2024 - Autumn - Ireland vs New Zealand

[MylesNaGapoleen]

One area where Ireland still seems to the edge is in whinging post match.

the type of whinging has changed. previously, when losing to NZL, in days gone by, the whinging was largely "arra, we're shoite!" now the whinging is "how did we lose that?". That's a positive.

For the kiwis, they have completely lost their "no dickheads" reputation. Loane can stick that in his book.

South Africans, for me, deserve a nobel prize for whinging. World champions at it. by quite a stretch.

[Dexter]

One area where Ireland still seems to the edge is in whinging post match.

Oh I don't know. There was outrage over English fans singing Swing Low during the Haka, they got very upset about the national anthem this weekend and there were comments about noise during the haka (I didn't really hear any). Meanwhile one of their players calls one of the all time great rugby players retiring a cnut and directs him to not miss his flight and makes a comment on social media after winning at the weekend about Sexton's book.

They've got decades of ridiculous preciousness and whinging to be honest which is all the more incomprehensible given that they do it when they win!

Exactly!
100%

Murray Kinsella tried to take the the edge off their classlessness when pointing out that one of their players (a prop?) brought TOT's concussion to the attention of the ref - I think that would be the expected behaviour however, and specifically pointing it out is clutching at straws.

[Observingprop123]

One area where Ireland still seems to the edge is in whinging post match.

the type of whinging has changed. previously, when losing to NZL, in days gone by, the whinging was largely "arra, we're shoite!" now the whinging is "how did we lose that?". That's a positive.

For the kiwis, they have completely lost their "no dickheads" reputation. Loane can stick that in his book.

South Africans, for me, deserve a nobel prize for whinging. World champions at it. by quite a stretch.

The no dick heads thing was never a real thing. It essentially meant that you bowed down the coaches and authority and had no questions yourself. It wasn't is this a good person question. Shown by their willingness to select domestic abusers.

[MylesNaGapoleen]

One area where Ireland still seems to the edge is in whinging post match.

the type of whinging has changed. previously, when losing to NZL, in days gone by, the whinging was largely "arra, we're shoite!" now the whinging is "how did we lose that?". That's a positive.

For the kiwis, they have completely lost their "no dickheads" reputation. Loane can stick that in his book.

South Africans, for me, deserve a nobel prize for whinging. World champions at it. by quite a stretch.

The no dick heads thing was never a real thing. It essentially meant that you bowed down the coaches and authority and had no questions yourself. It wasn't is this a good person question. Shown by their willingness to select domestic abusers.

yes it was. Gilbert Enoka coined the phrase. He was the ABs mental skills coach for 20+ years and brought in the Kapa o Pango haka....which made the maori connection more relevant again. The central belief was you can’t “be a positive person on the field and a pr!*k off it”.

https://www.sarugbymag.co.za/all-blacks ... s-allowed/

[backrower8]

One area where Ireland still seems to the edge is in whinging post match.

Oh I don't know. There was outrage over English fans singing Swing Low during the Haka, they got very upset about the national anthem this weekend and there were comments about noise during the haka (I didn't really hear any). Meanwhile one of their players calls one of the all time great rugby players retiring a cnut and directs him to not miss his flight and makes a comment on social media after winning at the weekend about Sexton's book.

They've got decades of ridiculous preciousness and whinging to be honest which is all the more incomprehensible given that they do it when they win!

[riocard911]

One area where Ireland still seems to the edge is in whinging post match.

Oh I don't know. There was outrage over English fans singing Swing Low during the Haka, they got very upset about the national anthem this weekend and there were comments about noise during the haka (I didn't really hear any). Meanwhile one of their players calls one of the all time great rugby players retiring a cnut and directs him to not miss his flight and makes a comment on social media after winning at the weekend about Sexton's book.

They've got decades of ridiculous preciousness and whinging to be honest which is all the more incomprehensible given that they do it when they win!

