'It wasn't meant to be': John Plumtree's candid reflections on Dublin 2013
While it wasn’t until 2016 that Ireland first triumphed over the All Blacks, scoring a 40-29 win at Soldier Field in Chicago to end 111 years of heartache, the nation had come incredibly close to tipping over NZ just three years earlier in Dublin.
In the final test of the season for both sides, Ireland had built a commanding 22-7 lead at halftime in Dublin off the back of tries to Conor Murray, Rory Best and Rob Kearney.
The tide turned in the second half, however, and with Ireland unable to bank any points, the All Blacks came storming back into the match and found themselves just five points adrift entering the final 10 minutes of the game.
The All Blacks threw everything at Ireland but couldn’t crack the defence and with Ireland holding possession inside the New Zealand half and just one minute left to play, it looked like the home side were finally about to achieve the historic result they’d been chasing for so long.
But it wasn’t to be.
With 40 seconds left on the clock, Ireland were penalised for sealing off the breakdown, handing the All Blacks one last roll of the dice.
One Aaron Smith tap later and away the visitors went, putting together 11 phases of play and fighting their way into the opposition 22 before the ball was swung left to replacement hooker Dane Coles. Coles stepped inside a defender and shifted the ball to No 23 Ryan Crotty, who stumbled over the line and ended Ireland’s chances of a victory. To rub salt into the wounds, Aaron Cruden converted from wide out on his second attempt, after the overzealous Irish players attempted to charge earlier, and the game ended 24-22 in New Zealand’s favour.
At that point in time, Ian Foster – the current All Blacks coach – was in his first year assisting Steve Hansen. On the other side of the ledger, Foster’s current assistant, John Plumtree, was working with the Irish set-up.
While the game and the end result was unsurprisingly hugely satisfying for the All Blacks, Plumtree’s emotions were on the other end of the spectrum.
“I still remember that match pretty vividly, actually,” Plumtree said this week, ahead of facing off with his former side.
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“I think the week before, we got absolutely dealt to by the Australians, by 30 points I think, so I think the All Blacks probably came to Aviva Stadium that day thinking that we weren’t much good. But the preparation that week, we were pretty annoyed with the way we played against the Australians on that weekend, and we had a great build-up. I think the All Blacks were pretty much finishing their northern tour as well, so I remember that Irish group was primed to do a good job that day and they were looking forward to it.
“We played some pretty good footy in the first half and got up, and then I think in the second half, we didn’t play as well. I think our bench wasn’t quite as good as we thought it might have been, and the All Blacks forced their way back into the game, and I think Johnny [Sexton] missed a crucial penalty that probably would have nailed it, and then that gave the All Blacks a little bit of hope and belief.
“The last two minutes of that game was pretty frantic, and I can remember a penalty being awarded and a quick tap and, next minute, Dane Coles put Ryan Crotty into a bit of space and they scored, and that was it.
“I was pretty annoyed after the game, to be honest. Nothing like taking on the All Blacks as a rival coach and doing well, but I suppose it wasn’t meant to be.”
While the loss was a disappointing way to finish the year, it provide Ireland with ample motivation ahead of their Six Nations campaign, with Hansen visiting the side’s changing room to commend the side – and fellow Kiwi coach Joe Schmidt – for their efforts.
“One thing I do remember is Steve Hansen coming up to me after the game and saying to me, ‘Would it be okay if we came into the Irish changing room just to have a word to the boys?’, and I said, ‘Yeah, no problem’, so I took Steve into the changing room and he said, ‘Hey, listen boys, bad luck tonight, just use this as fuel to kick-on for a really good Six Nations’, and, in that Six Nations that started however many weeks later, we did really well and won it, so it was a good launching pad for us as an Irish team that year. It was Joe’s first Six Nations win, so it was a good memory, being here, coaching that team.”
The historic win in Chicago three years later was quickly followed by a second, with Ireland claiming a 16-9 victory in Dublin in 2018. The two sides’ most recent encounter, at the Rugby World Cup in 2019, saw the All Blacks record a comprehensive 46-14 win.
This weekend, another tight battle is anticipated by Plumtree, especially if the rain plummets over Aviva Stadium as expected.
“We know what a tough challenge this is going to be, and the boys know that the Irish boys respect the All Blacks, absolutely, but we know we’ll have to work hard and earn everything on Saturday night, as a forward pack and as a team.”
Saturday’s match kicks off at 3:15pm GMT from Dublin (4:15am on Sunday for NZ viewers).
Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to comments