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International

'New Zealand were there for the taking... Ireland made them look good'

Ian Cameron

Published: 224 days ago | 3 November 2025 02:54 PST
Updated: 224 days ago | 3 November 2025 03:05 PST

James Lowe of Ireland in action against Beauden Barrett of New Zealand during the Gallagher Cup match between Ireland and New Zealand at Soldier Field in Chicago, USA. (Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Rob Kearney pulled no punches in his assessment of Ireland’s 26-13 defeat to New Zealand in Chicago, saying Andy Farrell’s side let a poor All Blacks outfit off the hook after a strong start.

Tadhg Beirne’s early red card for a high tackle on Beauden Barrett set the tone for a frustrating evening at Soldier Field, where Ireland’s hopes of repeating their famous 2016 victory evaporated in the second half.

Despite leading 13-7 through a Tadhg Furlong try and eight points from Jack Crowley, Ireland lost their grip as New Zealand pulled away with tries from Ardie Savea, Tamaiti Williams, Wallace Sititi and Cam Roigard.

Kearney, analysing the performance on Virgin Media Sport, said Ireland’s issues went deeper than Beirne’s dismissal.

“My biggest disappointment with the result tonight is, well, within the performance of it,” he said. “To beat the All Blacks you have to keep attacking them for 80 minutes. And, you know, we put some really good phases of play together in that first half and we had some opportunities from the 40 to 50 minute block, but after that we were just devoid of all ideas. We started handing cheap possession back to them, our kick chase wasn’t as good, some sloppy penalties away, then you throw in a couple of lineouts not going.”

Ireland’s structure and intensity fell apart after the hour mark, and Kearney suggested the team’s mindset slipped at the key moment.

“Our whole game just began to unravel a little bit,” he said. “I think there’s, OK, yeah, of course there’s a little bit of match sharpness and fitness within that, but I think ultimately it’s a mindset and it’s back to where we were beforehand. It’s what you would expect with the first game of the season a little bit too.”

The former full-back said Ireland’s failure to capitalise on New Zealand’s errors was particularly frustrating.

“New Zealand were there for the taking tonight,” Kearney said. “They did not play well today and we made them look good in the last 20 minutes. That’s the bit that’s going to really hurt this team and coaches tonight.”

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Comments

37 Comments

Rodeo4 223 days ago

Kearney beginning to believe himself especially that 20 min sequel to victory thank you Ireland for making us look good. Couldn't have done it without your permission.

Koro Teeps 223 days ago

Kearney always runs down the All Blacks, nothing new.

LW 223 days ago

Maybe they should have played at %75 instead of the 70% that was required to beat all the other teams last world cup huh?

JW 223 days ago

That’s pretty rough on his team. They really made NZ look good the whole game, they should have been putting them away much better than they did.

Even an out of form team like the All Blacks is going to punish a tiring team when the game opens up, can’t really criticise the boys for the last 20, like Andy Farrell said, the problems were before that.

Ninjin 223 days ago

The Nz team is taking shape nicely. Some nice selections and once they find a long term 10 they will be gold. Ireland on the other hand are at the end of their golden age and yes they are not a bad rugby team but they were blown away by a much better team in the last 20. To say Nz was there for the taking by Ireland is like saying the Titanic is unsinkable while standing on deck while the ship sinks. Me thinks yet another Sa vs Nz RWC final in 27 with as usual an Irish exit at the quarters with some claiming Ireland should have won the comp because it was there for the taking.

JW 223 days ago

Yeah they always had some solid players, guys Crowley and Osbourne and the O’Briens’ look like good rugby players too but having dumped their cohesive high structured attacking shape that sort of player just aint good enough. They have neither the talent nor the superior game plan now.

Flankly 224 days ago

Every team is “there for the taking”. You just need to be good enough.

In this case, Ireland was there for the taking, and NZ were good enough.

Ed the Duck 224 days ago

NZ were indeed good enough, but not great either. Says much about Ireland though…

Bm 224 days ago

In second half Ireland had little or nothing to offer in an offensive capacity..in fact I should remove the word LITTLE and stick with word NOTHING !

Dave Didley 224 days ago

All Blacks were abject for 60 mins and even managed to lose the 20 min red card period 7-10. I’m still not sure Ireland ever looked like they would kick on and win it though.

It only took the ABs to finally click and get going for 15 mins and that was the game.

With the Lions and Argentina warm up, Farrell has lost 3 of his last 5 internationals. Starting to feel a bit stale.

Ninjin 223 days ago

So if the AB click for 15 and that was the game what is going to happen if they put in an 80min performance?

Ed the Duck 224 days ago

So there we have it, the first signs of the crowd turning against Saint Faz, you read it here first folks!!!🤣

Ron Burgundy 224 days ago

Ireland were decent for 50

JGP on a roll with decent ruck speed

He had a superb game bar one charge down

I agree the ABs didn’t play well and in fact apart from the first half try set up by a great Fainga’anuku break and offload it the team skills were below average

But to say Ireland made the ABs look good is a stretch

The ABs had bench impact players that were better than Ireland and that lifted the whole team

The tries and non try at the end were great rugby

Anyway it’s done and the games get tougher now with Wales the best of them all at the end! 😀

Dave Didley 224 days ago

His box kicking kept them in it for the first 60 mins. His clearance kicking from in their own 22 was outstanding. Constantly cleared beyond half way.

Huge drop off when he went off.

Jacque 224 days ago

Ireland were poor. Too many players past their prime.

Dave Didley 224 days ago

Their game plan still looked solid when they could get it going. The very few times they managed to get multi phase play, they got their try and one of their penalties. It still looked as good as ever.

They need to work out why they can’t do that more or stay in games beyond 60 mins against the big boys.

DarstedlyDan 224 days ago

The ABs were a bit hot and cold in this game, but… the complaint that “they were there for the taking” is something AB fans heard game after game from 2005 to 2018. Its good to hear it again :-)

JW 223 days ago

Haha good point, I mentioned after the game it felt like one of those old school ones. It certainly has appeared recently like normality has returned to these fixtures. We laughed at it then too (we really had no idea what was coming in 2016, we thought it would take a poor performance like this to lose).

Not really a good thing to be hearing tbh, hopefully rugby’s profile was raised enough during recent years for them to return to top again.

johnz 224 days ago

Funny, exactly what I was thinking. Hearing this again must be a promising sign.

There is truth in it, the ABs were poor for much of the match. But still winning even while playing poorly for 70 minutes was the mark of the golden era.

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