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Andy Farrell rued an error-strewn display after Ireland suffered a 40-21 defeat to New Zealand in round three of the Nations Championship.
The All Blacks scored four first-half tries through Patrick Tuipulotu, Ardie Savea, Will Jordan and Asafo Aumua en route to stretching their remarkable unbeaten run at Eden Park to 53 Tests. Jack Conan crossed for Ireland in a punishing first half before Joe McCarthy and Hugo Keenan went over in an improved second period, with Sam Prendergast slotting all three conversions.
But, following unconvincing bonus-point wins over Australia and Japan, Farrell’s side were well beaten in Auckland after Damian McKenzie and Anton Lienert-Brown added further scores for the hosts.
“Inaccurate is the word,” said Farrell, speaking to ITV. “Continuity, it just wasn’t flowing for all sorts of reasons, whether that be discipline reasons, spilt ball, throwing the ball into touch, et cetera. The character and fight is there for all to see, hence the comeback and win against Australia, but you can’t make so many errors against a quality side like New Zealand. Congratulations to them.”
Ireland were back on New Zealand soil for the first time since their historic 2-1 tour success in 2022. They were beaten 42-19 at Eden Park during that series and have now lost four successive matches against the All Blacks, including in the quarter-finals of the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Following earlier victories over France and Italy, New Zealand have won three games in a row under new head coach Dave Rennie.
Farrell said: “Dave is a fantastic coach, you can see what they are trying to do. With the speed of ball and movement, it was hard to handle for us. We have got to look at how we adapt and do things better.
“It’s the end of the season now for us, we will re-assess and make sure we learn these lessons, because otherwise what’s the tour for? All these experiences are fantastic, coming to the southern hemisphere, which is where the World Cup is going to be [next year] – we need to learn those lessons.”
Playing their final game of the season, Ireland paid for an error-riddled start in which they missed too many tackles and made fundamental handling mistakes
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The visitors improved as the match progressed but could not add to this month’s Nations Championship wins over the Wallabies and Japan in Australia.
Rennie completed an encouraging start to his tenure as All Blacks coach, with his side producing an improved display following home wins against France and Italy. Next up is a tour of South Africa, where they will play four Tests against the world champions.
Tuipulotu scored New Zealand’s opening try, bursting on to a short pass from hiis fellow lock Josh Lord. Savea, the captain, doubled New Zealand’s lead to 14-0 when he stormed straight across from the back of a scrum, carrying two defenders with him.
The hosts were reduced to 14 men for 10 minutes when the flanker Luke Jacobson was shown a yellow card after a dangerous ruck cleanout made contact with the head of Josh van der Flier. Ireland capitalised when the back-row Conan powered over from close range.
Any threat of a fightback was extinguished minutes later when Jordan swooped on a spilled pass, giving the All Blacks wing his sixth try in three Tests. The replacement hooker Aumua’s try on the stroke of half-time all-but consigned Ireland to a fourth straight loss to New Zealand.
The impressive Ireland lock McCarthy opened the scoring in a more even second half before the McKenzie responded to restore a 21-point advantage. Keenan crossed in the corner with nearly 20 minutes still to play but Ireland struggled to create more attacking chances and the New Zealand replacement back Lienert-Brown had the final say with a try in the corner.
