New Zealand come from behind to gain revenge in Chicago on Ireland
Rugby Union - Rugby World Cup 2023 - Pool A - New Zealand v Namibia - Stadium Municipal de Toulouse, Toulouse, France - September 15, 2023 New Zealand's Cam Roigard celebrates after the match REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
Three tries in the final 20 minutes helped a disjointed New Zealand to come from behind to beat Ireland 26-13 in Chicago on Saturday and exact revenge for their 2016 meeting in the city when they lost to the Irish for the first time.
Ireland came into the sides' tenth 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 halftime.
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 scrumhalf Cam Roigard adding another three minutes from time.
"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 man of the match, New Zealand lock Fabian Holland.
"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."
NOT MUCH COMFORT FOR EITHER SIDE
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 number one 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 Saturday that either could have won.
When Ireland lost influential lock Beirne after three minutes to a possibly harsh but clumsy red card, the 14 men controlled the ensuing period extremely well and were three points ahead by the time they were back to a full complement.
Jack Crowley kicked them in front with a penalty and opted for the corner with another after some encouraging attacking phases and that led to Furlong, the only survivor from the starting team nine years ago, barrelling over.
New Zealand, who lost Barrett brothers Scott and Jordie to early injuries, struck back quickly, possessing too much danger for the under-resourced Irish once they found open space with Ardie Savea going over in the corner.
But they showed nothing else for the remainder of the half and it looked like it was Scott Robertson's men and not Farrell's who had 11 starters away on summer British and Irish Lions duty and had played very little rugby together since.
Ireland remained in control early in the second period but they had only a Crowley penalty to show for it when the cracks began to show and they let a rattled-looking New Zealand in front against the run of play with prop Williams going over after a tap and go.
That swung the momentum completely and it felt like game over when Garry Ringrose unsuccessfully shot out of Ireland's defensive line to leave a gaping hole that led to Sititi making it a two-score game.
A shell-shocked and sloppy Ireland had no answer and Roigard neatly jinked his way over the line to add the third try of a ruthless final quarter.
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 lineout, 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."
(Writing by Padraic Halpin in Dublin; editing by Clare Fallon)
