The All Blacks beat Ireland 23-13 in Dublin on Friday evening which many saw as a grudge match when the All Blacks ending Ireland's march to the 2023 Rugby World Championship crown when they beat them 28-24 in the quarter-final.
Ireland conceded an unprecedented thirteen penalties to the five the All Blacks conceded, which was ultimately the major reason for Ireland's loss.
The first half was an arm wrestle with all the points being scored by converted penalties. Jack Crowley put Ireland in the lead after eight minutes of play in the first half. Thereafter, Damian McKenzie converted three unanswered penalties to lead 09-03. In the final minute of the first half, Jordie Barrett was sent off for head contact, whereafter, Jack Crowley cut the All Blacks' lead to three points with his second converted penalty.
The All Blacks dominated possession and put Ireland under pressure in the scrums and lineouts while Ireland dominated play on the ground in the first half.
Ireland attacked with Caelan Doris breaking off the back of a dominant scrum which eventually led to Josh van der Flier going over for the first try of the match to give Ireland the lead back 13-09.
Ireland's growing ill-discipline resulted in Damian McKenzie converting three penalties in the following twenty minutes putting the All Blacks back in the lead 18-13.
With ten minutes to play Jordie Barrett claimed yet another kickoff and started an attack which eventually led to Will Jordan scoring out wide to extend the All Blacks lead to 23-13, which was the final score of the match.
Scorers:
Ireland: Penalty: Try: Josh van der Flier. Conversion: Jack Crowley. Penalties: Jack Crowley (2)
All Blacks: Try: Will Jordan. Penalties: Damian McKenzie (6)
Teams:
Ireland: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14, Mack Hansen, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 James Lowe, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Tadgh Beirne, 5 James Ryan, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Ronan Kelleher, 1 Andrew Porter. Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Tom O’Toole, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Peter O’Mahony, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Ciaran Frawley, 23 Jamie Osborne.
All Blacks: 15 Will Jordan, 14 Mark Tele’a, 13 Reiko Ioane, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Cortez Ratima, 8 Ardie Savea, 7 Sam Cane, 6 Wallace Sititi, 5 Tupou Vaa’i, 4 Scott Barrett (captain), 3 Tyral Lomax, 2 Asafo Aumua, 1 Tamaiti Williams. Replacements: 16 George Bell, 17 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 18 Pasilio Tosi, 19 Patrick Tuipulotu, 20 Samipeni Finau, 21 Cam Roigard, 22 Anton Lienert-Brown, 23 Stephen Perofeta.