Exactly!
100%

Murray Kinsella tried to take the the edge off their classlessness when pointing out that one of their players (a prop?) brought TOT's concussion to the attention of the ref - I think that would be the expected behaviour however, and specifically pointing it out is clutching at straws.

IIRC, that was Tamaiti Williams. He also helped escort TO'T off the pitch, possibly cos he himself was being subbed off at the same time. I thought that was very decent of him and for me his camaraderie toward his opposing front row player in this instance more than made up for Ioane's boorishness.

[enby]

They spent the first 15 mins niggling at big Joe at every opportunity. It clearly was a planned tactic aimed at provoking a reaction

[backrower8]

The absence of Sheehan, Furlong and Conan plus the lack of game time this season for the likes of kelleher, herring, Mccarthy, O’Mahony and Hansen were factors.
Things will improve as players get more minutes under the belt.
As a previous poster said, it's a pity we had NZ first up.

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

The players are the most culpabe for that performance but Faz and the IRFU had significant parts to play.

Faz: The lack of 3 world class players, compounded by 2 starters who had less than 40 mins rugby in a month (Kelleher & Joe) plus Hansen in poor form plus 32, 34, 35 x 2 and 37 year olds on the bench made for a very soft underbelly to this side.

Some of that is down to bad luck and some is Faz protecting his reputation by asking the old reliables to go to the well for him again to get this victory. I think this was a poor selection by Faz although, given that the fixture was against NZL, his only realistic options were to start a young 6 and have one of the 3 leading second rows come off the bench (dropping Hendy and POM from the 23).

He is snookered at 1 and 14 (due to a lack of options) and on the way to being snookered at 3, 9, 10 and 11 owing to a lack of ready candidates or log jams at half-back.

IRFU: The IRFU severely hindered their own team by agreeing to this fixture, the marquee home match of the year, being our first match in 4(!) months. A schoolboy error.

Also, it was obvious how much more NZL wanted this with the low-life Rieko being handed the leadership of the Haka, trolling the team and whole stadium in the process, and then Scott Barrett (a serial cheap-shot merchant) inventing some argy-bargy on our home ground. We were off it mentally and we had no right to be. We coughed up a 20 match unbeaten streat lasting 3.5 years to a meh NZL team.

I can't help but feel that if Faz had the bit between his teeth (wasn't going on the Lions tour) that he wouldn't have been looking to lay up short with a selection of experienced old boys for the big game before some tinkering for the rest of the Autumn and then his sabbatical.

Faz has credit in the bank but he has cashed in far too much as a result of the manner of that no-show performance and loss against that mediocre NZL team, our nemesis in the last 2 RWC QFs, on our home turf when we were the World's #1 ranked team and reigning 6N Champions.

Prior to the match the message was that there was no hangover from the RWC loss and his comments after the match were a little too much on the side of 'well done NZL and we need to get back on the horse'. Notably different to the tone he struck after we lost by 7 points away to the World Champions in July. Why is his reaction so different between the two?

[riocard911]

The absence of Sheehan, Furlong and Conan plus the lack of game time this season for the likes of kelleher, herring, Mccarthy, O’Mahony and Hansen were factors.
Things will improve as players get more minutes under the belt.
As a previous poster said, it's a pity we had NZ first up.

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

The players are the most culpabe for that performance but Faz and the IRFU had significant parts to play.

Faz: The lack of 3 world class players, compounded by 2 starters who had less than 40 mins rugby in a month (Kelleher & Joe) plus Hansen in poor form plus 32, 34, 35 x 2 and 37 year olds on the bench made for a very soft underbelly to this side.

Some of that is down to bad luck and some is Faz protecting his reputation by asking the old reliables to go to the well for him again to get this victory. I think this was a poor selection by Faz although, given that the fixture was against NZL, his only realistic options were to start a young 6 and have one of the 3 leading second rows come off the bench (dropping Hendy and POM from the 23).

