Rewind to Ireland’s bonus point win over England during the last Six Nations and recall the decidedly mixed reaction to the performance. England had been reduced to 14 men by the second minute dismissal of Charlie Ewels and Ireland saw a 15-6 interval lead whittled away on the hour mark by a third successive Marcus Smith penalty.
That Ireland regrouped in the face of an English storm as Twickenham throbbed was dismissed by some as masking the sloppiness of the display. Yet to have weathered that storm and ultimately win with some assurance was probably of more value than if they had pulled away in the first half and won with no drama.
That experience assuredly stood to this team when the All Blacks built up a head of steam to come back within three points of Ireland in the second Test when the home side had also rolled up their sleeves after being reduced to 14 men.
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But both those experiences were even more invaluable last Saturday in the decisive third Test when the All Blacks whipped up an even bigger storm with a full complement of 15 men.
As Ardie Savea, Akira Ioane and Will Jordan - by some distance their three best players - led from the front it looked like Ireland might buckle. Following Andrew Porter’s yellow card, Ioane scored a try, bouncing Dan Sheehan, brushing through Josh van der Flier and Tadhg Furlong before stepping Mack Hansen, that was very untypical of this Irish team to concede.
Ireland responded strongly, Tadhg Beirne intercepting, James Lowe and Bundee Aki carrying hard for Johnny Sexton to becalm the All Blacks with a penalty. Beirne then won a penalty in the jackal and the captain’s kick from halfway hit the bar. Jordan’s ensuing 80 metre finish from Savea’s inside pass in the next play - his 19th try in 14 Tests - seemed to be a huge ten-point swing.
Porter would soon be back, and with him Van der Flier who was sacrificed to keep scrums contested, but the All Blacks had outscored Ireland by 18-3 in the third quarter. That near immaculate first half by Ireland to lead 22-3 was rapidly fading from memory.
The home fans were at their noisiest of the whole series, which admittedly was a low bar. The momentum was all with a supercharged All Blacks. The score was 25-22 to Ireland, but with 20 minutes remaining away to a seemingly rampant All Blacks, many an Irish team in the past, perhaps all of them, would probably have caved from there.
But Ireland hadn’t lost a second half since the win over Scotland midway through the 2021 Six Nations, in a run of 15 Tests, and while they would lose this one, somehow they found the mental resolve to win the final quarter 7-0.
Past collisions with the All Blacks, notably the defeat in 2013 and win in Chicago, had probably informed the thinking of Sexton and co too. The immediate response to the Jordan try was instructive. Sexton, always asked in advance by Wayne Barnes which direction he was kicking his restart, opted to hang a contestable ball up the middle for Hugo Keenan to chase. Nothing conservative there.
Keenan, in perhaps his finest performance yet for Ireland, timed his chase and jump well, and while he didn’t reclaim the ball it ricocheted onto the deck where Sam Cane knocked it on.
From the ensuing Irish scrum, Jamison Gibson-Park attacked left and linked with Keenan, who carried into traffic and offloaded brilliantly for the supporting Bundee Aki, and he was only stopped inches short of the line by Richie Mo’unga’s tackle. Whereupon Savea was penalised by Wayne Barnes - who it has to be said was utterly fair and in control with the whistle - for attempting a turnover from an offside position
“Does he have the minerals?” asked NZ Sky Sports co-commentator Justin Marshal as Johnny Sexton weighed up whether to go to the corner or the posts. Marshall is superb, but he really doesn’t know Sexton very well.
The Irish captain would give James Ryan the credit for the ensuing call, but it’s always his natural inclination to roll the dice anyway. That’s what experience has taught him, especially in Chicago, and going against those inclinations in the Champions Cup final sparked that unprompted stream of consciousness, and that had been his first instinct for the opening try off a catch-and drive by van der Flier as well.
Similarly, bringing on Rob Herring for the outstanding Sheehan on the hour had been a big call by the Brains Trust in their glassed coaching box, as was Herring then peeling off the maul after another fine take by the towering James Ryan. It looked like Herring had gone for the jugular too soon, but he burrowed through three tackles to extend his arm and just reach the line for a superb finish. Sexton, yet again to a boorish backdrop of jeers, boos and whistles, again nailed the kick on the night he passed 1,000 Test points for Ireland and moved within 72 points of Ronan O’Gara’s Irish record.
There remained some defending to do. Maybe it’s partly a helmet thing, but Beirne took his tally of turnovers to three (it was effectively five including that intercept and a counter-ruck), there was a huge scrum by the replacement frontrow of Cian Healy, Herring and Bealham, who has now seen out four wins over the All Blacks, plus a daring intercept by Joey Carbery with his first touch.
All of which overlooks that near perfect first half, with the phased attack in which Hansen came across from his wing to make telling contributions, skip-passing to the excellent Lowe for Keenan to finish off the no-look inside pass.
The third try, Keenan carrying off a scrum, Caelan Doris making inroads through Sam Whitelock before Sheehan pulled the ball back behind Porter for Sexton to link with Aki’s perfectly timed run and try-scoring pass for Robbie Henshaw, was a breathtaking thing of beauty.
The foundation stones were Ireland’s best set-piece of the tour - the line-out was excellent - and unstinting, intelligent work on both sides of the ball was a key difference, as was the first half defence and the handling.
Ireland were so good they won this game twice.
