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'That's exactly what we expected': Taylor reflects on 'arm wrestle' with Ireland
The All Blacks never gave up in a Test match true to its name against Ireland on Sunday morning [NZT]. The visitors were resilient, and despite not having much ball, fell just short of what would’ve been an unlikely win.
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But Ireland thoroughly deserved the victory and were clinical in their performance as they recorded a 29-20 win at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.
It’s a historic achievement for the Irish too, who have been a bogey team of sorts for the All Blacks in recent years
For years, Ireland just couldn’t quite do enough to beat the All Blacks. They came agonisingly close in 2013 at the same venue, where an Aaron Cruden conversion after the siren saw the visitors win by two.
But since beating the All Blacks in Chicago in 2016, which was their first win over the men in black, they’ve had the advantage in this matchup in recent years.
The nine-point win was Ireland’s third win in five meetings against New Zealand, including two in a row in Dublin.
Hooker Codie Taylor started for the All Blacks again on Sunday, just as he did in that last meeting between the two sides outside of a World Cup. As the 30-year-old veteran of 66-Tests discussed, the crowd plays a part in these Tests.
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“I think on (an) even playing ground the crowd doesn’t get involved as such but over here, they had awesome fans at the game tonight,” Taylor said after the 29-20 loss.
“Any call they got there was loud noises and cheering and that can go a long way to get you over the line.
One aspect of Ireland vs All Blacks annoyed Ian Foster… and elsewhere, Johnny Sexton has responded to Dane Coles labelling him as “mouthy”#AllBlacks #Ireland #IREvNZR #AutumnNationsSeries
https://t.co/omT0cJwWe9— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 14, 2021
“But that’s exactly what we expected. Like you say, we’ve been here before and come out second best and I thought we’re in a good position to get the win but that wasn’t the case.”
The All Blacks spent a large part of the match defending but managed to lead by five-points at the half-time break courtesy of Taylor’s try 31-minutes in.
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The All Blacks were in the fight until the end, trailing by just three points with less than 10-minutes to play. But two Joey Carbery penalty goals iced the history-making result that sent the stadium into a frenzy.
“It was just a Test match mate, it’s what Test matches are. It’s a hell of an arm wrestle.
“We were right there that first half, I thought we dug really deep and defended really well to hold them out in periods of that first half.
“Then the second half, we just couldn’t quite, I suppose get some ascendancy with the ball and when they had it they put us under pressure.
“They’re a pretty sharp team when they’ve got the ball in hand and they wanted to obviously play and they did.”
By the time the Test had finished, the visitors had made 136 more tackles than Ireland and had only 39% of possession.
But in their Tests on the Northern Hemisphere Tour so far against the United States, Wales and Italy, the All Blacks largely had room to move and plenty to ball to play with.
“I think it’s really tough. I suppose in our previous games we’ve had the share, we’ve held onto the ball quite well and we probably didn’t do that well tonight.
“They obviously wanted to hold on to the ball when they were in our half and take that away from us and it worked in their favour.”
Poor discipline also undoubtably hurt the All Blacks, with the visitors conceding 10 penalties and a yellow card to Taylor.
Don’t put it down to the luck of the Irish, the All Blacks were well outplayed on Sunday morning [NZT]. After playing 80-minutes, here’s what scrumhalf TJ Perenara said the All Blacks need to improve on. #IREvNZL #AutumnInternationals https://t.co/OcgFXZlxGf
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 14, 2021
Taylor was sent to the sin bin in just the 12th minute after a high tackle on Ireland flyhalf Jonathon Sexton.
While he had no excuses and said that “it’s just what the rules say”, Taylor identified discipline as one of the areas that the All Blacks have to improve on moving forward.
“It’s probably a bit of a tactical thing. I thought we kicked well at times and then at times we probably put ourselves under pressure a little bit when we tried to play out of our own half.
“When you do that against a team that just wants to hold and build phases and build pressure on you, then it makes it pretty tough.
“Discipline goes a long way to taking away threes and stuff like that when you’re defending in your own half.”
The All Blacks will face France in Paris next weekend in what will be their final Test match of the year.
It’s set to be a blockbuster, with the two rivals also set to meet in the pool stages of the Rugby World Cup in France in less than two years’ time.
Comments on RugbyPass
Super rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
8 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
9 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
8 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
9 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
14 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
14 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
5 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
6 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
22 Go to commentsJake White is a brilliant coach and a master in the press. This is another masterclass in media relations and PR but its also a very narrow view with arguments that dont always hold water. White wants his team to win, he wants the best players in SA and wants his team competitive. You however have to face up to the reality of a poor exchange rate and big clubs with big budgets. SA Rugby cant compete and unless it can find more money SA players will keep leaving regardless of Springbok eligibility and this happened in 2015 - 2017. Also rugby is not cricket. Cricket has 3 formats and T20 cricket is where the money is at. When it comes to club vs country the IPL is king but that wont happen because the international calendar does not clash with the club calendar in rugby. So the argument about rugby going down the same path as cricket is really a non-starter
22 Go to commentsNZ rugby seem not to have learnt anything from professional rugby. Super rugby was dying and SA left before they died with the competition. SA rugby did a u turn on their approach to international players playing overseas and such players are now selected for Bok teams. As much as each country would love to retain their players playing in local competitions, this is the way the world is evolving my friends. Move with it or stay 20 years behind the times. One more thing. NZ rugby hierarchy think they are the big cheese. Take a more humble approach guys. You do not seem to have your players best interests at heart.
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