Ireland have added another historic milestone to their recent string of victories against New Zealand, earning their first win on Kiwi soil over the All Blacks after a bizarre Test match in Dunedin.
With Johnny Sexton back and firing on all cylinders, the Irish took down the All Blacks 23-12 in convincing fashion on Saturday in a match that featured four cards and plenty of questionable moments.
The All Blacks spoke all week about their desire to get the opening quarter of the match right after being put under a mountain of pressure by Ireland in that time period at Eden Park.
One problem – it took Ireland less than four minutes to put them back in that pressure cooker in Dunedin.
Irish prop Andrew Porter bundled his way over to score to finish 11 phases of physical play as they embraced the dry track under the Forsyth Barr Stadium roof.
The All Blacks looked to use it too, turning down a chance to reply with three points soon after in favour of chasing a try of their own but a botched lineout ended those hopes and Sexton rubbed salt in the wound at the other end with an Irish penalty to extend the lead.
It didn’t get any easier with Leicester Fainga’anuku learning about the tough side of Test rugby as he was yellow carded for dangerous contact due to his attempted charge down of a kick.
That left the All Blacks down 10 points and a man coming up to the 20 minute mark, leaving them to wait until next week’s decider in Wellington to try and achieve their goal of starting the game stronger.
Unlike last week though, Sexton was still on the field and he didn’t let Ireland ease up, conducting his side to put the All Blacks under more and more pressure.
The All Blacks’ discipline wasn’t helping the matter either.
Ofa Tuungafasi joined Fainga’anuku in the bin with a yellow card after he took out a support runner without the ball before Angus Ta’avao joined the All Blacks’ short list of red carded players moments later.
Ta’avao and Garry Ringrose made head-on-head collision in the middle of the field after the Irish midfielder ran onto a cut ball that changed the direction of play, but with the All Blacks prop entering the hit upright he was deemed to have caused the dangerous contact and it was serious enough to drop the All Blacks to 13 men for the time being but permanently down a player for the rest of the match.
To the All Blacks’ credit, despite the player disadvantage Ireland wasn’t able to convert any of it into points; they were in the right area, they had all the possession but scrappy defence and their ever-reliable scrum continued to hinder the Irish’s quest to find the tryline.
Instead, it was the All Blacks – back up to 14 now – making the bold call in the final minutes of the half to turn down a free three points on offer to kick for the corner and look to finish the rough opening 40 on a high.
That led to the fourth card of the evening with Ireland finally tasting referee Jaco Peyper’s wrath as James Ryan was sent to the bin for poor discipline on the tryline.
The All Blacks turned down the three again to keep hammering the Irish line and eventually Beauden Barrett made them pay as he dove in to score on a loose ball in perhaps the most perfect way to finish a truly strange first half of rugby.
The second half started in much more standard fashion with Ireland again getting out of the blocks better and Porter claiming a second try in the opening minutes after Sexton blew open the All Blacks’ defence with a beautifully-timed ball to Bundee Aki.
Sexton then pushed the lead out to 13 points with a penalty shortly after and in response Ian Foster looked to his bench for a spark, bringing Richie Mo’unga into the attack for Beauden Barrett at the 55-minute mark.
That was soon followed by the introduction of Folau Fakatava who received a warm welcome from his home crowd as he made his All Blacks debut.
The crowd didn't have much more to cheer about though with the All Blacks squandering their rare attacking chances in the second half through unforced handling errors across the park.
On the other side of the contest, a cool and composed Sexton continued to march his side towards history with a third penalty to push the lead out to three scoring plays with 15 minutes left.
From there, they locked up shop and ran down the clock as Will Jordan scored a consolation try in the dying minutes.
But it was Ireland's night as they savoured their first victory on Kiwi soil after the final hooter, leaving only one question as focus shifts to Wellington.
Can they also win their first Test series in New Zealand?
All Blacks 12 [Beauden Barrett, Will Jordan tries; Jordie Barrett 1 con]
Ireland 23 [Andrew Porter 2 tries; Johnny Sexton 2 con, 3 pen]
Halftime: 7-10
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