it was simply a matter of numbers. Ardie Savea crossed in the corner in relative comfort.
Ireland did exceptionally well to remain in front until the break — helped initially by Baird’s brilliant lineout steal five metres from his own tryline early in the third quarter — a rare piece of good news at the lineout, where four of Sheehan’s throws were turned over.
For all the pressure that the All Blacks were exerting here, they were lacking all cohesion in attack, and relying on moments of individual brilliance in defence, like Savea’s defusing of another McCloskey offload. He continued to be a thorn in Ireland’s side, pinching a ball on the floor as Ireland built the phases early in the third quarter. But New Zealand’s discipline continued to give Ireland hope.
Crowley pulled a penalty wide when their midfield went offside at scrum time — an unforgivably soft penalty. Ireland kept carrying hard and Codie Taylor was pinged for not rolling away. Some Kiwi back-chat brought the penalty ten metres closer to the sticks and this time Crowley was on target.
Ireland’s ambition came with risk attached, of course. When Jamie Osborne failed to hold an unsympathetic Crowley pass, the net loss was all of 60 metres. Then a lineout penalty concession ramped up the pressure further.
This time, the All Blacks were clinical. Off a tap penalty, Wallace Sititi’s acceleration was crucial, allowing Tamaiti Williams to pick and plunge. Barrett’s conversion put the All Blacks ahead for the first time with 62 minutes on the clock.
Ireland’s best chance to pinch back momentum came when Crowley dinked the ball invitingly for the impressive Tommy O’Brien but the ball just wouldn’t stick. From there the All Blacks seemed to grow in belief and coherence.
When Barrett beat Ringrose’s blitz for once, Damian McKenzie was able to send Sititi over for the third try — a sweet piece of handling. Roigard then added that fourth as the All Blacks all too predictably pulled away.
Scorers: Ireland: Try Furlong (16min). Con Crowley (17). Pens Crowley 2 (7, 51).
New Zealand: Tries Savea (19), Williams (62), Sititi (67), Roigard (77). Cons B Barrett 3 (20, 63, 67).
Ireland J Osborne; T O’Brien, G Ringrose, S McCloskey (B Aki 57), J Lowe; J Crowley (S Prendergast 69), J Gibson-Park (C Casey 69); A Porter (P McCarthy 69), D Sheehan (R Kelleher 61), T Furlong (F Bealham 61), J Ryan (C Doris 33; Ryan 41), T Beirne (sent off 3), R Baird, J van der Flier, J Conan (Doris 52). Replacement not used: I Henderson.
New Zealand W Jordan; L Carter (D McKenzie 67), Q Tupaea, J Barrett (L Fainga’anuku 16), C Clarke; B Barrett, C Roigard (C Ratima 79); E de Groot (T Williams 49), C Taylor (S Taukei’aho 65), F Newell (P Tosi 65), S Barrett (J Lord 3), F Holland, S Parker (W Sititi 30; Parker 41; Sititi 60), A Savea, P Lakai.
Referee P Brousset (France).