New Zealand come from behind to gain revenge in Chicago on Ireland
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
New Zealand's players celebrating after defeating Ireland 26-13 in the "Gallagher Cup" international rugby Test match on Nov 1.
PHOTO: AFP
Follow topic:
CHICAGO – Three tries in the final 20 minutes helped a disjointed New Zealand to come from behind to beat Ireland 26-13 in Chicago on Nov 1 and exact revenge for their 2016 meeting in the city where they lost to the Irish for the first time.
Ireland came into the sides’ 10th game since then far less battle hardened than their opponents, but showed few signs of it early on. They more than weathered a Tadhg Beirne 20-minute red card, with a Tadhg Furlong try helping them lead 10-7 at half-time.
New Zealand lacked fluidity and looked in real danger of a fifth defeat to the Irish before two tries in five minutes from prop Tamaiti Williams and fellow replacement Wallace Sititi swung the game decisively, with scrum-half Cam Roigard adding another three minutes from time at Soldier Field.
“The message at the break was to just keep playing All Black rugby, throw the ball around, have a crack and just be there for each other,” said New Zealand lock Fabian Holland, who was Man of the Match.
“We wanted to make a statement at the start of this tour. We just talked about backing each other up and that’s what we did.”
While Ireland’s breakthrough 2016 victory precipitated their greatest era of rugby with Six Nations Grand Slams in 2018 and 2023 and a climb to No. 1 in the world, Andy Farrell’s side have not been the same team in the last 12 months.
New Zealand too were just seven weeks on from their worst-ever Test defeat – the 43-10 humiliation at the hands of South Africa – and neither side will take much comfort from a scrappy game on Nov 1 that either could have won.
New Zealand will hope for more of the confident finale when they complete their November series against Scotland, England and Wales, while Ireland return home to play Japan, Australia and world champions South Africa.
“I think we were very inaccurate in a lot of areas around line-out, scrum, breakdown. We struggled to retain possession for lots of periods of that game,” said Ireland captain Dan Sheehan.
“Even going into that second half, we thought we weren’t where we wanted to be. We might have been even lucky to be ahead at that point and a lot to work on now going back to the Aviva (Stadium) next week.”
Meanwhile, their ruthless 85-0 demolition of the United States was an ideal warmup, but Scotland know they will need to raise their game significantly when they face New Zealand at Murrayfield on Nov 8.
Dylan Richardson, Duhan van der Merwe (two), Darcy Graham (three), Jamie Dobie (three), Kyle Rowe, Stafford McDowall, George Horne and Ollie Smith all crossed the line for the Scots at Murrayfield.
Scotland, with a team made up of home-based players only, came close to posting a record score as they ran in 13 unanswered tries against the US, but now have a much sterner test against the All Blacks – a team they have never previously beaten.
The two sides have met 32 times, with New Zealand winning 30 matches and two draws in 117 years of fixtures between the countries.
Scotland, however, ran the Kiwis close in the last two meetings, when they let slip a nine-point lead at Murrayfield in 2022 before being edged out 31-23. And five years before that, they went down 22-17 in Edinburgh.
“We’ve had two cracking matches against them, but not delivered that winning performance. All these experiences, today included, have to be put into an 80-minute performance,” coach Gregor Townsend said after the clash with the Americans. REUTERS
