All Blacks bury Chicago demons with win over Ireland at Soldier Field

MATCH REPORT: New Zealand recovered from a 10-point deficit to open their bid for a Nations Series Grand Slam with a hard-fought 26-13 victory over Ireland at Soldier Field on Saturday.

Tries from flank Ardie Savea, Tamaiti Williams, Wallace Sititi and Cam Roigard clinched a scrappy win as the All Blacks avenged their famous 2016 defeat to Ireland at the same venue.

Ireland’s attempt to repeat their Soldier Field triumph of nine years ago was hamstrung just minutes into Saturday’s Test when lock forward Tadgh Beirne was shown a yellow card following a collision with All Black flyhalf Beauden Barrett.

That yellow was later upgraded to a 20-minute red card.

The Irish, though, shrugged off their numerical disadvantage in a positive opening, with a converted Tadgh Furlong try and a Jack Crowley penalty giving them a 10-0 lead midway through the first half.

New Zealand hit back with a converted try from Savea that left it 10-7 at half-time, and although a Crowley penalty helped Ireland into a 13-7 lead just after the break, New Zealand upped the pace to run in tries from replacements Williams and Sititi before scrumhalf Roigard dotted down three minutes from time to seal the win.

New Zealand will now head to Europe, where they will face Test matches against Scotland, England and Wales as they attempt to repeat their 2010 Grand Slam of Britain and Ireland.

New Zealand head coach Scott Robertson was satisfied with how his team responded after trailing early on.

“It’s special – we fought our way back into it,” Robertson said. “It was a bit like an NFL game; there were so many stoppages, and we just couldn’t get any flow.

“But the young guys came on and just kept playing, and playing fearlessly. It was great to see us execute.”

‘Never got going’

Ireland hooker Dan Sheehan said his team had “never really got going” but refused to blame rust for the team’s defeat.

“We just couldn’t put the whole picture together,” Sheehan said. “There’s a lot to work on, and hopefully we can bounce back next week and turn it around.

“We weren’t going to use [the layoff] as an excuse. Training the last two weeks has been physical. We thought we were in a good spot; just things didn’t click for us today [Saturday].”

The flashpoint of a hard-fought encounter came after just three minutes when Ireland lock Beirne was sent to the sin-bin for an upright challenge on Beauden Barrett near the Irish line that was subsequently upgraded to a red card.

Ireland, however, overcame Beirne’s absence to battle into a 10-0 lead. Flyhalf Crowley got the first Irish points on the board with a penalty and then went 10 points clear as Furlong barreled over from close range after an attacking line-out.

New Zealand, meanwhile, had to deal with disruptions of their own, with captain Scott Barrett and brother Jordie Barrett leaving the game with injuries in separate incidents.

The All Blacks responded to the Irish try with a brilliant attack that began when Jordie Barrett’s replacement, Leicester Fainga’anuku, burst into space and offloaded to fullback Will Jordan.

Jordan raced clear before the ball was worked wide to the right, where a huge New Zealand overlap ended with Savea dotting down in the corner.

Beauden Barrett kicked the conversion from the touchline to make it 10-7, with that scoreline holding to half-time.

Crowley kicked Ireland into a 13-7 lead just after half-time, but as New Zealand upped the tempo, the underpowered Irish resistance finally broke.

Replacement prop Williams burrowed over from close range after a quick-tap penalty, and Barrett’s conversion put the All Blacks 14-13 up.

Another lightning-fast New Zealand break sparked by Beauden Barrett put Damian McKenzie clear, and the replacement flipped inside to give Sititi an easy score.

Moments from full-time, scrumhalf Roigard weaved over from a five-meter scrum to complete the scoring.

Man of the match: The award goes to New Zealand lock Fabian Holland, who was a powerhouse in the physical exchanges.

Moment of the match: There was a bit of controversy when Tadhg Beirne’s yellow card was upgraded to red for his high tackle on Beauden Barrett.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Try: Furlong
Con: Crowley
Pens: Crowley 2

For New Zealand:
Tries: Savea, Williams, Sititi, Roigard
Cons: B Barrett 3

Red card (upgraded from yellow card): Tadhg Beirne (Ireland, 3′ & 10′ – foul play, high tackle, no arms)

Teams:

Ireland: 15 Jamie Osborne, 14 Tommy O’Brien, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 James Lowe, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Ryan Baird, 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 James Ryan, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan (captain), 1 Andrew Porter.
Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Paddy McCarthy, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Caelan Doris, 21 Craig Casey, 22 Sam Prendergast, 23 Bundee Aki.

New Zealand: 15 Will Jordan, 14 Leroy Carter, 13 Quinn Tupaea, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Cam Roigard, 8 Peter Lakai, 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Simon Parker, 5 Fabian Holland, 4 Scott Barrett (captain), 3 Fletcher Newell, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Ethan de Groot.
Replacements: 16 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 17 Tamaiti Williams, 18 Pasilio Tosi, 19 Josh Lord, 20 Wallace Sititi, 21 Cortez Ratima, 22 Leicester Fainga’anuku, 23 Damian McKenzie.

Referee: Pierre Brousset (France)
Assistant referees: Karl Dickson (England), Luc Ramos (France)
TMO: Ian Tempest (England)