New Zealand were forced to rely on a late charge to mount a come-from-behind 34-23 win over Ireland on Saturday to maintain their unbeaten record in 101 years of rugby internationals between the two countries.
In their first outing since their historic Grand Slam at the end of last year, the All Blacks produced a bumbling performance for the first 60 minutes before running in an unanswered 19 points in the final quarter.
The late charge helped erase question marks over the silver fern credentials of some players — after coach Graham Henry gambled on resting several first-choice All Blacks for the two-Test Ireland series.
Although the powerful All Blacks forward pack dominated the Irish up front, their abundance of ball was lost in a series of handling errors and repeatedly unsuccessful attempts by blockbusting centre Ma’a Nonu to break through Ireland’s midfield.
The All Blacks looked invincible in the opening minute when a 90-metre sweep upfield exposed reputed Irish defensive weakness and led to Doug Howlett scoring in the corner.
The signs looked ominous for a huge All Blacks win, but just as quickly they faded when Luke McAlister missed the conversion in what was to be a tough first half where he failed with two of three attempts.
For Irish flyhalf Ronan O’Gara the kicking couldn’t have been better as he started with the conversion of Brian O’Driscoll’s try, which put Ireland in front 7-5 in the eighth minute.
It was a simple move which found a hole in the All Blacks’ defensive pattern when a cut-out pass put O’Driscoll through a huge gap between Nonu and Joe Rokocoko.
O’Gara extended the lead with a 44m penalty two minutes later, and added two more before half-time to a lone penalty for McAlister for Ireland to lead 16-8 at the turn.
The All Blacks started the second half with a try to Mils Muliaina after Rokocoko came off the blind wing to create an overlap.
When McAlister’s conversion narrowed the gap to one point, Ireland came back just as quickly when a neat overhand pass from O’Gara put Andrew Trimble over and O’Gara added the extra two points to have Ireland ahead 23-15.
But now McAlister had his kicking boots on and he slotted three more penalties to lift the All Blacks to a 24-23 lead.
Nonu finally found a gap in the Irish backline when he swatted aside the smallest player on the field, scrumhalf Peter Stringer, to put Troy Flavell over under the posts.
McAlister added the conversion and a fourth penalty to put the All Blacks out to a handy, if fortunate, 34-23 win. — AFP
