Rennie\u2019s two bold selection decisions also came up trumps.<\/p>\n
Patrick Tuipulotu, in his first test match of the July window, led the physical display with a standout performance that harnessed powerful carries through the heart of the Irish defence. And on this occasion, Tupou Vaa\u2019i\u2019s added size from blindside flanker caused Ireland problems too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really rapt,\u201d Rennie said after the six-tries-to-three win. \u201cThe balance of our game was really good tonight.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe looked after the ball, our big men carried and went a bit more direct, we had smarter kicking that created opportunities for us. Overall, we defended really well. It\u2019s a nice way to wrap up the three weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cIreland are a side who genuinely believed they could win tonight. They came here with a lot of confidence. They won a series here last time. They have a very experienced squad who play a lot of footy together.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re quite a new group. These guys played a Six Nations a few months ago. We\u2019d have taken a one-point win but we were pretty clinical when it mattered. A lot of the hard work we\u2019ve been putting in on the field we saw today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defensively, the All Blacks were well prepared. They largely read the Irish attack to flood their passing lanes, where Quinn Tupaea led the charge, and forced multiple uncharacteristic mistakes \u2013 an impressive 17 turnovers \u2013 that led directly to All Blacks tries.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I compared where our defence was against France to where it was tonight … Tana [Umaga] and his group have done a massive amount of work and we\u2019re starting to get a response there,\u201d Rennie continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot more in us. We can be a lot better but what we\u2019ve been able to put on the park in three weeks is pleasing and exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n
While he offered another strong contribution on defence and at the breakdown, Luke Jacobson\u2019s first-half yellow card for a dangerous cleanout was one of few blips on this performance.<\/p>\n
The only other slight concern is a calf injury that is expected to sideline Codie Taylor for the first few weeks of the South African tour. That setback is mitigated by Asafo Aumua\u2019s influential impact from the bench against Ireland.<\/p>\n
A fourth straight win over the Irish won\u2019t be taken for granted by many of the All Blacks, including Will Jordan, who experienced the pain of Ireland\u2019s first series success in New Zealand four years ago.<\/p>\n
After six losses against New Zealand, South Africa and France by at least 10 points, Ireland have a mountain to climb before next year\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t have it all our own way but that\u2019s a good reflection of where we\u2019re heading. We can be proud of that effort,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talked about winning the collisions and some of our big boys, particularly Patrick Tuipulotu in that first half, was outstanding. That allowed us to play on top. We balanced our game well. We kicked a little bit more.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was certainly our most complete performance. We\u2019d had good patches in the other games but our ability to be composed \u2013 and putting 40 points on Ireland \u2013 is no mean feat.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a good end to what\u2019s been a productive three weeks for us. We\u2019re in as good a spot as we can be. The boys are really connected and working hard for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
An eight-match tour of South Africa remains a daunting prospect but after three successive wins and genuine progression, Rennie\u2019s All Blacks are in a vastly better place than where they started. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re under no illusions about what\u2019s coming, but what a tour it will be to be a part of,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n
Liam Napier<\/a> is a Senior Sports Journalist and Rugby Correspondent for the New Zealand Herald. He is a co-host of the Rugby Direct podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rennie\u2019s two bold selection decisions also came up trumps. Patrick Tuipulotu, in his first test match of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5263,6326,8136,115,9635,8142,78,8019,20409,3607,111,139,69,6662,8143,2744,183683,17879,213,9087],"class_list":["post-532988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-all","tag-biggest","tag-blacks","tag-calls","tag-dave","tag-eden","tag-in","tag-ireland","tag-liam","tag-napier","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-off","tag-park","tag-pay","tag-rennies","tag-selection","tag-sports","tag-triumph"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}