reaches the business end New Zealand are always in the mix and on Saturday Ian Foster’s team once again showed why they can never be written off.
Some were quick to forget that New Zealand, even if they had lost their two previous matches against the Irish, remained the game’s ultimate challenge. While Ireland made some poor choices – opting not to kick an early penalty, insisting on not going wide – the All Blacks converted almost every time they had a sniff of the line with tries by Leicester Fainga’anuku, Ardie Savea and Will Jordan.Andy Farrell’s side put their opponents on the back foot but New Zealand made 230 tackles and battled hard when they were down to 14 after Aaron Smith’s and Codie Taylor’s yellow cards.