He is snookered at 1 and 14 (due to a lack of options) and on the way to being snookered at 3, 9, 10 and 11 owing to a lack of ready candidates or log jams at half-back.

IRFU: The IRFU severely hindered their own team by agreeing to this fixture, the marquee home match of the year, being our first match in 4(!) months. A schoolboy error.

Also, it was obvious how much more NZL wanted this with the low-life Rieko being handed the leadership of the Haka, trolling the team and whole stadium in the process, and then Scott Barrett (a serial cheap-shot merchant) inventing some argy-bargy on our home ground. We were off it mentally and we had no right to be. We coughed up a 20 match unbeaten streat lasting 3.5 years to a meh NZL team.

I can't help but feel that if Faz had the bit between his teeth (wasn't going on the Lions tour) that he wouldn't have been looking to lay up short with a selection of experienced old boys for the big game before some tinkering for the rest of the Autumn and then his sabbatical.

Faz has credit in the bank but he has cashed in far too much as a result of the manner of that no-show performance and loss against that mediocre NZL team, our nemesis in the last 2 RWC QFs, on our home turf when we were the World's #1 ranked team and reigning 6N Champions.

Prior to the match the message was that there was no hangover from the RWC loss and his comments after the match were a little too much on the side of 'well done NZL and we need to get back on the horse'. Notably different to the tone he struck after we lost by 7 points away to the World Champions in July. Why is his reaction so different between the two?

Excellent comment. And we coughed up the Raeburn Shield.

[Laighin Break]

I haven't watched the game back so not sure if I'm right, but it seemed that there was a reasonably kickable penalty for Ireland midway/late in the first half where Crowley went straight to the mark to kick it down the line. It looked like Doris pointed to the posts but Crowley still went down the line.

Edit: 32 minutes on the match clock

[Ruckedtobits]

The absence of Sheehan, Furlong and Conan plus the lack of game time this season for the likes of kelleher, herring, Mccarthy, O’Mahony and Hansen were factors.
Things will improve as players get more minutes under the belt.
As a previous poster said, it's a pity we had NZ first up.

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

The players are the most culpabe for that performance but Faz and the IRFU had significant parts to play.

Faz: The lack of 3 world class players, compounded by 2 starters who had less than 40 mins rugby in a month (Kelleher & Joe) plus Hansen in poor form plus 32, 34, 35 x 2 and 37 year olds on the bench made for a very soft underbelly to this side.

Some of that is down to bad luck and some is Faz protecting his reputation by asking the old reliables to go to the well for him again to get this victory. I think this was a poor selection by Faz although, given that the fixture was against NZL, his only realistic options were to start a young 6 and have one of the 3 leading second rows come off the bench (dropping Hendy and POM from the 23).

He is snookered at 1 and 14 (due to a lack of options) and on the way to being snookered at 3, 9, 10 and 11 owing to a lack of ready candidates or log jams at half-back.

IRFU: The IRFU severely hindered their own team by agreeing to this fixture, the marquee home match of the year, being our first match in 4(!) months. A schoolboy error.

Also, it was obvious how much more NZL wanted this with the low-life Rieko being handed the leadership of the Haka, trolling the team and whole stadium in the process, and then Scott Barrett (a serial cheap-shot merchant) inventing some argy-bargy on our home ground. We were off it mentally and we had no right to be. We coughed up a 20 match unbeaten streat lasting 3.5 years to a meh NZL team.

I can't help but feel that if Faz had the bit between his teeth (wasn't going on the Lions tour) that he wouldn't have been looking to lay up short with a selection of experienced old boys for the big game before some tinkering for the rest of the Autumn and then his sabbatical.

Faz has credit in the bank but he has cashed in far too much as a result of the manner of that no-show performance and loss against that mediocre NZL team, our nemesis in the last 2 RWC QFs, on our home turf when we were the World's #1 ranked team and reigning 6N Champions.

Prior to the match the message was that there was no hangover from the RWC loss and his comments after the match were a little too much on the side of 'well done NZL and we need to get back on the horse'. Notably different to the tone he struck after we lost by 7 points away to the World Champions in July. Why is his reaction so different between the two?

I have taken my penance and reviewed this game. There's often an inclination after a loss to review all the mistakes we made and then present them as a catalogue that appeared to make defeat inevitable.

But such a narrative is misleading in this instance. Certainly, we hadn't played with our normal fluidity during the three quarters up to the 60th minute. But when O'Toole & Frawley joined the fray in the 56th minute (along with Henderson, Herring & O'Mahony), O'Toole immediately had two excellent involvements, an Irish scrum which presented perhaps our best scrum ball of the day, followed by an strong mid-field carry & presentation on half-way, that allowed Ireland to produce another four-phase attack.

Frawley had five involvements, four in hand and a beautiful disguised chip for which Hansen & Jordan competed, and all four hands were on the ball simultaneously, before Jordan broke away in possession. Critically however, Ireland were still leading NZ by 13-12.

And then disaster, O'Toole, double-tackling a NZ player with Doris and very awkwardly collided with both his team-mate and opponent and was removed from the remainder of the action, forcing Bealham back into a fray from which he had retired only four minutes before. He was not only physically drained, he was also mentally switched off and no longer fit for competition. To compound O'Toole's loss, the almost four minute delay before he was replaced, turned off the momentum which Ireland and the home fans had eventually found during that third quarter.

There's little doubt that the final 22 minutes of action from this game was a catalogue of disastrous errors from the wilting Irish team, not redeemed in any way by the release from the bench of four very experienced warriors, Healy, Herring, O'Mahony & Murray. But, this entire group has previously finished many games with a final quarter flourish which produced success. Indeed, they have done so far more often than they have faded over the final furlong.

And that maybe the analysis that Farrell will apply to last Friday night's performance. It was hugely uncharacteristic of this group and far from being likely to reoccur, it almost certainly will have embarrassed the entire Squad into a huge focussed effort to erase that memory at the first opportunity.

Let's hope so.

[Ruckedtobits]

Double post

[MylesNaGapoleen]

I have taken my penance and reviewed this game. There's often an inclination after a loss to review all the mistakes we made and then present them as a catalogue that appeared to make defeat inevitable.

But such a narrative is misleading in this instance. Certainly, we hadn't played with our normal fluidity during the three quarters up to the 60th minute. But when O'Toole & Frawley joined the fray in the 56th minute (along with Henderson, Herring & O'Mahony), O'Toole immediately had two excellent involvements, an Irish scrum which presented perhaps our best scrum ball of the day, followed by an strong mid-field carry & presentation on half-way, that allowed Ireland to produce another four-phase attack.

Frawley had five involvements, four in hand and a beautiful disguised chip for which Hansen & Jordan competed, and all four hands were on the ball simultaneously, before Jordan broke away in possession. Critically however, Ireland were still leading NZ by 13-12.

And then disaster, O'Toole, double-tackling a NZ player with Doris and very awkwardly collided with both his team-mate and opponent and was removed from the remainder of the action, forcing Bealham back into a fray from which he had retired only four minutes before. He was not only physically drained, he was also mentally switched off and no longer fit for competition. To compound O'Toole's loss, the almost four minute delay before he was replaced, turned off the momentum which Ireland and the home fans had eventually found during that third quarter.

There's little doubt that the final 22 minutes of action from this game was a catalogue of disastrous errors from the wilting Irish team, not redeemed in any way by the release from the bench of four very experienced warriors, Healy, Herring, O'Mahony & Murray. But, this entire group has previously finished many games with a final quarter flourish which produced success. Indeed, they have done so far more often than they have faded over the final furlong.

And that maybe the analysis that Farrell will apply to last Friday night's performance. It was hugely uncharacteristic of this group and far from being likely to reoccur, it almost certainly will have embarrassed the entire Squad into a huge focussed effort to erase that memory at the first opportunity.

Let's hope so.

good post.

Someone kindly uploaded the full game to youtube.

Ireland vs New Zealand full match 08-11-2024: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbEz-3BacL0

[Oldschool]

The absence of Sheehan, Furlong and Conan plus the lack of game time this season for the likes of kelleher, herring, Mccarthy, O’Mahony and Hansen were factors.
Things will improve as players get more minutes under the belt.
As a previous poster said, it's a pity we had NZ first up.

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

The players are the most culpabe for that performance but Faz and the IRFU had significant parts to play.

Faz: The lack of 3 world class players, compounded by 2 starters who had less than 40 mins rugby in a month (Kelleher & Joe) plus Hansen in poor form plus 32, 34, 35 x 2 and 37 year olds on the bench made for a very soft underbelly to this side.

Some of that is down to bad luck and some is Faz protecting his reputation by asking the old reliables to go to the well for him again to get this victory. I think this was a poor selection by Faz although, given that the fixture was against NZL, his only realistic options were to start a young 6 and have one of the 3 leading second rows come off the bench (dropping Hendy and POM from the 23).

He is snookered at 1 and 14 (due to a lack of options) and on the way to being snookered at 3, 9, 10 and 11 owing to a lack of ready candidates or log jams at half-back.

IRFU: The IRFU severely hindered their own team by agreeing to this fixture, the marquee home match of the year, being our first match in 4(!) months. A schoolboy error.

Also, it was obvious how much more NZL wanted this with the low-life Rieko being handed the leadership of the Haka, trolling the team and whole stadium in the process, and then Scott Barrett (a serial cheap-shot merchant) inventing some argy-bargy on our home ground. We were off it mentally and we had no right to be. We coughed up a 20 match unbeaten streat lasting 3.5 years to a meh NZL team.

I can't help but feel that if Faz had the bit between his teeth (wasn't going on the Lions tour) that he wouldn't have been looking to lay up short with a selection of experienced old boys for the big game before some tinkering for the rest of the Autumn and then his sabbatical.

Faz has credit in the bank but he has cashed in far too much as a result of the manner of that no-show performance and loss against that mediocre NZL team, our nemesis in the last 2 RWC QFs, on our home turf when we were the World's #1 ranked team and reigning 6N Champions.

Prior to the match the message was that there was no hangover from the RWC loss and his comments after the match were a little too much on the side of 'well done NZL and we need to get back on the horse'. Notably different to the tone he struck after we lost by 7 points away to the World Champions in July. Why is his reaction so different between the two?

I have taken my penance and reviewed this game. There's often an inclination after a loss to review all the mistakes we made and then present them as a catalogue that appeared to make defeat inevitable.

But such a narrative is misleading in this instance. Certainly, we hadn't played with our normal fluidity during the three quarters up to the 60th minute. But when O'Toole & Frawley joined the fray in the 56th minute (along with Henderson, Herring & O'Mahony), O'Toole immediately had two excellent involvements, an Irish scrum which presented perhaps our best scrum ball of the day, followed by an strong mid-field carry & presentation on half-way, that allowed Ireland to produce another four-phase attack.

Frawley had five involvements, four in hand and a beautiful disguised chip for which Hansen & Jordan competed, and all four hands were on the ball simultaneously, before Jordan broke away in possession. Critically however, Ireland were still leading NZ by 13-12.

And then disaster, O'Toole, double-tackling a NZ player with Doris and very awkwardly collided with both his team-mate and opponent and was removed from the remainder of the action, forcing Bealham back into a fray from which he had retired only four minutes before. He was not only physically drained, he was also mentally switched off and no longer fit for competition. To compound O'Toole's loss, the almost four minute delay before he was replaced, turned off the momentum which Ireland and the home fans had eventually found during that third quarter.

There's little doubt that the final 22 minutes of action from this game was a catalogue of disastrous errors from the wilting Irish team, not redeemed in any way by the release from the bench of four very experienced warriors, Healy, Herring, O'Mahony & Murray. But, this entire group has previously finished many games with a final quarter flourish which produced success. Indeed, they have done so far more often than they have faded over the final furlong.

And that maybe the analysis that Farrell will apply to last Friday night's performance. It was hugely uncharacteristic of this group and far from being likely to reoccur, it almost certainly will have embarrassed the entire Squad into a huge focussed effort to erase that memory at the first opportunity.

Let's hope so.

Good post however there is such a thing as going to the well too often.
POM and Henderson are well past that point.
Murray and Healy can still contribute but only just about.
Faz got it wrong and the real test now is. Will he own his mistakes and make the necessary changes.

[Galicia celt]

Otb sums up why Ireland lose. Andy dunne and Gerry thornley saying it's a once off and next week will see a reaction. The next 3 games don't matter they lost the one important game. Excuses is unreal they lost SA and England as well

[MylesNaGapoleen]

Otb sums up why Ireland lose. Andy dunne and Gerry thornley saying it's a once off and next week will see a reaction. The next 3 games don't matter they lost the one important game. Excuses is unreal they lost SA and England as well

lost the one important game?

NZL was our biggest test, true but Fiji, Argentina & Australia (in particular) are no pushovers Galicia and Farrell is gone for a season after three games. I'm hoping he takes some risks in the next few games and leaves us in better shape for the 6N. I agree with Old School about ditching hendo, POM and Healy.

as an aside, I like Dunne & Thornley but I stopped listening to OTB a long time ago. Red Top Tabloid Radio. Not surprised Joe Molloy jumped ship.

[riocard911]

Otb sums up why Ireland lose. Andy dunne and Gerry thornley saying it's a once off and next week will see a reaction. The next 3 games don't matter they lost the one important game. Excuses is unreal they lost SA and England as well

The "next three games don't matter"? Can I have some of whatever Gervais and the Dunner are smokin'? That suggestion is absolute bonkers, unless of course Faz et al are gonna go all experimental, mol an óige and all that vs ARG, AUS & FIJ. But I personally can't see that happening and I don't believe anyone else on here can either.

[sunshiner1]

Farrell is a loyal guy so I am not expecting massive changes and I think payers will be given a chance to redeem themselves. I would expect changes against Fiji and then Farrell will take stock. He will not want to lose to Schmidt so if that means jettisoning some guys he will do it then. He won't want to go into a Lion's year with question marks over his abilities.

[suisse]

Otb sums up why Ireland lose. Andy dunne and Gerry thornley saying it's a once off and next week will see a reaction. The next 3 games don't matter they lost the one important game. Excuses is unreal they lost SA and England as well

The greatest decision OTB ever made was going behind a paywall. Out of sight, out of mind. I've no idea if the change has worked for or against them, but I don't care. I used to hate tuning into Ger Gilroy when I was scratching my arse looking for something to listen to. He is an absolute b*%&!cks of a journalist, picking cr@p talking points points, running with them for a week, getting all the guests top agree with him on them, and having a new talking point a week later.

He's also far too old to be sitting in his sports man cave, with cr@p replicas behind him. He's a loser and needs to grow up.

[FtD]

The absence of Sheehan, Furlong and Conan plus the lack of game time this season for the likes of kelleher, herring, Mccarthy, O’Mahony and Hansen were factors.
Things will improve as players get more minutes under the belt.
As a previous poster said, it's a pity we had NZ first up.

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

The players are the most culpabe for that performance but Faz and the IRFU had significant parts to play.

Faz: The lack of 3 world class players, compounded by 2 starters who had less than 40 mins rugby in a month (Kelleher & Joe) plus Hansen in poor form plus 32, 34, 35 x 2 and 37 year olds on the bench made for a very soft underbelly to this side.

Some of that is down to bad luck and some is Faz protecting his reputation by asking the old reliables to go to the well for him again to get this victory. I think this was a poor selection by Faz although, given that the fixture was against NZL, his only realistic options were to start a young 6 and have one of the 3 leading second rows come off the bench (dropping Hendy and POM from the 23).

He is snookered at 1 and 14 (due to a lack of options) and on the way to being snookered at 3, 9, 10 and 11 owing to a lack of ready candidates or log jams at half-back.

IRFU: The IRFU severely hindered their own team by agreeing to this fixture, the marquee home match of the year, being our first match in 4(!) months. A schoolboy error.

Also, it was obvious how much more NZL wanted this with the low-life Rieko being handed the leadership of the Haka, trolling the team and whole stadium in the process, and then Scott Barrett (a serial cheap-shot merchant) inventing some argy-bargy on our home ground. We were off it mentally and we had no right to be. We coughed up a 20 match unbeaten streat lasting 3.5 years to a meh NZL team.

I can't help but feel that if Faz had the bit between his teeth (wasn't going on the Lions tour) that he wouldn't have been looking to lay up short with a selection of experienced old boys for the big game before some tinkering for the rest of the Autumn and then his sabbatical.

Faz has credit in the bank but he has cashed in far too much as a result of the manner of that no-show performance and loss against that mediocre NZL team, our nemesis in the last 2 RWC QFs, on our home turf when we were the World's #1 ranked team and reigning 6N Champions.

Prior to the match the message was that there was no hangover from the RWC loss and his comments after the match were a little too much on the side of 'well done NZL and we need to get back on the horse'. Notably different to the tone he struck after we lost by 7 points away to the World Champions in July. Why is his reaction so different between the two?

I have taken my penance and reviewed this game. There's often an inclination after a loss to review all the mistakes we made and then present them as a catalogue that appeared to make defeat inevitable.

But such a narrative is misleading in this instance. Certainly, we hadn't played with our normal fluidity during the three quarters up to the 60th minute. But when O'Toole & Frawley joined the fray in the 56th minute (along with Henderson, Herring & O'Mahony), O'Toole immediately had two excellent involvements, an Irish scrum which presented perhaps our best scrum ball of the day, followed by an strong mid-field carry & presentation on half-way, that allowed Ireland to produce another four-phase attack.

Frawley had five involvements, four in hand and a beautiful disguised chip for which Hansen & Jordan competed, and all four hands were on the ball simultaneously, before Jordan broke away in possession. Critically however, Ireland were still leading NZ by 13-12.

And then disaster, O'Toole, double-tackling a NZ player with Doris and very awkwardly collided with both his team-mate and opponent and was removed from the remainder of the action, forcing Bealham back into a fray from which he had retired only four minutes before. He was not only physically drained, he was also mentally switched off and no longer fit for competition. To compound O'Toole's loss, the almost four minute delay before he was replaced, turned off the momentum which Ireland and the home fans had eventually found during that third quarter.

There's little doubt that the final 22 minutes of action from this game was a catalogue of disastrous errors from the wilting Irish team, not redeemed in any way by the release from the bench of four very experienced warriors, Healy, Herring, O'Mahony & Murray. But, this entire group has previously finished many games with a final quarter flourish which produced success. Indeed, they have done so far more often than they have faded over the final furlong.

And that maybe the analysis that Farrell will apply to last Friday night's performance. It was hugely uncharacteristic of this group and far from being likely to reoccur, it almost certainly will have embarrassed the entire Squad into a huge focussed effort to erase that memory at the first opportunity.

Let's hope so.

Good analysis.

For me, the pivotal moment was a penalty James Lowe conceded (Berry originally called it on Porter, and then subsequently changed it to #11) around the 45 minute mark, for a high shot in the act of clearing a ruck (he had arms around Will Jordan's neck it looked like).

We had just scored the try through JVDF to take the lead, and were back in their 22, with our tails up. Their most important defender was still sitting in the bin.

I feel like if we had scored there, even just three points, it would have galvanised the team and really got the crowd going too.