If we hold on to the ball more and the Flannery/O’Connell combination returns, this encouraging display may yet be seen as a turning point in a very long international season

I watched the game on BBC as I don’t have RTÉ in London. So while I missed the dulcet tones of George Hook I did have the benefit of insight from Paul O’Connell throughout the contest.

Every 15 minutes or so they went to O’Connell in the stand for his opinion. He summed matters up succinctly. When Ireland stick to their defensive structure they look a very good team.

We held them out brilliantly in the opening 10 minutes.

But as soon as someone decides to leave his post and assist a team-mate in the tackle, a gap opens outside. Against New Zealand that means a certain try, as we saw when Luke Fitzgerald turned in to assist Stephen Ferris on Jerome Kaino. It created an immediate overlap for Kieran Reid’s first try.

Granted, Ferris was struggling to get a solid grip on Kaino, hence, Fitzgerald coming off his wing, but a defensive plan is all about trust.

I know it is easy to say this from my armchair and the black wave was at its most relentless during those “championship minutes” (to quote one of Matt Williams’s favourite mantras). These are the five minutes either side of half-time and five minutes from the full-time whistle. We were just blown away in this period. The three-try explosion would have been brilliant to watch against anyone other than Ireland.

O’Connell also noted the amount of ball lost in contact or even just dropped passes. It was forgivable against South Africa and Samoa as the teams were feeling each other out and the conditions were terrible but it hurt us badly on Saturday.

New Zealand target the ball in the tackle. One man is around your legs, while another is trying to rip it from your grasp as you go to ground.

Having said that, the All Blacks coughed up 13 turnovers to 11 from Ireland. Also, every time they turned us over the defensive line looked in decent, solid shape.

That was down to work-rate. No one shirked their responsibilities.

Another key difference between the sides was how the All Blacks embrace contact. They pump their legs to get over the gainline while it seems more natural for an Irish player to hit the deck and present the ball.

It meant Ireland were forced to commit four or even five men to the ruck in contrast to, on average, three New Zealanders. This stems from a powerful leg drive with a second man leeching on to the ball carrier to force him over the gainline. With that sort of forward momentum it only needs two big men to clean out the ruck.

Dan Carter had a marvellous game. The height and hang time of his restarts are a dream for a chasing lock to gather.

The London Irish backs coach Mike Catt is constantly telling us to only switch on the “after burners” when in possession. Basically, we just need to watch a player cam of Carter. He glides on to the ball, scans for the space before the explosion of pace (when Catty was talking about this he didn’t look at me as my fuel injection has been a little faulty these past few years despite a team of mechanics working away under the bonnet).

I enjoy watching matches on BBC because there is rarely a hint of bias as opposed to, hmm, let me think, Sky Sports, maybe, when it comes to England.

Okay, the patriotic Keith Wood was in the studio.

Jonathan Davies made a point that rugby has moved on so much in the past 12 months and he questioned whether Ireland have reacted sufficiently.

Thankfully, we saw enough on Saturday to challenge Davies’ theory.

Forget about New Zealand. They are the best team in the world by a country mile. We must focus in Irish rugby on being the best we can be and we saw enough glimpses of this to take heart ahead of Argentina and the Six Nations.

The BBC also made far too much of the over-30s brigade in the Irish team. There is clearly a gang of elder statesmen but the next generation are already evident within the squad.

When we strike the perfect balance of this combination, full potential will be attained. And when that happens the Irish public can ask no more of them.

To get to that level, Ireland need the best lock in the world back in the team. Some may howl the name of Victor Matfield at this sentence but the great Springbok admitted yesterday in The Sunday Times the only time he has lost an individual duel was against O’Connell in Croke Park last year. Matfield said it was the worst he ever felt after a game because Paulie was one step ahead of him every time.

That Jerry Flannery-O’Connell axis is unbelievably strong. My secondrow partner at London Irish, Nick Kennedy, faced them in an England jersey. He knew where Flannery’s throws were going but he was unable to disrupt the rhythm of the partnership. And Nick is a world class lineout jumper.

If we hold on to the ball more and the Flannery/O’Connell combination return this performance may yet be seen as a watershed in a very long international season.

Finally, I am hugely encouraged by the behaviour of the Ireland management and players throughout what has proved to be a difficult past few weeks.

Contrast it with Welsh coach Warren Gatland’s outburst after the draw with Fiji on Friday night. He came out and slated his players.

That would never happen in a Declan Kidney run set-up.

Everything is dealt with in-house and Kidney does give the media an honest assessment of matters without touching on individuals be it in victory or defeat.