All Blacks surprisingly dominate Ireland 23-13

DUBLIN (AP) — New Zealand defeated Ireland in Dublin for the first time in eight years after a surprisingly one-sided 23-13 win on Friday night.

The All Blacks dominated ball and territory, won the battles in the air and the set-pieces, and largely controlled proceedings against Ireland, which lost at home for the first time in nearly four years.

The Irish under pressure conceded 13 penalties (to New Zealand’s five) and Damian McKenzie punished them with six penalty shots — the seventh hit the post — in a masterful overall performance, his best of the year as the starting flyhalf.

“He’s so mercurial,” All Blacks coach Scott Robertson told broadcaster TNT Sports. “Sometimes he doesn’t quite get it right but when he does ... he got enough right tonight and it was pretty special. I’m really pleased how he controlled the game; really calm, kept backing himself.”

Both teams scored a try apiece. Ireland’s through Josh van der Flier regained them the lead straight after halftime while they had a man advantage. But the All Blacks put out the Irish fire and Will Jordan’s try gave the visitors a convincing 10-point lead with 11 minutes to go.

Ireland came into the contest not having played since its July win over world champion South Africa in Durban. Despite a warm-weather camp in Portugal last week, the oiled machine the Irish normally show ground through the gears. They took their only try-scoring chance and were otherwise smothered and outmuscled.

“It’s a funny old feeling (losing) because we don’t tend to have it too much in that dressing room,” Ireland coach Andy Farrell said. “The lads are gutted and we’re all gutted. I thought we’d prepped well, trained well and we were excited about the game. The energy and accuracy wasn’t there for needing to win a big test match like that.”

First-year coach Robertson finally got his benchmark win against the team that has given the All Blacks their most setbacks of late.

“We showed so much courage and care with both sides of the ball. We just executed more,” Robertson said. “The boys performed after halftime and we’re stoked to get a result like that.”

For all the spikiness in their recent contests — including their World Cup quarterfinal a year ago — this one was relatively serene in front of a subdued sold-out Aviva Stadium. The one brief tussle between the teams drew a chuckle in the stands from the movie gladiator, Irish actor Paul Mescal.

In a cagey first half, New Zealand looked far more likely to score a try, and won 54 of the 74 rucks. Ireland was mainly on the defensive, forced to spoil at the breakdowns and harass scrumhalf Cortez Ratima.

But Ireland overplayed and coughed up penalties that earned a warning from referee Nic Berry. McKenzie kicked three out of three for a 9-3 lead, which would have been a fair indicator of the half.

But right on halftime, New Zealand’s Jordie Barrett was sin-binned for a high tackle on midfield opposite Garry Ringrose and Jack Crowley’s second penalty gave Ireland a timely boost.

Knowing they started the new half with a 10-minute man advantage, the Irish upped their intensity. They forced a five-meter scrum and on the sixth attempt to pound the ball in, flanker van der Flier succeeded. Crowley’s extras made it 13-9 in the 44th.

The Irish stormed back into the New Zealand 22 again but a neck roll penalty let the All Blacks off the hook. The Irish would have been disappointed to score only seven points while playing against 14 men.

McKenzie was given a long-range penalty kick and showed remarkable poise when the ball fell off the tee to regather his wits and slot it within the shot clock.

With Barrett back, New Zealand resumed control and Ireland’s penalty count crept back up.

A scrum penalty and another ruck penalty gave McKenzie more target practice and New Zealand went ahead 18-13 with 15 to go.

Barrett started the decisive try-scoring move. Ireland fullback Hugo Keenan made his second try-saving tackle of the match on Mark Tele’a but the All Blacks went left and the hooker Asafo Aumua gave Jordan an untouched run to the try-line.

McKenzie couldn’t convert but another strong impact from the All Blacks replacements ensured top-ranked Ireland’s 19-win streak at home was effectively over.

___

AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby